31.   Bamboo or weed, all of them spread like . . . well, like weeds, through underground rhizomes branching from the parent plant.

32.   Bankers and officials often express fear that a crisis in one country could spread like wildfire around the world.

33.   But a few months ago a rumor got started and spread like a ditch fire.

34.   Business schools are spreading like wildfire, reaching the new markets of Eastern Europe and Asia and old ones such as Oxford and Cambridge.

35.   But it is cheaper than coke, produces a longer high, and is spreading like wildfire.

36.   But polls show most Americans think incivility has spread like a malignant growth.

37.   Certainly the lawmakers were laboring under the heat of another rolling scandal, in this case the Enron donations that spread like mud through the Capitol corridors.

38.   Cities actually used to plant them as street trees until it was discovered their strong, shallow roots cracked sidewalks, and they spread like weeds.

39.   Crude oil travels in pipelines owned by the major companies which spread like a web from Bakersfield to other parts of the state.

40.   Discontent is spreading like a virus.