Appendix talk:English snowclones

Discussions

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X are people, too

Does anyone have any sources which might date the snowclone "X are people, too"? Thanks, Jchthys (talk) 19:36, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Is it perhaps from the TV show Kids Are People Too (from 1978)? Equinox ◑ 19:40, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

I see 1930s bgc hits for "parents are people(,) too" and a 1923 one for "children are people, too".​—msh210℠ (talk) 22:08, 19 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. That snowclone, as well as ‘mother of all X’, may be well worth including at some point (I may do it if I gather the necessary energy!).—Jchthys (talk) 00:44, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

How I have missed thee

What is the origin of the oft-quoted "(oh) how I have [or I've] missed thee"? Equinox ◑ 21:55, 15 January 2015 (UTC)

English

I've moved this to Appendix:English snowclones as it's clearly in my view intended to be only for English, but it was created before the time we put the language name in appendices where there is a language. Renard Migrant (talk) 12:49, 24 February 2016 (UTC)

Changed to links

1. I did it with automatic replacement and 15 was manual. It seemed to work, but maybe I made a mistake. Sorry if it was the case.
2. Frankly, I see snowclones as a middle stage into fossilized phraseology/idiom. Interesting however anyway.
3. And I have one in Galician from Gone with the wind, so no
4. I saw some snowclone examples in the edits of History but not in the list. Criteria for inclusion? Sobreira (talk) 09:23, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

I, for one, welcome our new X overlords

According to a couple of unreliable sources, the film Empire of the Ants is not the source of this snowclone, although the incident in "Deep Space Homer" is probably a reference to the film. Hairy Dude (talk) 01:32, 5 January 2018 (UTC)

Where to list snowclones in other languages?

Maybe a new Appendix:Non-English snowclones? I doubt that creating a new appendix for each language is worth it, there will probably only be a few. – Jberkel 14:24, 21 March 2018 (UTC)

Sorting

I propose that we sort these alphabetically, ignoring the variables. Most of these don't have dates, so sorting by date doesn't work. Chuck Entz (talk) 21:38, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

I think that would be nice, yes. And we dont really need numbers .... they just sort of get in the way. —Soap— 22:49, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Until then, there's Category:English_snowclones, which is automatically sorted, so itll never need to be updated. But, it doesnt have the descriptions next to each link. —Soap— 20:07, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

What better X could Y hope for?

The snowclone "What better X could Y hope for?" is based on at least the following phrase:

“What better excuse could any tyrant hope for?”

G. Edward Griffin, The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations (Appleton, Wis.: Western Islands, 1964), Chapter Eleven: Animal Farm

Here is one sentence I made based on that phrase:

What weaker people could any unscrupulous hive-mind hope for?

Blessings in Sunlight. --Apisite (talk) 07:03, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

X isn't normal, but on Y it is

I came across that snowclone in a few PSAs against methamphetamine. I don't know the exact details of what group or two made such PSAs, but here's one of them that I remember to a degree: "Leaving people for dead isn't normal, but on meth it is." --Apisite (talk) 10:05, 29 August 2021 (UTC)

(well,) X my Y and call me Z

Example: "Well, shut my mouth and call me corn pone!" 98.170.164.88 16:37, 7 July 2022 (UTC)

(if) you've seen one X, you've seen them all

Subverted by the apparently tautological "(if) you've seen one X, you've seen one X". 98.170.164.88 18:58, 3 August 2022 (UTC)

 Done—Soap— 22:01, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

X all the things

Where X is a verb. 98.170.164.88 01:32, 16 October 2022 (UTC)

one man's X is another man's Y

We already have:

• one man's trash is another man's treasure
• one man's meat is another man's poison (and two variants thereof)
• one man's loss is another man's gain
• one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter

98.170.164.88 17:50, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

Another one I've seen is one man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens 98.170.164.88 17:53, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

X's X

"He was a trader’s trader: so fluent with transactions that others would come watch him work, like one might watch an esports athlete streaming on Twitch". [1] 98.170.164.88 05:02, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Cf. man's man. Equinox ◑ 13:11, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

what's X among friends?

98.170.164.88 22:40, 14 November 2022 (UTC)

 Done—Soap— 22:01, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

once an X, always an X

98.170.164.88 23:56, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

exists as Appendix:Snowclones/once a X, always a X. some of them just dont seem to be linked from the page. the rest should be at Category:English_snowclones for now. I want to add them to the page, but the page right now is so disorganized that perhaps it should be wholly redone first. —Soap— 20:33, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

Does the date refer to the original phrase, or its (later) appearance as a cliché?

We might need to shift some of them around depending on the meaning of the date. Equinox ◑ 10:39, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

scratch a X and you'll find a Y

Would like to hear your views as to whether or not this should be added. Tanisds (talk) 10:29, 12 June 2024 (UTC)

play the X card

This snowclone is commonly used to refer to the invocation of some characteristic as a way to win an argument.
We have several entries with this snowclone:

• play the race card
• play the gender card
• play the victim card

Should this be added as a snowclone? Netizen3102 (talk) 16:50, 3 July 2024 (UTC)