“Orange is the new black.” “In space, no one can hear you scream.” “To X or not to X.” Once you notice these phrase templates, you will see them everywhere. Linguists have a name for them: snowclones.
Where the term comes from
In 2004, linguist Geoffrey Pullum asked readers of the Language Log blog to suggest a name for these reusable, customisable clichés. Economist Glen Whitman proposed “snowclone”, a nod to the tired journalistic cliché that “if Eskimos have N words for snow, then X have N words for Y”. The name stuck, and it now appears in dictionaries and language blogs.
What makes a snowclone?
A snowclone has:
- A fixed frame that people recognise instantly.
- One or more open slots that writers fill with their own words.
- A borrowed effect – the new phrase inherits the tone or authority of the original.
Common examples
- X is the new Y – “Grey is the new black.”
- In space, no one can hear you X – from a famous film tagline.
- I’m not an X, but I play one on TV – from an old commercial.
- X considered harmful – popular in computer science papers.
- The mother of all X – “the mother of all traffic jams”.
- Have X, will travel – from a classic TV western.
- X or not X, that is the question – echoing Shakespeare.
Why writers love them – and why editors don’t
Snowclones are quick, familiar and playful, which makes them attractive in headlines. But overuse turns them into clichés: readers stop noticing the joke and only see a lazy frame. Some writers even joke about “post-traumatic snowclone disorder” after seeing the same template for the hundredth time.
How to use them well
Use a snowclone once, deliberately, and make the filled-in words genuinely surprising. If the phrase would work just as well without the template, drop the template.
Language is full of patterns worth exploring. Discover more in our Education section, or read about another translation challenge in what is linguist validation translation.
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