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was wotd|2007|December|27
English
warn|neologism
Etymology
Blend of snow cone and clone; coined by Glen Whitman in response to w:Geoffrey Pullum|Geoffrey Pullum on the blog w:Language Log|Language Log
Pronunciation
a|RP IPA|/ˈsnəʊ.kləʊn/, SAMPA|/"sn@U.kl@Un/
a|US IPA|/ˈsnoʊ.kloʊn/,
SAMPA|/"snoU.kloUn/
audio|en-us-snowclone.ogg|Audio (US)
Noun
en-noun
- A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically in a new context. For example, "it's X, but not as we know it".
#* 2005 Nov 5, auuV, “Some articles that I like. They are about languageâ€, <tt>alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names</tt>, Usenet
#*: I stumbled upon the site the other day, when I was looking up the origins of the "Im not an X, but I
play one on TV" snowclone.
#* 2005 December 3, David Rowan, “Trendsurfing: <nowiki>'</nowiki>Snowclone<nowiki>'</nowiki> journalism†1, The Times
#*: Suddenly snowclone hunters were
documenting media usages suggesting that, in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, speak, squeak or suck.
#* 2006 Jun 20, Michael Erard, Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White, in w:The New York Times|The New York Times, page
F4
#*: Regular readers learned there first about snowclones, the basic building blocks of cliches, like "X is the new Y" or "you don't need a degree in A to do B."
#* 2006 Jul, Mark Peters, Not Your Father's
Cliché, in w:Columbia Journalism Review|Columbia Journalism Review 45(2), page 14
#*: If so, you're being snowed under by snowclones — a category of fill-in-the-blank cliché identified by
linguists.
#* 2006 Nov 18, unknown author, Snowclone, in w:New Scientist|New Scientist 192(2578), page 80
#*: When you read phrases like these in a newspaper, you've stumbled across a particular type of cliché: the
snowclone.
Synonyms
catchphrase, cliché
Related terms
meme
References
2004 January 16, w:Geoffrey Pullum|Geoffrey Pullum, “Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the secondâ€, w:Language Log|Language Log
External links
pedialite
ru:snowclone
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