Snowclone

A snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as "a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants".^[1]

An example of a snowclone is "grey is the new black", a version of the template "X is the new Y". X and Y may be replaced with different words or phrases – for example, "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll".^[2] The term "snowclone" can be applied to both the original phrase and to any new phrase that uses its formula.

A snowclone conveys information by using a familiar verbal formula and the cultural knowledge of the audience. A variant snowclone may refer to completely different things from the original (in the example above, colors versus types of performance). The original and the variant express similar relationships and can be understood using the same trope. For example, "grey is the new black" is a well-known expression meaning that grey clothing now has the same social functions that black clothing used to have. An audience that has never heard the phrase "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll" can still recognize the structure and understand it to mean that comedy is taking on some of the same social functions that are usually attributed to rock music.

Contents 1 History 2 Other examples 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

History

The term was coined by Glen Whitman on January 15, 2004, in response to a request from Geoffrey Pullum on the Language Log weblog.^[3] Pullum endorsed it as a term of art the next day,^[1] and it has since been adopted by other linguists, journalists and authors.^[4][5] The term alludes to one of Pullum's example template phrases:

If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have Y words for Z.

As Language Log explains, this is a popular rhetorical trope used by journalists to imply that cultural group X has reason to spend a great deal of time thinking about the specific idea Z,^[6][7] despite the fact that the basic premise is wrong: Inuit do not have an unusually large number of words for "snow".

In 1995, linguist David Crystal referred to this kind of trope as a "catch structure", citing as an example the phrase "to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before" as originally used in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (1978).^[8] Adams' phrase is a reference to a Star Trek phrase "...to boldly go where no man has gone before!", pointing out the use of a split infinitive, a controversial construction.

Snowclones are related to both memes and clichés, as the Los Angeles Times' David Sarno notes: "Snowclones are memechés, if you will: meme-ified clichés with the operative words removed, leaving spaces for you or the masses to Mad Lib their own versions."^[9] In the study of folklore, snowclones are a form of what are usually described as a proverbial phrase which have a long history of description and analysis. There are many kinds of such wordplay, as described in a variety of studies of written and oral sources.^[10]

Other examples

• "To X or not to X." Popularized by Shakespeare's play Hamlet. From the titular character's line "To be or not to be".^[11]
• "X, thy name is Y." Another example originating from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Used to express the completeness with which a particular (usually negative) quality, X, is embodied by Y. From the line "Frailty, thy name is woman."
• "I'm a doctor, not an X." Popularized by Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) in the 1966–69 series Star Trek and used by several characters in later Star Trek series.
• "Have X, will travel." It was popularized by Have Gun – Will Travel, the title of a 1957–63 U.S. radio and television series, which derived from the stock phrasing of short "want ads" in Variety: an example is Have Tux, Will Travel,^[12] the title of Bob Hope's memoirs.^[13] The titles of Robert A. Heinlein's 1958 novel Have Space Suit—Will Travel and Joe Perry's album Have Guitar, Will Travel also refer to this stock phrase.
• "X considered harmful." The rise of this phrasal template was sparked by Edsger Dijkstra's 1968 letter to the Communications of the ACM, titled "Go To Statement Considered Harmful", as well as the responses "'GOTO Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful" and "'"GOTO Considered Harmful" Considered Harmful' Considered Harmful?".^[14]
• "Got X?" This was originated by the "Got Milk?" advertising campaign by the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, and has spawned many imitators, such as "Got Beer?", "Got Swim?", and "Got Rice?".^[15]
• "The X from hell", as in "the roommate from hell" or "the date from hell" or "the ex from hell". American comedian Richard Lewis claims to be the originator of this expression. This theory is expounded in the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode "The Nanny from Hell". Lewis has petitioned the editors of Bartlett's to be given credit for the coinage, but the editors claim that the phrase was a common idiom prior to Lewis' use of it.^[16] The Yale Book of Quotations (p. 458) does attribute the phrase to Lewis, claiming that his self-description "comedian from hell" is the earliest documented application of the expression "from hell" to a person.^[17]
• "X Nation". Used in such context as Fast Food Nation and Prozac Nation to describe a possibly detrimental behavior or condition that the author of the phrase believes is pervasive and accepted as normal in western society. Usage has expanded to encompass activities that are not necessarily detrimental but are becoming progressively more widespread e.g., "Shed Nation"^[18]
• "I'm not a[n] X, but I play one on TV." Based on a 1986 ad (for cough syrup) featuring actor Peter Bergman, who portrayed Dr. Cliff Warner on the soap opera series, All My Children."^[19][20]
• "Not your father's (or mother's, grandfather's, etc) X." Popularized by the "this is not your father's Oldsmobile" advertising campaign.
• "The mother of all Xs." Popularized after its use at the start of the 1991 Gulf War when the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein declared that "The great duel, the mother of all battles, has begun." Similar to "The X to end all Xs".
• "You can take the X out of the Y, but not the Y out of the X." This was popularized by the saying, "You can take the boy out of the country, but not the country out of the boy." Refers to the idea that old habits die hard.
• "In Soviet Russia, X Y(s) you." Originated by Yakov Smirnoff, where Y is a verb that is ironically applied to the noun X, creating a humorously counter-intuitive situation.
• "X is hard, let's go shopping!", derived from Teen Talk Barbie's "Math class is tough!" and vacuous statements about shopping.^[21]
• "It's the X, stupid." Attributed to James Carville during Bill Clinton's successful 1992 U.S. presidential campaign with the phrase "It's the economy, stupid".
• "X-gold." As in black gold meaning coal. Used to show something has become valuable.
• "I, for one, welcome our new X overlords." A quote from The Simpsons episode Deep Space Homer, often used as a sarcastic retort to a news article proclaiming the "next big thing". Further popularized by Ken Jennings after losing to IBM's Watson computer on the game show Jeopardy.^{[22][5][23][24]}
• "[Word]gate" used to refer to a scandal, after the Watergate scandal.

See also

• Construction grammar
• Phrasal template
• Proverb and Anti-proverb

References

Further reading

• "How the Web Is Changing Language". NPR Talk of the Nation. June 28, 2006. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5518444. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
• Peters, Mark (July/August 2006). "Not Your Father's Cliché". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071222001124/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3613/is_200607/ai_n17171280. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
• "The word: Snowclone". New Scientist (2578). November 18, 2006. http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19225780.126-the-word-snowclone.html. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
• Warburton, Annie (March 24, 2007). "I mean, what's it mean?". Hobart, Tasmania: The Mercury. 
• Smith, Russell (May 31, 2007). "Do you speak kitteh?". Toronto: The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070531.wxrussell31/BNStory/Entertainment. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
• Vaszily, Scott (August 4, 2007). "Colourful language (letter)". New Scientist (2615). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526151.300-colourful-language.html. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
• McFedries, Paul (February 2008). "Snowclone Is The New Cliché". IEEE Spectrum. http://spectrum.ieee.org/feb08/5909. Retrieved February 21, 2008. 

External links

• The Snowclones Database