鈥淐HINA is the new Japan.鈥� 鈥淢uch ado about ballroom dancing.鈥� When you read phrases like these in a newspaper, you鈥檝e stumbled across a particular type of clich茅: the snowclone.
Snowclones spring from a rich diversity of sources, from Shakespeare (鈥淭o X or not to X?鈥�) to Star Trek (鈥淚t鈥檚 X, but not as we know it.鈥�) and movie titles (鈥淒ude, where鈥檚 my X?鈥�) 鈥� if the source is known at all. Who, for instance, knows the origin of the snowclone 鈥淴 is my middle name.鈥�? When Saddam Hussein claimed the first Gulf war would be 鈥渢he mother of all battles鈥�, he coined an endlessly reusable formula that has given us the mother of all plagues, stink bombs, waves, firework displays and brain cells (all, alas, taken from the pages of the mother of all science magazines).
Linguists began collecting such phrases in 2003 on Language Log, a linguistics blog. It was here that Geoffrey Pullum from the University of California, Santa Cruz, noted that this 鈥渕ulti-use, customisable, instantly recognisable, 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� needed a name. This was provided by Glen Whitman of California State University, Northridge, who coined the term 鈥渟nowclone鈥� after the formula 鈥淚f Eskimos have N words for snow, then X must have at least Y words for Z.鈥� This particular snowclone is highly variable and rarely phrased the same way twice, but most snowclones tend to be fixed, fill-in-the-blank expressions such as 鈥淗ave X, will travel,鈥� and 鈥淪ex and the single X.鈥�
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Many journalists are guilty of serial snowcloning, but snowclones aren鈥檛 always a symptom of laziness 鈥� they can be a cultural in-joke. A snowclone such as 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 the incriminating memos you鈥檙e looking for,鈥� indicates that the writer is a Star Wars fan by referencing Obi-Wan Kenobi鈥檚 line 鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 the droids you鈥檙e looking for.鈥� Other snowclones have rich meaning appropriate to the topic. The 鈥淣o X left behind鈥� snowclone, for instance, can inspire the same kind of mixed feelings in the US as the 鈥淣o Child Left Behind鈥� education law.
鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 the droids you鈥檙e looking for鈥�
The snowclone is the new clich茅 鈥� which is such a common snowclone that the UK magazine Private Eye has a column for fresh variations on the formula, such as 鈥淔ootball is the new rock 鈥榥鈥� roll.鈥� So what every journalist must ask themselves is: To snowclone, or not to snowclone?