Jump to content

Snowclone: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Cactusbin (talk | contribs)
43 edits
→‎The mother of all X: Source citation needed tag
 
(665 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Neologism for a type of cliché and phrasal template}}
{{rewrite|date=2008-06-15}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
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 jokey variants by lazy journalists and writers."<ref name="whitman">{{cite web |url=http://agoraphilia.blogspot.com/2004_01_11_agoraphilia_archive.html#107412842921919301 |title=Phrases for Lazy Writers in Kit Form Are the New Cliches |first=Glen |last=Whitman |date=[[2004-01-14]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}</ref>


A '''snowclone''' is a [[cliché]] and [[phrasal template]] that can be used and recognized in multiple variants. The term was coined in 2004, derived from [[Journalese|journalistic clichés]] that referred to the number of [[Inuit words for snow]].<ref name=Pullum2004 />
An example of a snowclone is "X is the new Y", a generic form of the expression "[[the new black|pink is the new black]]". X and Y may be replaced with new words or phrases, as in "Random is the new order", a marketing phrase for the [[iPod shuffle]]. Both the generic formula and the new phrases produced from it are called "snowclones".


==History and derivation==
It 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 may be different in meaning from the original formula, but can be understood using the same [[trope (linguistics)|trope]] as the original formulation.
The linguistic phenomenon of "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" was originally described by linguist [[Geoffrey K. Pullum]] in 2003.<ref name=Pullum2003a /> Pullum later described snowclones as "some-assembly-required adaptable cliché frames for lazy journalists".<ref name=Pullum2004 />
==History==


In an October 2003 post on ''[[Language Log]]'', a collaborative blog by several linguistics professors, Pullum solicited ideas for what the then-unnamed phenomenon should be called.<ref name=Pullum2003a /> In response to the request, the word "snowclone" was coined by economics professor [[Glen Whitman]] on January 15, 2004, and Pullum endorsed it as a [[term of art]] the next day.<ref name=Pullum2004 /> The term was derived by Whitman from [[Journalese|journalistic clichés]] referring to the number of [[Eskimo words for snow]]<ref name=Pullum2004 /> and incorporates a pun on the [[snow cone]].<ref name=McFedriesIEEE />
The term was coined by Glen Whitman on January 15, 2004,<ref name="whitman" /> in response to a request from [[Geoffrey Pullum]] on the [[Language Log]] [[weblog]].<ref name="Snowclone_Def">{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000061.html |title=Phrases for lazy writers in kit form |date=[[2003-10-27]] |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |publisher=[[Language Log]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}</ref> The term is an allusion to a specific instance of the phenomenon:
:''If the Eskimos have ''N'' words for snow, then ''X'' must surely have ''M'' words for ''Y''.''


The term "snowclone" has since been adopted by other linguists, journalists, and authors.<ref name=McFedriesIEEE /><ref name=Abley />
As the Language Log explains, this is a popular [[rhetoric]]al [[Trope (linguistics)|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'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002248.html |title=Etymology as argument |first=Mark |last=Liberman
|authorlink=Mark Liberman |date=[[2005-06-18]] |publisher=[[Language Log]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000049.html |title=Bleached conditionals |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |authorlink=Geoffrey Pullum| date=[[2003-10-21]] |publisher=[[Language Log]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}</ref> despite the fact that the basic premise is wrong: Eskimos do not have an unusually large number of [[Eskimo words for snow|words for "snow"]].


Snowclones are related to both [[meme]]s and clichés, according to the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''{{'}}s David Sarno: "Snowclones are memechés, if you will: meme-ified clichés with the operative words removed, leaving spaces for you or the masses to [[Mad Libs|Mad Lib]] their own versions."<ref name=Sarno2008 />
In 1995, linguist [[David Crystal]] referred to this kind of trope as a "catch structure", citing as an example the phrase "to boldly [[split infinitive]]s that no man had split before" as originally used in [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' radio series (1978).<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Crystal |authorlink=David Crystal |title=The Encyclopedia of the English Language |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995 |pages=178}}</ref> Adams' phrase is a reference to a ''[[Star Trek]]'' phrase "[[Where no man has gone before|...to boldly go where no man has gone before!]]", which contains a [[Split infinitive|split infinitive]], a construction that—decried by late-nineteenth century [[Linguistic prescription|prescriptive grammarians]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Bache | first = Richard Meade | year = 1869 | title = Vulgarisms and Other Errors of Speech | location = Philadelphia | publisher = Claxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger | pages = p. 145 | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC08255078&id=TQkSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA145&dq=%22Richard+Meade+Bache%22+vulgarisms | accessdate = 2006-10-31 | edition = second edition}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Raub | first = Robert N. | year = 1897 | title = Helps in the Use of Good English | location = Philadelphia | pages = p. 120 | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC16359251&id=ylAzsng06n4C&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=Raub+helps | accessdate = 2006-11-13}}</ref>—continues to be discussed in English usage guides.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/2006/03/go_ahead_split_.html |title=Go Ahead, Split an Infinitive! |work=Business Writing Blog |year=2006 |month=March |accessdate=2008-11-10}}</ref>


== Other examples ==
==Notable examples==
<!--
Please add only examples discussed and commented in scholarly sources, not just random witty utterances
-->


===Eskimo words for snow===
* "Have ''X'', will travel." It was popularized by ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel]]'', the title of a 1957–1963 U.S. radio and television series, which derived from the stock phrasing of short "want ads" in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'': an example is ''Have [[tuxedo (clothing)|Tux]], Will Travel'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=have |title=have |work=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |year=2001 |month=November |accessdate=2007-11-25}}</ref> the title of [[Bob Hope]]'s memoirs.<ref>{{cite book |first=Bob |last=Hope |authorlink=Bob Hope |title=Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope's Own Story as Told to Pete Martin |year=1954 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=0743261038 |quote=[[Hoofer]]s, [[comedian]]s and [[singer]]s used to put ads in ''Variety''. Those ads read: 'Have tuxedo, will travel'. It meant they were ready to go any place any time... It also meant that they would be dressed classy when they showed up.}}</ref> The title of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s 1958 novel ''[[Have Spacesuit, Will Travel]]'' also referred to this stock phrase.
{{main|Eskimo words for snow}}
* "''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?".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004675.html |title=Considered harmful |date=[[2007-07-03]] |first=Mark |last=Liberman |publisher=[[Language Log]] |accessdate=2007-10-30}}</ref>
Pullum, in his first discussion of what would later be called a snowclone, offered the following example of a template describing multiple variations of a journalistic cliché he had encountered: "If Eskimos have {{var|N}} words for snow, {{var|X}} surely have {{var|M}} words for {{var|Y}}."<ref name=Pullum2003a />
* "Got ''X''?" This was originated by the "[[Got Milk?]]" campaign by the California Milk Processor Board in 1993, and has spawned many imitators, such as "Got [[Jesus]]?", "Got [[Beer]]?", and "[[Got Rice?]]".<ref name="dairyboard">[http://www.allbusiness.com/agriculture-forestry/animal-production-cattle/631684-1.html Got staying power? Landmark milk marketing campaign celebrates 10th anniversary. | Consumer Products > Food & Beverage Products from AllBusiness.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Pullum cited this as a popular [[rhetoric]]al [[Trope (literature)|trope]] used by journalists to imply that cultural group {{var|X}} has reason to spend a great deal of time thinking about the specific idea {{var|Y}},<ref name=Liberman2005 /><ref name=Pullum2003b /> although the basic premise (that Eskimos have a larger number of words for snow) is often disputed by those who study Eskimo ([[Inuit languages|Inuit]] and [[Yupik languages|Yupik]]) languages.<ref name=Cichoci2010 />
* "What Would X Do?" and its companion "What Would Jesus X"? Examples include "[[Characters_of_the_Order_of_the_Stick#Thor|What Would Thor Do]]" and "[[What Would Jesus Buy?]]", respectively.
* "Save an X bang a Y" Popularized by the song [[Save_a_horse_ride_a_cowboy|Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy]]


In 2003, an article in ''[[The Economist]]'' stated, "If Eskimos have dozens of words for snow, Germans have as many for bureaucracy."<ref name=Economist2003 /> A similar construction in the ''[[Edmonton Sun]]'' in 2007 claimed that "auto manufacturers have 100 words for [[beige]]".<ref name=McFedries2008 />
==References==
{{reflist|2}}


===In space, no one can hear you {{var|X}}===
==Further reading==
The original request from Geoffrey Pullum, in addition to citing the Eskimos-and-snow namesake of the term snowclone, mentioned a poster slogan for the 1979 film ''[[Alien (film)|Alien]]'', "In space, no one can hear you scream", which was cloned into numerous variations stating that in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, cream, DJ, dream, drink, etc.<ref name=Pullum2003a />


==={{var|X}} is the new {{var|Y}}===
*{{cite news |url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5518444 |publisher=[[NPR]] ''[[Talk of the Nation]]'' |title=How the Web Is Changing Language |date=[[2006-06-28]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
Frequently seen snowclones include phrases in the form of the template "{{var|X}} is the new {{var|Y}}". The original (and still common) form is the template "{{var|X}} is the new black", apparently based on a misquotation of [[Diana Vreeland]]'s 1962 statement that pink is "the navy blue of India".<ref name=Zimmer2006 /> According to language columnist Nathan Bierma, this snowclone provides "a tidy and catchy way of conveying an increase, or change in nature, or change in function – or all three – of {{var|X}}".<ref name=Peters2006 />
*{{cite magazine |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3613/is_200607/ai_n17171280 |title=Not Your Father's Cliché |journal=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] |month=July/August |year=2006 |last=Peters |first=Mark |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
*{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19225780.126-the-word-snowclone.html |journal=[[New Scientist]] |issue=2578 |title=The word: Snowclone |date=[[2006-11-18]] |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
*{{cite news |publisher=''[[The Mercury (Hobart)|The Mercury]]'' |location=[[Hobart]], [[Tasmania]] |date=[[2007-03-24]] |first=Annie |last=Warburton |title=I mean, what's it mean?}}
*{{cite news |url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070531.wxrussell31/BNStory/Entertainment |publisher=''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' |location=[[Toronto]] |date=[[2007-05-31]] |title=Do you speak kitteh? |first=Russell |last=Smith |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
*{{cite magazine |url=http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19526151.300-colourful-language.html |journal=New Scientist |date=[[2007-08-04]] |title=Colourful language (letter) |issue=2615 |first=Scott |last=Vaszily |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
*{{cite magazine |url=http://spectrum.ieee.org/feb08/5909 |journal=[[IEEE Spectrum]]|month=February | year=2008|title=Snowclone Is The New Cliché
|first=Paul |last=McFedries |accessdate=2008-02-21}}


Examples include a 2001 album titled ''[[Quiet Is the New Loud]]'', a 2008 newspaper headline that stated "Comedy is the new rock 'n' roll",<ref name=Jupitus2008 /> and the title of [[Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison|the 2010 book]] and 2013 [[Netflix original]] series ''[[Orange Is the New Black]]''.
==External links==


===The mother of all {{var|X}}===
{{Wiktionary}}
[[File:Saddam Hussein in 1996.png|thumb|[[Saddam Hussein]] was associated with the popularization of the phrase "the mother of all..." in the West.]]
"The mother of all {{var|X}}", a [[hyperbole]] that has been used to refer to something as "great" or "the greatest of its kind", became a popular snowclone template in the 1990s. The phrase entered American popular culture in September 1990 at the outset of the [[Gulf War]], when [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Revolutionary Command Council (Iraq)|Revolutionary Command Council]] warned the U.S.-led [[Coalition of the Gulf War|Coalition]] against [[Invasion of Kuwait|military action in Kuwait]] with the statement: "Let everyone understand that this battle is going to become the mother of all battles."<ref name=Oxford /><ref name=Cowell1990 /> The phrase was repeated in a January 1991 speech by Saddam Hussein.<ref name=Atkinson1991 /> A [[calque]] from [[Arabic]], the snowclone gained popularity in the media and was adapted for phrases such as "the [[GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast|mother of all bombs]]" and New Zealand's "[[Mother of all Budgets]]". The [[American Dialect Society]] declared "the mother of all" the 1991 [[Word of the Year]].<ref name=ADS2015 /> The term "[[Father of All Bombs]]" was created by an analogy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gigova |first=Radina |date=2017-04-20 |title=Meet the Russian ‘father of all bombs’ |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/world/russia-foab-weapon/index.html |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=[[CNN]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Luke |date=2007-09-11 |title=Russia unveils the 'father of all bombs' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/12/russia.lukeharding |access-date=2024-07-01 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>


The Arabic phrase originated from an [[Battle of al-Qādisiyyah|Arab victory over the Sassanian Persians]] in 636&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], described with the earliest known use of the phrase "mother of all battles" ([[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]]: {{lang|ar|ام المعارك|}} ''{{transl|ar|DIN|umm al-ma‘ārik}}''). Although popularly used to mean "greatest" or "ultimate", the Arabic ''umm al-'' prefix creates a figurative phrase in which "mother" also suggests that the referent will give rise to many more of its kind.<ref name=Safire /><ref name=Dickson /> The phrase was used in the naming of a mosque in [[Baghdad]], the [[Umm al-Qura Mosque|Umm al-Ma'arik Mosque]].
*{{cite web |url=http://snowclones.org/ |title=The Snowclones Database |first=Erin |last=O'Connor |accessdate=2007-11-25}}
*{{cite web |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000350.html |title=Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the second |accessdate=2006-06-26 |last=Pullum |first=Geoffrey |authorlink=Geoffrey Pullum |date=[[2004-01-16]] |publisher=[[Language Log]]}}


=== {{var|X}}-ing while {{var|Y}} ===
[[Category:Snowclones|*]]
The template "{{var|X}}-ing while Black", and its original popular construction "[[driving while black|driving while Black]]", are sardonic plays on "[[driving while intoxicated]]", and refer to Black people being pulled over by police [[racial profiling|solely because of their race]].<ref name=Savan2006 /><ref name=Balkisson /> A prominent variant, "voting while Black", surfaced during the U.S. presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 in reference to attempts to suppress Black votes.<ref name=Savan2006 /> Snowclones of this form, highlighting the unequal treatment of Black people, have included "walking while Black" for pedestrian offenses,<ref name=Coolican2003 /><ref name=Mosedale2007 /> "learning while Black" for students in schools,<ref name=Morse2002 /> "drawing while Black" for artists,<ref name=Balkisson /> and "[[shopping while black|shopping while Black]]"<ref name=Harris2003 /><ref name=Norman2009 /> or "eating while Black"<ref name=Coolican2003 /> for customers in stores and restaurants. A 2017 legal case prompted the variant "talking while Black".<ref>{{cite web |title=Miranda and the Louisiana Lawyer Dog: A case of talking while black |date=November 4, 2017 |first=Dennis |last=Baron |work=The Web of Language |url= https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25/574827 |access-date=2017-11-05 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171105162314/https://illinois.edu/blog/view/25/574827|archive-date=2017-11-05 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The template has been applied to other groups; the term "[[flying while Muslim]]" appeared post-[[September 11 attacks|9/11]] to describe disproportionate [[Airport security|suspicion]] shown towards airline passengers perceived to be from the Middle East.<ref name=CBSNews />

=== To {{var|X}} or not to {{var|X}} ===
"To {{var|X}} or not to {{var|X}}" is a template based on the line "[[To be, or not to be]]", spoken by the titular character in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Hamlet]]'' (around 1600).<ref name=zwicky /> This template appears to have existed even before ''Hamlet'' and had previously been explicitly used in a religious context to discuss "actions that are at once contradictory and indifferent—actions that, because they are neither commanded nor prohibited by Scripture, good nor evil in themselves, Christians are free to perform or omit".<ref name=Shore2015 />

In general usage, "to {{var|X}} or not to {{var|X}}" simply conveys "[[Logical disjunction|disjunction]] between contradictory alternatives",<ref name=Shore2015 /> which linguist [[Arnold Zwicky]] described as an "utterly ordinary structure".<ref name=zwicky /> A Google search by Zwicky for snowclones of the form "to * or not to *" resulted in over 16 million hits, although some apparent occurrences may be cases of a natural [[Exclusive disjunction|contrastive disjunction]] unrelated to the Shakespearean snowclone template.<ref name=zwicky />

===Have {{var|X}}, will travel ===
[[File:Richard Boone Patricia Medina Have Gun Will Travel 1959.JPG|thumb|right|upright|''Have Gun – Will Travel'', 1959]]
The earliest known literary mention of the template "Have {{var|X}}, will travel" is the title of the book ''Have Tux, Will Travel'', a 1954 memoir by comedian [[Bob Hope]]. Hope explained that "Have [[tuxedo (clothing)|tuxedo]], will travel" was a stock phrase used in short advertisements placed by actors in ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', indicating that the actor was "ready to go any place any time" and to be "dressed classy" upon arrival.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=have |title= have |work= [[Online Etymology Dictionary]] | year = 2001 |access-date=2018-01-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Bob |last= Hope |author-link= Bob Hope |title= Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope's Own Story as Told to Pete Martin |year=1954 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=0-7432-6103-8 |quote=[[Hoofer]]s, comedians and singers used to put ads in ''Variety''. Those ads read: 'Have tuxedo, will travel'. It meant they were ready to go any place, any time... It also meant that they would be dressed classy when they showed up.}}</ref> The use of variations of this template by job seekers goes back considerably earlier, dating to at least the 1920s, possibly around 1900, in ''[[The Times]]'' of London.<ref name="Partridge1992">{{cite book |last=Partridge |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Partridge|title=A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3eoQAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |year=1992 |publisher=Scarborough House |isbn=978-1-4616-6040-8 |pages=118–119}}</ref>

Variants of the snowclone were used in the titles of the 1957 [[Western (genre)|Western]] television show ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel]]'', [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s 1958 novel ''[[Have Space Suit—Will Travel]]'',<ref>{{citation |title=Robert A. Heinlein: a reader's companion |page=98 |author=J. Daniel Gifford |year=2000}}.</ref><ref name=jnreview>[http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/a_boy_and_his_space_suit "A Boy and His Space Suit (Have Space Suit — Will Travel — Robert A. Heinlein)"], a review by [[James Nicoll]].</ref> [[Richard Berry (musician)|Richard Berry]]'s 1959 song "[[Have Love, Will Travel]]", [[Bo Diddley]]'s 1960 album ''[[Have Guitar Will Travel (Bo Diddley album)|Have Guitar Will Travel]]'', [[The Three Stooges]]' 1959 film ''[[Have Rocket, Will Travel]]'' and [[Joe Perry (musician)|Joe Perry]]'s 2009 album ''[[Have Guitar, Will Travel (Joe Perry album)|Have Guitar, Will Travel]]''.

==={{var|X}} considered harmful ===
{{main|Considered harmful}}
"{{var|X}} considered harmful", an established journalistic cliché since at least the mid-20th century, generally appears in the titles of articles as "a way for an editor to alert readers that the writer is going to be expressing negative opinions about {{var|X}}."<ref name=Liberman2008/> As a snowclone, the template began to propagate significantly in the field of [[computer science]] in 1968.<ref name=Liberman2008/> Its spread was prompted by a [[letter to the editor]] titled ''[[Go To Statement Considered Harmful]]'', in which [[Edsger Dijkstra]] criticized the [[GOTO]] statement in [[computer programming]].<ref name=Liberman2008/><ref name=Dijkstra1968/> The editor of ''[[Communications of the ACM]]'', [[Niklaus Wirth]], was responsible for giving the letter its evocative title.<ref name=DijkstraEWD215/>

==={{var|X}} as a service===
{{main|As a service}}
"{{var|X}} as a service" (XaaS) is a business model in which a product use is offered as a subscription-based service rather than as an artifact owned and maintained by the customer. Originating from the [[software as a service]] concept that appeared in the 2010s with the advent of [[cloud computing]],<ref name="SearchCloudComputing 2022">{{cite web | title=What is XaaS (Anything as a Service)? | website=SearchCloudComputing | date=12 August 2022 | url=https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/XaaS-anything-as-a-service | access-date=24 October 2022}}</ref> the template has expanded to numerous offerings in the field of [[information technology]] and beyond it, as in [[mobility as a service]].<ref name="Uppala 2018">{{cite web | last=Uppala | first=Raj | title=The need for Transportation as a Service (TaaS) Platforms | website=Medium | date=28 August 2018 | url=https://medium.com/@techreigns/the-need-for-transportation-as-a-service-taas-platforms-1fb22d79c296 | access-date=24 October 2022}}</ref>

==Similar concepts==
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]]'s ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' radio series (1978).<ref name=Crystal1995 /> The phrase references ''[[Star Trek]]'' ("[[Where no man has gone before|... to boldly go where no man has gone before]]"), humorously highlighting the use of a [[split infinitive]] as an intentional violation of a disputed traditional rule of grammar.<ref name=Fowler1965 />

In the study of folklore, the related concept of a [[proverbial phrase]] has a long history of description and analysis. There are many kinds of such wordplay, as described in various studies of written and oral sources.<ref name=Loomis1964 />

{{anchor|X-gate}}

===Liberated suffixes===
{{main|Libfix}}

Suffixes created from a shortened form of a word are sometimes called snowclones,<ref name=Marsh /> but can also be described as [[libfix]]es, short for 'liberated suffix'. These are "lexical word-formation analog... [in] [[derivational morphology]]".<ref name=Pullum2010 /> Libfixes include formations like the English [[List of scandals with "-gate" suffix|''-gate'']] suffix drawn from the [[Watergate scandal]], or the Italian ''{{lang|it|-opoli}}'', abstracted from the ''{{lang|it|[[Mani pulite|Tangentopoli]]}}'' scandal.<ref name=Maier2012/>

==See also==
* [[Anti-proverb]]
* [[Construction grammar]]
* [[Copypasta]]
* [[Meme]]
* [[-stan]], used as a cliché suffix for fictional country names

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="Abley">{{cite book |last=Abley |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Abley |title=The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |date=2008 |page=[https://archive.org/details/prodigaltonguedi00able_0/page/173 173] |isbn=978-0-618-57122-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/prodigaltonguedi00able_0/page/173}}</ref>
<ref name="ADS2015">{{Cite web |title=All of the Words of the Year, 1990 to Present |year=2015 |work=American Dialect Society |url= http://www.americandialect.org/woty/all-of-the-words-of-the-year-1990-to-present#1991 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170612181951/http://www.americandialect.org/woty/all-of-the-words-of-the-year-1990-to-present |archive-date=2017-06-12}}</ref>
<ref name="Atkinson1991">{{cite news |title=U.S., Allies Launch Massive Air War Against Targets in Iraq and Kuwait |first1=Rick |last1=Atkinson |first2=David S. |last2=Broder |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=January 17, 1991 |page=A01 |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/iraq/timeline/011791.htm |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170614181956/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/iraq/timeline/011791.htm |archive-date=2017-06-14}}</ref>
<ref name="Balkisson">{{cite news |title=Digital Arts: Uncaped Crusaders |first=Kamaria |last=Balkisson |date=November 2017 |work=[[The Africa Report]] |location=Paris |publisher=[[Jeune Afrique|Groupe Jeune Afrique]] |access-date=2017-10-31 |url= http://www.theafricareport.com/International/digital-arts-uncaped-crusaders.html |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171027195534/http://www.theafricareport.com/International/digital-arts-uncaped-crusaders.html |archive-date=2017-10-27}}</ref>
<ref name="CBSNews">{{cite news |first=Chitra |last=Ragavan |date=February 13, 2007 |title=Islamic Activists Ask, Is There a 'Flying While Muslim' Bias? |publisher=CBS News |url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/islamic-activists-ask-is-there-a-flying-while-muslim-bias/ |access-date=2017-11-02 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160822134435/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/islamic-activists-ask-is-there-a-flying-while-muslim-bias/ |archive-date=2016-08-22 |quote=There's a new term of art, 'Flying While Muslim'&nbsp;... intended to draw parallels to the American phenomenon known as 'driving while black'...}}</ref>
<ref name="Cichoci2010">{{cite journal |title=On 'Eskimo Words for Snow': The Life Cycle of a Linguistic Misconception |first1=Piotr |last1=Cichocki |first2=Marcin |last2=Kilarski |journal=Historiographia Linguistica |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |volume=37 |issue=3 |year=2010 |pages=341–377 |format=PDF |url=https://www.academia.edu/32427280 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729174629/https://www.academia.edu/32427280/On_Eskimo_Words_for_Snow_The_life_cycle_of_a_linguistic_misconception |archive-date=2017-07-29 |url-status=dead |access-date=2017-11-02 |doi=10.1075/hl.37.3.03cic}}</ref>
<ref name="Coolican2003">{{cite news |last=Coolican |first=J. Patrick |url= http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=profiling21m&date=20031121&source=st |title=Chief vows to root out profiling by Patrol |newspaper=The Seattle Times |date=November 21, 2003 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160531082817/http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20031121&slug=profiling21m |url-status= live |archive-date=2016-05-31}}</ref>
<ref name="Cowell1990">{{cite news |title=Confrontation in the Gulf: Leaders Bluntly Prime Iraq for 'Mother of All Battles' |first=Alan |last=Cowell |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 1990 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/22/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-leaders-bluntly-prime-iraq-for-mother-of-all-battles.html?pagewanted=all |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170614181601/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/22/world/confrontation-in-the-gulf-leaders-bluntly-prime-iraq-for-mother-of-all-battles.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=2017-06-14}}</ref>
<ref name="Crystal1995">{{cite book |first=David |last=Crystal |author-link=David Crystal |title=The Encyclopedia of the English Language |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys |url-access=registration |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencyclo00crys/page/178 178]|isbn=9780521401791 }}</ref>
<ref name="Dickson">{{cite book |last=Dickson |first=Paul |title=War Slang: American Fighting Words & Phrases Since the Civil War |date=August 2014 |edition=3rd |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=9780486797168|page=317 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XGNMBAAAQBAJ&q=%22the%20mother%20of%20all%22%20phrase%20saddam%20hussein&pg=PA317|access-date=2017-04-15}}</ref>
<ref name="Dijkstra1968">{{cite journal |first=Edsger W. |last=Dijkstra |author-link=Edsger Dijkstra |date=March 1968 |title=Go To Statement Considered Harmful |journal=Communications of the ACM |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=147–148 |doi=10.1145/362929.362947 |s2cid=17469809 |url=https://homepages.cwi.nl/~storm/teaching/reader/Dijkstra68.pdf}}</ref>
<ref name="DijkstraEWD215">{{Cite EWD|215}}</ref>
<ref name="Economist2003">{{cite news |title=Germany's bureaucracy – Breathe or be strangled: The government declares war on red tape—and may win a skirmish or two |date=October 9, 2003 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |access-date=2017-11-02 |url= http://www.economist.com/node/2127649 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170328122159/http://www.economist.com/node/2127649 |archive-date=2017-03-28 |url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Fowler1965">See {{cite encyclopedia |entry=Split infinitive |first1=H. W. |last1=Fowler |author1-link=Henry Watson Fowler |first2=Ernest |last2=Gowers |author2-link=Ernest Gowers |title=A Dictionary of Modern English Usage |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1965}}</ref>
<ref name="Harris2003">{{cite journal |first=Anne-Marie G. |last=Harris |title=Shopping While Black: Applying 42 U.S.C. § 1981 to Cases of Consumer Racial Profiling |volume=23 |journal=Boston College Third World Law Journal |number=1 |year=2003 |url= http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=twlj |type=PDF |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171102211647/http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1124&context=twlj |archive-date=2017-11-02}}</ref>
<ref name="Jupitus2008">{{cite news |url= http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/comedy/article4044531.ece |title=Comedy is the new rock 'n' roll (again) |date=June 2, 2008 |first=Phill |last=Jupitus |author-link=Phill Jupitus |work=[[The Times]] |access-date=2009-09-14 |location=London}}</ref>
<ref name="Liberman2005">{{cite web |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002248.html |title=Etymology as argument |first=Mark |last=Liberman |author-link=Mark Liberman |date=June 18, 2005 |work=[[Language Log]] |access-date=2007-11-25}}</ref>
<ref name="Liberman2008">{{cite web | url = http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004675.html |first=Mark |last=Liberman |author-link=Mark Liberman |title = Language Log: Considered harmful | date = April 8, 2008 | access-date=2009-08-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Loomis1964">{{cite journal |first=C. Grant |last=Loomis |title=Proverbial Phrases in Journalistic Wordplay |journal=Western Folklore |volume=23 |issue=3 |year=1964 |pages=187–189 |doi=10.2307/1498905|jstor=1498905}}</ref>
<ref name="Maier2012">{{cite web |title=The 'gate' suffix – Gli scandali italiani: '-opoli' |last=Maier |first=Eleanor |website=Oxford English Dictionary |type=Blog |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=UK |date=August 16, 2012 |url=https://public.oed.com/blog/the-gate-suffix/#gli |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417065728/https://public.oed.com/blog/the-gate-suffix/#gli |archive-date=2019-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Marsh">{{Cite news |access-date=2017-06-21 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/01/gate-language-scandal-cliché |date= February 1, 2010 |title= Mind your language |first=David |last=Marsh |work=The Guardian |quote=All these gates are examples of a snowclone, a type of clichéd phrase defined by the linguist Geoffrey Pullum as 'a multi-use, customisable, instantly recognisable, timeworn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants'. Examples of a typical snowclone are: grey is the new black, comedy is the new rock'n'roll, Barnsley is the new Naples, and so on.}}</ref>
<ref name="McFedries2008">{{cite book |last=McFedries |first=Paul |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weird Word Origins |publisher=Penguin Books |date=2008 |isbn=9781101217184 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-macyDTIfaMC&q=Snowclone&pg=PA167 |access-date=2017-07-10}}</ref>
<ref name="McFedriesIEEE">{{cite journal |url= http://spectrum.ieee.org/feb08/5909 |journal=[[IEEE Spectrum]] |date=February 2008 |title=Snowclone Is the New Cliché |first=Paul |last=McFedries |doi=10.1109/SPEC.2008.4445783 |access-date=2008-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914161351/http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/snowclone-is-the-new-clich |archive-date=2016-09-14 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>
<ref name="Morse2002">{{cite magazine |last=Morse |first=Jodie |date=June 5, 2002 |url= http://www.time.com/time/education/article/0,8599,238611,00.html |title=Learning While Black |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160313033119/http://content.time.com/time/education/article/0,8599,238611,00.html |archive-date=2016-03-13}}</ref>
<ref name="Mosedale2007">{{cite news |last=Mosedale |first=Mike |date=February 28, 2007 |url=http://citypages.com/databank/28/1369/article15168.asp |title=Critics say a Minneapolis law criminalizes walking while black: What Lurks Beneath? |work=City Pages |volume=28 |issue=1369 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080401041301/http://citypages.com/databank/28/1369/article15168.asp |archive-date=2008-04-01}}</ref>
<ref name="Norman2009">{{cite news |first=Anna |last=Norman |title='Shopping While Black': Would You Stop Racism? |date=March 23, 2009 |publisher=ABC News |url= https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7131333 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171102210948/https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7131333 |archive-date=2017-11-02}}</ref>
<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book|title=Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject |first=Susan |last=Ratcliffe |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199567065 |date=2010 |page=219 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=eWycAQAAQBAJ&q=Saddam+Hussein%27s+1991+speech+%22the+mother+of+all+wars%22&pg=PA219}}</ref>
<ref name="Peters2006">{{cite journal|url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3613/is_200607/ai_n17171280 |title=Not Your Father's Cliché |journal=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] |date=July–August 2006 |last=Peters |first=Mark |access-date=2007-11-25 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071222001124/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3613/is_200607/ai_n17171280 |archive-date=2007-12-22 |url-status= unfit}}</ref>
<ref name="Pullum2003a">{{cite web |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000061.html |title=Phrases for lazy writers in kit form |date=October 27, 2003 |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |author-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum |work=Language Log |access-date=2007-11-25}}</ref>
<ref name="Pullum2003b">{{cite web |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000049.html |title=Bleached conditionals |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |date=October 21, 2003 |work=Language Log |access-date=2007-11-25}}</ref>
<ref name="Pullum2004">{{cite web |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000350.html |title=Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the second |date=January 16, 2004 |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |work=[[Language Log]] | access-date=2010-01-05}}</ref>
<ref name="Pullum2010">{{Cite web |access-date=2017-06-21 |url= http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2094 |date=February 2, 2010 |title=Snowclonegate |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |quote={{var|X}}gate as a snowclone? Not quite. I see the conceptual similarity, but the very words he quotes show that I originally defined the concept (in this post) as a phrase or sentence template. The {{var|X}}gate frame is a lexical word-formation analog of it, an extension of the concept from syntax into derivational morphology.}}</ref>
<ref name="Safire">{{cite book |last=Safire |first=William |title=Safire's Political Dictionary |year=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195343342 |page=439 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=c4UoX6-Sv1AC&q=%22the%20mother%20of%20all%22%20phrase%20saddam%20hussein&pg=PA439|access-date=2017-04-15|language=en}}</ref>
<ref name="Sarno2008">{{cite news |first=David |last=Sarno |url= http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/08/the-snowclone-a.html |work=Los Angeles Times Blog |title=Web Scout: The snowclone |date=August 6, 2008}}{{dead link|date=February 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}.</ref>
<ref name="Savan2006">{{cite book |last=Savan |first=Leslie |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XvrUCyQbEtQC&q=%22while+black%22&pg=PA58 |title=Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and, Like... Whatever |pages=58–59 |date=2006 |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |isbn=978-0-375-70242-6}}</ref>
<ref name="Shore2015">{{cite journal |last=Shore |first=Daniel |title=Shakespeare's Constructicon |journal=Shakespeare Quarterly |volume=66 |number=2 |date=Summer 2015 |pages=129–132 |url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/761720/Shakespeare%27s%20Constructicon.66.2.shore.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103051823/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/761720/Shakespeare%27s%20Constructicon.66.2.shore.pdf?sequence=6&isAllowed=y |archive-date=2017-11-03 |url-status=live |quote=In its most general use, ''to X or not to X'' denotes the disjunction between contradictory alternatives. But the form also acquired a more specific function in the [[Reformation]] discourse of [[Christian liberty]]... Though discussions of this sort occurred most frequently in theological writings, [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan]] parishioners attending services each week would have likely heard preachers fill ''to X or not to X'' with a variety of verbs... |doi=10.1353/shq.2015.0017|s2cid=194951609}}</ref>
<ref name="Zimmer2006">{{cite web |title=On the trail of 'the new black' (and 'the navy blue') |work=Language Log |date=December 28, 2006 |first=Benjamin |last=Zimmer |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003981.html |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170323075810/http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003981.html |archive-date=2017-03-23}}</ref>
<ref name="zwicky">{{Cite web |first=Arnold |last=Zwicky |author-link=Arnold Zwicky |title=To Snowclone or Not to Snowclone |work=Language Log |date=October 25, 2005 |url= http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002538.html |access-date=2010-11-08}}</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite interview |first1=Grant |last1=Barrett |first2=Geoffrey |last2=Pullum |first3=Martha |last3=Barnette |others=Neal Conan |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=5518444 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024151819/http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=5518444 |archive-date=2016-10-24 |url-status=live |work=[[Talk of the Nation]]|publisher=[[NPR]] |title=How the Web Is Changing Language |date=June 28, 2006 |access-date=2007-11-25}}
* {{Cite journal |url= https://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg19225780.126-the-word-snowclone.html |journal=[[New Scientist]] |issue=2578 |title=The word: Snowclone |date=November 18, 2006 |access-date=2007-11-25 |url-access=subscription }}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|snowclone|Appendix:Snowclones}}
* [http://snowclones.org/ The Snowclones Database]


[[Category:Snowclones| ]]
[[fr:Formule toute faite]]
[[Category:2000s neologisms]]
[[Category:Catchphrases|*]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]

Latest revision as of 01:21, 1 July 2024

A snowclone is a cliché and phrasal template that can be used and recognized in multiple variants. The term was coined in 2004, derived from journalistic clichés that referred to the number of Inuit words for snow.[1]

History and derivation[edit]

The linguistic phenomenon of "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" was originally described by linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum in 2003.[2] Pullum later described snowclones as "some-assembly-required adaptable cliché frames for lazy journalists".[1]

In an October 2003 post on Language Log, a collaborative blog by several linguistics professors, Pullum solicited ideas for what the then-unnamed phenomenon should be called.[2] In response to the request, the word "snowclone" was coined by economics professor Glen Whitman on January 15, 2004, and Pullum endorsed it as a term of art the next day.[1] The term was derived by Whitman from journalistic clichés referring to the number of Eskimo words for snow[1] and incorporates a pun on the snow cone.[3]

The term "snowclone" has since been adopted by other linguists, journalists, and authors.[3][4]

Snowclones are related to both memes and clichés, according to the Los Angeles Times's David Sarno: "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."[5]

Notable examples[edit]

Eskimo words for snow[edit]

Main article: Eskimo words for snow

Pullum, in his first discussion of what would later be called a snowclone, offered the following example of a template describing multiple variations of a journalistic cliché he had encountered: "If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have M words for Y."[2] Pullum cited this as 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,[6][7] although the basic premise (that Eskimos have a larger number of words for snow) is often disputed by those who study Eskimo (Inuit and Yupik) languages.[8]

In 2003, an article in The Economist stated, "If Eskimos have dozens of words for snow, Germans have as many for bureaucracy."[9] A similar construction in the Edmonton Sun in 2007 claimed that "auto manufacturers have 100 words for beige".[10]

In space, no one can hear you X[edit]

The original request from Geoffrey Pullum, in addition to citing the Eskimos-and-snow namesake of the term snowclone, mentioned a poster slogan for the 1979 film Alien, "In space, no one can hear you scream", which was cloned into numerous variations stating that in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, cream, DJ, dream, drink, etc.[2]

X is the new Y[edit]

Frequently seen snowclones include phrases in the form of the template "X is the new Y". The original (and still common) form is the template "X is the new black", apparently based on a misquotation of Diana Vreeland's 1962 statement that pink is "the navy blue of India".[11] According to language columnist Nathan Bierma, this snowclone provides "a tidy and catchy way of conveying an increase, or change in nature, or change in function – or all three – of X".[12]

Examples include a 2001 album titled Quiet Is the New Loud, a 2008 newspaper headline that stated "Comedy is the new rock 'n' roll",[13] and the title of the 2010 book and 2013 Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black.

The mother of all X[edit]

Saddam Hussein was associated with the popularization of the phrase "the mother of all..." in the West.

"The mother of all X", a hyperbole that has been used to refer to something as "great" or "the greatest of its kind", became a popular snowclone template in the 1990s. The phrase entered American popular culture in September 1990 at the outset of the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein's Revolutionary Command Council warned the U.S.-led Coalition against military action in Kuwait with the statement: "Let everyone understand that this battle is going to become the mother of all battles."[14][15] The phrase was repeated in a January 1991 speech by Saddam Hussein.[16] A calque from Arabic, the snowclone gained popularity in the media and was adapted for phrases such as "the mother of all bombs" and New Zealand's "Mother of all Budgets". The American Dialect Society declared "the mother of all" the 1991 Word of the Year.[17] The term "Father of All Bombs" was created by an analogy.[18][19]

The Arabic phrase originated from an Arab victory over the Sassanian Persians in 636 CE, described with the earliest known use of the phrase "mother of all battles" (Arabic: ام المعارك umm al-ma‘ārik). Although popularly used to mean "greatest" or "ultimate", the Arabic umm al- prefix creates a figurative phrase in which "mother" also suggests that the referent will give rise to many more of its kind.[20][21] The phrase was used in the naming of a mosque in Baghdad, the Umm al-Ma'arik Mosque.

X-ing while Y[edit]

The template "X-ing while Black", and its original popular construction "driving while Black", are sardonic plays on "driving while intoxicated", and refer to Black people being pulled over by police solely because of their race.[22][23] A prominent variant, "voting while Black", surfaced during the U.S. presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 in reference to attempts to suppress Black votes.[22] Snowclones of this form, highlighting the unequal treatment of Black people, have included "walking while Black" for pedestrian offenses,[24][25] "learning while Black" for students in schools,[26] "drawing while Black" for artists,[23] and "shopping while Black"[27][28] or "eating while Black"[24] for customers in stores and restaurants. A 2017 legal case prompted the variant "talking while Black".[29]

The template has been applied to other groups; the term "flying while Muslim" appeared post-9/11 to describe disproportionate suspicion shown towards airline passengers perceived to be from the Middle East.[30]

To X or not to X[edit]

"To X or not to X" is a template based on the line "To be, or not to be", spoken by the titular character in William Shakespeare's play Hamlet (around 1600).[31] This template appears to have existed even before Hamlet and had previously been explicitly used in a religious context to discuss "actions that are at once contradictory and indifferent—actions that, because they are neither commanded nor prohibited by Scripture, good nor evil in themselves, Christians are free to perform or omit".[32]

In general usage, "to X or not to X" simply conveys "disjunction between contradictory alternatives",[32] which linguist Arnold Zwicky described as an "utterly ordinary structure".[31] A Google search by Zwicky for snowclones of the form "to * or not to *" resulted in over 16 million hits, although some apparent occurrences may be cases of a natural contrastive disjunction unrelated to the Shakespearean snowclone template.[31]

Have X, will travel[edit]

Have Gun – Will Travel, 1959

The earliest known literary mention of the template "Have X, will travel" is the title of the book Have Tux, Will Travel, a 1954 memoir by comedian Bob Hope. Hope explained that "Have tuxedo, will travel" was a stock phrase used in short advertisements placed by actors in Variety, indicating that the actor was "ready to go any place any time" and to be "dressed classy" upon arrival.[33][34] The use of variations of this template by job seekers goes back considerably earlier, dating to at least the 1920s, possibly around 1900, in The Times of London.[35]

Variants of the snowclone were used in the titles of the 1957 Western television show Have Gun – Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein's 1958 novel Have Space Suit—Will Travel,[36][37] Richard Berry's 1959 song "Have Love, Will Travel", Bo Diddley's 1960 album Have Guitar Will Travel, The Three Stooges' 1959 film Have Rocket, Will Travel and Joe Perry's 2009 album Have Guitar, Will Travel.

X considered harmful[edit]

Main article: Considered harmful

"X considered harmful", an established journalistic cliché since at least the mid-20th century, generally appears in the titles of articles as "a way for an editor to alert readers that the writer is going to be expressing negative opinions about X."[38] As a snowclone, the template began to propagate significantly in the field of computer science in 1968.[38] Its spread was prompted by a letter to the editor titled Go To Statement Considered Harmful, in which Edsger Dijkstra criticized the GOTO statement in computer programming.[38][39] The editor of Communications of the ACM, Niklaus Wirth, was responsible for giving the letter its evocative title.[40]

X as a service[edit]

Main article: As a service

"X as a service" (XaaS) is a business model in which a product use is offered as a subscription-based service rather than as an artifact owned and maintained by the customer. Originating from the software as a service concept that appeared in the 2010s with the advent of cloud computing,[41] the template has expanded to numerous offerings in the field of information technology and beyond it, as in mobility as a service.[42]

Similar concepts[edit]

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's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (1978).[43] The phrase references Star Trek ("... to boldly go where no man has gone before"), humorously highlighting the use of a split infinitive as an intentional violation of a disputed traditional rule of grammar.[44]

In the study of folklore, the related concept of a proverbial phrase has a long history of description and analysis. There are many kinds of such wordplay, as described in various studies of written and oral sources.[45]

Liberated suffixes[edit]

Main article: Libfix

Suffixes created from a shortened form of a word are sometimes called snowclones,[46] but can also be described as libfixes, short for 'liberated suffix'. These are "lexical word-formation analog... [in] derivational morphology".[47] Libfixes include formations like the English -gate suffix drawn from the Watergate scandal, or the Italian -opoli, abstracted from the Tangentopoli scandal.[48]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Pullum, Geoffrey K. (January 16, 2004). "Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the second". Language Log. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d Pullum, Geoffrey K. (October 27, 2003). "Phrases for lazy writers in kit form". Language Log. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  3. ^ a b McFedries, Paul (February 2008). "Snowclone Is the New Cliché". IEEE Spectrum. doi:10.1109/SPEC.2008.4445783. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2008.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Abley, Mark (2008). The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-618-57122-2.
  5. ^ Sarno, David (August 6, 2008). "Web Scout: The snowclone". Los Angeles Times Blog.[dead link].
  6. ^ Liberman, Mark (June 18, 2005). "Etymology as argument". Language Log. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  7. ^ Pullum, Geoffrey K. (October 21, 2003). "Bleached conditionals". Language Log. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  8. ^ Cichocki, Piotr; Kilarski, Marcin (2010). "On 'Eskimo Words for Snow': The Life Cycle of a Linguistic Misconception". Historiographia Linguistica. 37 (3). John Benjamins Publishing: 341–377. doi:10.1075/hl.37.3.03cic. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 29, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  9. ^ "Germany's bureaucracy – Breathe or be strangled: The government declares war on red tape—and may win a skirmish or two". The Economist. October 9, 2003. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  10. ^ McFedries, Paul (2008). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weird Word Origins. Penguin Books. ISBN 9781101217184. Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  11. ^ Zimmer, Benjamin (December 28, 2006). "On the trail of 'the new black' (and 'the navy blue')". Language Log. Archived from the original on March 23, 2017.
  12. ^ Peters, Mark (July–August 2006). "Not Your Father's Cliché". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on December 22, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2007.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ Jupitus, Phill (June 2, 2008). "Comedy is the new rock 'n' roll (again)". The Times. London. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  14. ^ Ratcliffe, Susan (2010). Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject. Oxford University Press. p. 219. ISBN 9780199567065.
  15. ^ Cowell, Alan (September 22, 1990). "Confrontation in the Gulf: Leaders Bluntly Prime Iraq for 'Mother of All Battles'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017.
  16. ^ Atkinson, Rick; Broder, David S. (January 17, 1991). "U.S., Allies Launch Massive Air War Against Targets in Iraq and Kuwait". The Washington Post. p. A01. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017.
  17. ^ "All of the Words of the Year, 1990 to Present". American Dialect Society. 2015. Archived from the original on June 12, 2017.
  18. ^ Gigova, Radina (April 20, 2017). "Meet the Russian 'father of all bombs'". CNN. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  19. ^ Harding, Luke (September 11, 2007). "Russia unveils the 'father of all bombs'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  20. ^ Safire, William (2008). Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 439. ISBN 9780195343342. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  21. ^ Dickson, Paul (August 2014). War Slang: American Fighting Words & Phrases Since the Civil War (3rd ed.). Courier Corporation. p. 317. ISBN 9780486797168. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  22. ^ a b Savan, Leslie (2006). Slam Dunks and No-Brainers: Pop Language in Your Life, the Media, and, Like... Whatever. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-0-375-70242-6.
  23. ^ a b Balkisson, Kamaria (November 2017). "Digital Arts: Uncaped Crusaders". The Africa Report. Paris: Groupe Jeune Afrique. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  24. ^ a b Coolican, J. Patrick (November 21, 2003). "Chief vows to root out profiling by Patrol". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on May 31, 2016.
  25. ^ Mosedale, Mike (February 28, 2007). "Critics say a Minneapolis law criminalizes walking while black: What Lurks Beneath?". City Pages. Vol. 28, no. 1369. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008.
  26. ^ Morse, Jodie (June 5, 2002). "Learning While Black". Time. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016.
  27. ^ Harris, Anne-Marie G. (2003). "Shopping While Black: Applying 42 U.S.C. § 1981 to Cases of Consumer Racial Profiling". Boston College Third World Law Journal (PDF). 23 (1). Archived from the original on November 2, 2017.
  28. ^ Norman, Anna (March 23, 2009). "'Shopping While Black': Would You Stop Racism?". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017.
  29. ^ Baron, Dennis (November 4, 2017). "Miranda and the Louisiana Lawyer Dog: A case of talking while black". The Web of Language. Archived from the original on November 5, 2017. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  30. ^ Ragavan, Chitra (February 13, 2007). "Islamic Activists Ask, Is There a 'Flying While Muslim' Bias?". CBS News. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2017. There's a new term of art, 'Flying While Muslim' ... intended to draw parallels to the American phenomenon known as 'driving while black'...
  31. ^ a b c Zwicky, Arnold (October 25, 2005). "To Snowclone or Not to Snowclone". Language Log. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  32. ^ a b Shore, Daniel (Summer 2015). "Shakespeare's Constructicon" (PDF). Shakespeare Quarterly. 66 (2): 129–132. doi:10.1353/shq.2015.0017. S2CID 194951609. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 3, 2017. In its most general use, to X or not to X denotes the disjunction between contradictory alternatives. But the form also acquired a more specific function in the Reformation discourse of Christian liberty... Though discussions of this sort occurred most frequently in theological writings, Elizabethan parishioners attending services each week would have likely heard preachers fill to X or not to X with a variety of verbs...
  33. ^ "have". Online Etymology Dictionary. 2001. Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  34. ^ Hope, Bob (1954). Have Tux, Will Travel: Bob Hope's Own Story as Told to Pete Martin. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-6103-8. Hoofers, comedians and singers used to put ads in Variety. Those ads read: 'Have tuxedo, will travel'. It meant they were ready to go any place, any time... It also meant that they would be dressed classy when they showed up.
  35. ^ Partridge, Eric (1992). A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: British and American, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day. Scarborough House. pp. 118–119. ISBN 978-1-4616-6040-8.
  36. ^ J. Daniel Gifford (2000), Robert A. Heinlein: a reader's companion, p. 98.
  37. ^ "A Boy and His Space Suit (Have Space Suit — Will Travel — Robert A. Heinlein)", a review by James Nicoll.
  38. ^ a b c Liberman, Mark (April 8, 2008). "Language Log: Considered harmful". Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  39. ^ Dijkstra, Edsger W. (March 1968). "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 11 (3): 147–148. doi:10.1145/362929.362947. S2CID 17469809.
  40. ^ Dijkstra, Edsger W. EWD-215 (PDF). E.W. Dijkstra Archive. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. (transcription)
  41. ^ "What is XaaS (Anything as a Service)?". SearchCloudComputing. August 12, 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  42. ^ Uppala, Raj (August 28, 2018). "The need for Transportation as a Service (TaaS) Platforms". Medium. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  43. ^ Crystal, David (1995). The Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780521401791.
  44. ^ See Fowler, H. W.; Gowers, Ernest (1965). "Split infinitive". A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
  45. ^ Loomis, C. Grant (1964). "Proverbial Phrases in Journalistic Wordplay". Western Folklore. 23 (3): 187–189. doi:10.2307/1498905. JSTOR 1498905.
  46. ^ Marsh, David (February 1, 2010). "Mind your language". The Guardian. Retrieved June 21, 2017. All these gates are examples of a snowclone, a type of clichéd phrase defined by the linguist Geoffrey Pullum as 'a multi-use, customisable, instantly recognisable, timeworn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants'. Examples of a typical snowclone are: grey is the new black, comedy is the new rock'n'roll, Barnsley is the new Naples, and so on.
  47. ^ Pullum, Geoffrey K. (February 2, 2010). "Snowclonegate". Retrieved June 21, 2017. Xgate as a snowclone? Not quite. I see the conceptual similarity, but the very words he quotes show that I originally defined the concept (in this post) as a phrase or sentence template. The Xgate frame is a lexical word-formation analog of it, an extension of the concept from syntax into derivational morphology.
  48. ^ Maier, Eleanor (August 16, 2012). "The 'gate' suffix – Gli scandali italiani: '-opoli'". Oxford English Dictionary (Blog). UK: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Look up snowclone or Appendix:Snowclones in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.chped.com/w/index.php?title=Snowclone&oldid=1231927787"