I’ve had lots of snowclones, and didn’t even know it.
A snowclone is a way of re-using an idiom via a familiar formula to create a new idiom — the form is a cliché. And it’s something that my friends and I do a lot.
The formula would be something like this: Dammit, Jim, I’m a X, not a Y.
You vary the X and the Y to create new versions.
I’m pretty sure my friends have come up with a snowclone, varied a snowclone, and exhausted a snowclone all in one night. See the Wikipedia list of snowclones.
Posted by James at March 18, 2006 10:07 AMWe actually did a ton of them yesterday in a meeting. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't:
make him wash the dishes
take a bath
switch him midstream
turn him a different color
look him in the mouth
make him go to the bathroom (I stole that one from Manny)
stuff him full of greek warriors
Ha - I like the one about switching him midstream.
When metaphors collide.
Posted by: James at March 18, 2006 3:38 PM