Snowclone is a 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". The term was coined as a neologism in 2004.
Contents
A typical example snowclone is the phrase "grey is the new black" (a form of the template "X is the new Y", in which "X" and "Y" may be replaced with different words or phrases—for example, Orange is the New Black or even "comedy is the new rock 'n' roll").
History
In October 2003, linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum described the phenomenon in a post on Language Log, a collaborative blog by several linguistics professors, and solicited ideas for what the phenomenon should be called. In response to the request, the word "snowclone" was coined by Glen Whitman on January 15, 2004, and Pullum endorsed it as a term of art the next day. The term has since been adopted by other linguists, journalists, and authors. The term alludes to one of Pullum's example template phrases:
If Eskimos have N words for snow, X surely have M words for Y.
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 Y, although the basic premise (that Eskimos have a larger number of words for snow) is often disputed by those who study Eskimo languages.
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."
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' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (1978). Adams' phrase references Star Trek ("...to boldly go where no man has gone before") to humorously highlight the use of a split infinitive as an intentional violation of a disputed traditional rule of grammar.
In the study of folklore, the concept of proverbial phrase has 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.
Notable examples
The original request from Geoffrey Pullum, in addition to the Eskimos-and-snow namesake of the term, mentioned a poster slogan for the 1979 film Alien, "In space, no one can hear you scream", which was cloned into numerous twistings, such as "In space, no one can see your breasts".
Saddam Hussein's 1991 speech promising "the mother of all wars", in reference to the Gulf War, gave rise to the snowclone "the mother of all X" e.g. "the mother of all patents", "the mother of all bombs", etc. The American Dialect Society declared "the mother of all" the 1991 Word of the Year.