Word people love to play with 鈥榮nowclones鈥�
鈥淭o write, or not to write, that is the question.鈥� 鈥淢ake grammar fun again.鈥� 鈥淜eep calm and scribble on.鈥� These are what linguists call snowclones, formulaic phrases 鈥渢hat can be adapted for different situations by changing only some of the words,鈥� as Dictionary.com puts it. They are often written out in almost mathematical form: 鈥淭o X, or not to X.鈥� 鈥淢ake X Y again.鈥� 鈥淜eep X and Y on.鈥� These X鈥檚 and Y鈥檚 are variables, indicating that you can substitute any words that make sense (-core, or Xcore, which we talked about last week, is sometimes classed as a sort of聽鈥渒iddie-sized鈥� snowclone). 聽 聽
The framework of a snowclone is by definition a clich茅, as they only work with phrases that people recognize instantly. The creative part is finding new ways to fill in the blanks, like playing Mad Libs. 聽
In 2003, linguist Geoffrey Pullum was looking for a good name for a 鈥渓inguistic figure鈥� he鈥檇 noticed, 鈥渁 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.鈥� He was thinking in particular of articles that led with 鈥淚f the Inuit have X words for snow, then A must have B words for C.鈥� (鈥淚f [the Inuit] have dozens of words for snow, Germans have as many for bureaucracy,鈥� an article in The Economist posited, for example.) Economist Glen Whitman suggested the punny name snowclones, which stuck.聽
Though the name is only a couple of decades old, the phenomenon has been around for centuries. A favorite Renaissance snowclone was 鈥淴 me no X(s).鈥� In Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淩ichard II,鈥� for example, the Duke of York rejects his nephew鈥檚 attempts to curry favor (鈥淢y gracious uncle ...鈥�) with 鈥淕race me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle.鈥� Other playwrights of the era have 鈥淧lot me no plots!鈥� The snowclone lives on in 1964鈥檚 鈥淔iddler on the Roof,鈥� when three unmarried women sing about rejecting the village matchmaker鈥檚 services: 鈥淕room me no groom. Find me no find. Catch me no catch.鈥�
Online, people seem to enjoy coming up with new 鈥渇lavors鈥� of snowclone. 鈥淴 is the new Y,鈥� which apparently originated when Vogue editor Diana Vreeland announced that 鈥減ink is the navy blue of India,鈥� has spread far beyond fashion, producing 鈥�50 is the new 30,鈥� 鈥淜nitting is the new yoga,鈥� 鈥淪lovenia is the new Switzerland,鈥� and so on. When the Las Vegas tourism authority adopted the slogan 鈥淲hat happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas鈥� in 2003, it spawned an endlessly productive snowclone that has been filled in with everything from 鈥渂ook club鈥� to 鈥淰ermont鈥� 鈥� 鈥淲hat happens in Vermont stays in Vermont. But nothing ever really happens.鈥澛�
Perhaps some snowclones are 鈥渓azy鈥� writing as Mr. Pullum suggests, but more frequently they seem to offer evidence of how much we love to play with language, and how creative we can be.聽
