I learned a new word today: snowclone. When I first heard it, I immediately pictured a snowcone. But that's not correct.
A snowclone is actually is a neologism for a type of cliche 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".
An example of a snowclone is "Tupperware is the Cadillac of Food Storage", giving rise to the template "X is the Cadillac of Y". X and Y may be replaced with different words or phrases—for example, "Behr is the Cadillac of paint." And if you were a fan of the WKRP in Cincinnati: "Red wigglers, the Cadillac of worms!"
Orange Is the New Black is not only a great series on Netflix, it's also a snowclone. There are hundreds of them, but here are other examples are:
A snowclone is actually is a neologism for a type of cliche 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".
An example of a snowclone is "Tupperware is the Cadillac of Food Storage", giving rise to the template "X is the Cadillac of Y". X and Y may be replaced with different words or phrases—for example, "Behr is the Cadillac of paint." And if you were a fan of the WKRP in Cincinnati: "Red wigglers, the Cadillac of worms!"
Orange Is the New Black is not only a great series on Netflix, it's also a snowclone. There are hundreds of them, but here are other examples are:
- A few X short of a Y.
- Yes, Virginia, there is an X.
- This is your brain on X.
- My kingdom for a(n) X.
- There's no crying in X.
- X? We don't need no stinking X.
- We're going to need a bigger X.
- Whatever Xs your Y.
