Aug 20 2007

Got Snowclone?

Posted by Steve @ 11:32 pmTags: ,

Yes, snGot Milk?owclone. While Merriam-Webster Online does not have a definition for theGot Guitar? term, Wikipedia defines it as a type of formula-based cliche which uses an old idiom in a new context.

Still confused? Basically, take a well-known phrase and substitute one or more key elements of that phrase with other words. If people can still recognize the original context, or at least realize that the phrase can be used with interchangeable pieces, then you have a snowclone.

Examples:

  • Got x?: Derived from the hugely successful Got Milk? commercials started by the California Milk Processor Board.
  • x called, they want their y back. : The village called, they want their idiot back. 1985 called, they want their mullett back.My Mullett
  • I’m not a x, but I play one on TV. : I’m not a programmer, but I play one on TV.
  • You can take the x out of y, but not the y out of x. : You can take the man out of Newfoundland, but not the Newfoundland out of the man!
  • x 1, y 0 : Underdog 1, Big Corporation 0.
  • x million y can’t be wrong. : 50 million Frenchmen can’t be wrong.
  • And one of my favourites: Is that an x in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

So, you see snowclones are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. In fact, snowclones are the best thing since sliced bread. If I had a dime for every snowclone I’ve used in my lifetime, I’d be a millionaire. I should be writing about snowclones for fun and profit. I mean, a snowclone is a terrible thing to waste.

Keep reading, because I have here everything you ever wanted to know about snowclones, but were afraid to ask. Happiness is a well-written snowclone. In fact, we’ve secretly replaced our metaphors with snowclones, let’s see if anyone notices. What we’ve created here, is a kinder, gentler snowclone.

Holy snowclone Batman! It’s 11 o’clock, do you know where your snowclones are? If you don’t enjoy your snowclones, the terrorists have won.

Driving you nuts yet? Sorry about that. I’ll stop.

The snowclones have left the building.

9 Responses to “Got Snowclone?”

  1. rekounas says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 8:40 am

    Steve, what are you talking about?

  2. Steve says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 9:29 am

    A snowclone by any other name, is still a snowclone.

    The term comes from the phrase, “If Eskimos have 100 words for snow, surely we have (x number) of ways to do (y).”

    C’mon, Greg… you can get your head around that? Can’t you? icon_wink

  3. Paul says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 11:13 am

    Merriam-Webster 1, Wikipedia 0 icon_wink

  4. Nadine says:
    August 21st, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    X me, that sounds nuts!

  5. gary says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm

    couldn’t get the square peg in the round hole eh. had to start a whole new blog category for this one . there were so many, coming so fast, it was like ” star wars : attack of the snowclones”

  6. gary says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    you can take the nerpa out of the baikal , but you can’t take the baikal out of the nerpa. done learnt sumtin ?

  7. Steve says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    Let’s take “x has left the building”. I could say, Gary has left the building… you’d know I was referring to a common phrase where the word “Gary” could be replaced with “Steve” or “Logic”; AND you’d know that the original phrase was “Elvis as left the building”

    There’s a base phrase with an interchangeable piece. The base phrase is instantly recognizable.

    A brain/idea/paycheck/virgin/cheerleader/beer/blog post is a terrible thing to waste…

  8. Steve says:
    August 22nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm

    BTW… WTF is Nerpa? Some sort of freshwater seal?

    Lucky guess? (I love Google.)

  9. Donna says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    You look X cute in that picture…

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