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In researching (ahem, yeah, I call my surfing research) an entry on Image Macros, I came across a category of phrases that use the format: “I’m in Your X, Y’ing Your Z.” It turns out that such formatted phrases have a name, snowclones, and a rich history.
Here’s how Wikipedia describe snowclones:
A snowclone or catch structure is a type of formula-based cliché which uses an old idiom in a new context. It was 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 jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers.” […]
More after the jump…
A common example of a snowclone is “X is the new Y”, a generic form of the original expression “pink is the new black”. In order to apply the snowclone, X and Y should be replaced with new words or phrases. For instance, this snowclone might appear as “Random Is the new order”, a marketing phrase for the iPod shuffle.
Check out Wikipedia’s impressive list of snowclones organized by date of origin. Some classics:
16th century: Et tu, X?
19th century: The only good X is a dead X.
1910s: The X to end all Xs.
1920s: A W in every X and a Y in every Z.
What’s your favorite snowclone? I think mine has to be X is the new Y. Or perhaps the “we don’t need no badgers” bit pictured above, popularized (for me) by UHF. (And yes, both of these are explained in the list.)
In LA, the dominant snowclone is “X is the new Y.” Laaaaame!
posted by Ransom on 6-6-2007 at 12:27 pm
Wow. I never knew there was a name for these. We toss these around quite a bit.
One that my friends and I have been tossing around is, “No one expects the X!” Original X: “Spanish Inquisition”. It must be said in the same manner as the Monty Python skit to be effective.
Other recent ones we’ve used are “Got X?” (Original X: milk) and “I’m not an X, but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Select!” (Original X: Doctor?”).
posted by Jason! on 6-6-2007 at 1:41 pm
How about the “X from hell”? I hear that one alot. As in, “this has been the day from hell” or “this is the salad from hell.”
posted by Okay on 6-6-2007 at 2:58 pm
My 6 year old nephew likes to say:
X was so last year…
Cracks me up each time.
posted by Scott from Cincy on 6-6-2007 at 3:01 pm
And then there’s “The mother of all Xs”.
posted by Barbara on 6-6-2007 at 10:11 pm
“Old & Busted: X, new hotness: Y.” -fark.com cliché
“What’s that, like X Canadian?” -use it while you can, the Canadian dollar is almost equal to the US dollar now.
posted by Daylightrambler on 6-6-2007 at 11:29 pm
UHF!!! Long Live Weird Al Yankovic!! Sorry… *quitely slips back into the dark recesses of cyberspace*
posted by Jacqui on 6-7-2007 at 12:19 pm
X is Micheal, Y is Tito
posted by Bruce on 6-7-2007 at 2:08 pm
Catch structure? WTF? I have never heard of that as an alternate term to describe snowclones, and I’ve been reading Language Log (whence the term comes) for a couple of years now. I do believe someone’s been having fun with that Wikipedia page. (Hi, here via a Technorati search for “snowclones” because I’ve started the Snowclones Database.
posted by Erin on 7-2-2007 at 5:16 pm