Snowclone
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A snowclone is a type of formula-based cliché that uses an old idiom in a new context.[1] 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."[2]
The term emphasizes the use of a familiar (and often particular) formula and previous cultural knowledge of the reader to express information about an idea. The idea being discussed is usually contextually different in meaning from the original use of that formula but can be understood using the same trope as the original formulation.
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.
History
The term was coined by Glen Whitman on January 15, 2004,[2] in response to a request from Geoffrey Pullum on the Language Log weblog.[3] The term is an allusion to a specific instance of the phenomenon:
- If the Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have M words for Y.
As the 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 Y,[4][5] despite the fact that the basic premise is wrong: Eskimos do not have an unusually large number of words for "snow" (see Eskimo words for snow).
In 1995, David Crystal referred to these kinds of tropes as "catch structures", citing "to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before", a phrase originally used in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (1978), as an example.[6] (Douglas Adams' phrase is a reference to ...to boldly go where no man has gone before!, which is the end of the introductory voiceover to the original Star Trek series.)
Examples
- Have X, will travel. (Original: Have Gun — Will Travel, the title of old US TV western, or the vaudeville phrase "have tux, will travel"[7])
- X considered harmful. (Original: Go To Statement Considered Harmful, the title a 1968 Edsger Dijkstra letter to the Communications of the ACM was published under[8]).
- I, for one, welcome our new X overlords. (Original: "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords," uttered by a news anchor in an episode of The Simpsons).[9]
See also
- Catch phrase
- Mad Libs
- Meta-joke
- Geoffrey Pullum — originator of the term[10]
References
- ^ Erard, Michael (June 20, 2006). "Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
Regular readers learned there first about snowclones, the basic building blocks of clichés, like "X is the new Y" or "you don't need a degree in A to do B."
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Whitman, Glen (2004-01-14). "Phrases for Lazy Writers in Kit Form Are the New Cliches". Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2003-10-27). "Phrases for lazy writers in kit form". Language Log. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Liberman, Mark (2005-06-18). "Etymology as argument". Language Log. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2003-10-21). "Bleached conditionals". Language Log. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Crystal, David (1995). The Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 178.
- ^ "have". Online Etymology Dictionary. 2001. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Liberman, Mark (2007-07-03). "Considered harmful". Language Log. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Liberman, Mark (2004-01-29). ""I, for one, welcome our new * overlords"". Language Log.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|acessdate=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Rowan, David (2005-12-03). "Trendsurfing: "Snowclone" journalism (The Times)". Retrieved 2007-11-25.
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Further reading
- "How the Web Is Changing Language". NPR Talk of the Nation. 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Peters, Mark (2006). "Not Your Father's Cliché". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite magazine}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - "The word: Snowclone". New Scientist. No. 2578. 2006-11-18. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite magazine}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Warburton, Annie (2007-03-24). "I mean, what's it mean?". Hobart, Tasmania: The Mercury.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Smith, Russell (2007-05-31). "Do you speak kitteh?". Toronto: Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Vaszily, Scott (2007-08-04). "Colourful language (letter)". New Scientist. No. 2615. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
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External links
- O'Connor, Erin. "The Snowclones Database". Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- Pullum, Geoffrey (2004-01-16). "Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the second". Language Log. Retrieved 2006-06-26.
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