different between catchphrase vs snowclone

English

Alternative forms

• catch phrase, catch-phrase

Etymology

From catch +? phrase, from the notion that the phrase will catch in the mind of the user.

Noun

catchphrase (plural catchphrases)

1. A group of words, often originating in popular culture that is spontaneously popularized after widespread repeated use.
   • 2005, BBC News website, Disney's Tigger voice dies at 82 read at [1] on 14 May 2006 – Crediting his British wife with Tigger's "TTFN" catchphrase – "ta-ta for now".
2. A signature phrase of a particular person or group.

Synonyms

• signature phrase
• catchword

Translations

Trivia

This is one of the few common words in English with six consonant letters in a row. Others include latchstring and watchstrap.

English

Etymology

Blend of snow cone +? clone, after the popular idea that the Inuit have a large number of words for different types of snow; coined by Glen Whitman in response to Geoffrey Pullum on the blog Language Log.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?sn??.kl??n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sno?.klo?n/

Noun

snowclone (plural snowclones)

1. A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context.

   "To fry or not to fry" is a snowclone of the famous quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet, "To be or not to be".

   • 2005 Nov 5, auuV, "Some articles that I like. They are about language," alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names, 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: 'Snowclone' 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 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 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 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.

Related terms

• catchphrase
• cliché
• meme
• proverb

Translations

See also

• Appendix:English snowclones

References

• 2004 January 16, Geoffrey Pullum, “Snowclones: lexicographical dating to the second”, Language Log

Further reading

• snowclone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia