"snowclone" meaning in All languages combined

See snowclone on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˈsnəʊ.kləʊn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈsnoʊ.kloʊn/ [US] Audio: en-us-snowclone.ogg [US], en-au-snowclone.ogg [Australia] Forms: snowclones [plural]
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. Etymology templates: {{blend|en|snow cone|clone}} Blend of snow cone + clone Head templates: {{en-noun}} snowclone (plural snowclones)
  1. (grammar, linguistics) A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context. Categories (topical): Grammar, Linguistics Related terms: catchphrase, cliché, meme, proverb Translations (a type of cliché): 雪克隆 (xuěkèlóng) (Chinese Mandarin), sneeuwkloon (Dutch), kulunut ilmaus (Finnish), snowclone (French), sprachline Schablone [feminine] (German), もじり (mojiri) (Japanese), スノークローン (sunōkurōn) (Japanese), фра́за-клише́ (fráza-klišé) [feminine] (Russian), snöklon (Swedish)
    Sense id: en-snowclone-en-noun-hupggyjY Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 69 31 Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Verb [English]

IPA: /ˈsnəʊ.kləʊn/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈsnoʊ.kloʊn/ [US] Audio: en-us-snowclone.ogg [US], en-au-snowclone.ogg [Australia] Forms: snowclones [present, singular, third-person], snowcloning [participle, present], snowcloned [participle, past], snowcloned [past]
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. Etymology templates: {{blend|en|snow cone|clone}} Blend of snow cone + clone Head templates: {{en-verb}} snowclone (third-person singular simple present snowclones, present participle snowcloning, simple past and past participle snowcloned)
  1. (intransitive) To use a snowclone in speech or writing. Tags: intransitive
    Sense id: en-snowclone-en-verb-gqHywNCb Categories (other): English blends Disambiguation of English blends: 43 57

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for snowclone meaning in All languages combined (7.3kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "snow cone",
        "3": "clone"
      },
      "expansion": "Blend of snow cone + clone",
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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.",
  "forms": [
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  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
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        {
          "text": "\"To fry or not to fry\" is a snowclone of the famous quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet, \"To be or not to be\".",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 November 5, auuV, “Some articles that I like. They are about language,”, in alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names (Usenet)",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 December 3, David Rowan, “\"Snowclone\" journalism”, Trendsurfing, in The Times, archived from the original on 2006-09-06",
          "text": "Suddenly snowclone hunters were documenting media usages suggesting that, in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, speak, squeak or suck.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 June 20, Michael Erard, “Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White”, in The New York Times, page F4",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 July, Mark Peters, “Not Your Father's Cliché”, in Columbia Journalism Review, volume 45, number 2, page 14",
          "text": "If so, you're being snowed under by snowclones — a category of fill-in-the-blank cliché identified by linguists.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "roman": "When you read phrases like these in a newspaper, you've stumbled across a particular type of cliché: the snowclone.",
          "text": "2006 Nov 18, unknown author, \"Snowclone\", in New Scientist 192(2578), page 80",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
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        "A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context."
      ],
      "id": "en-snowclone-en-noun-hupggyjY",
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        "(grammar, linguistics) A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context."
      ],
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        {
          "word": "catchphrase"
        },
        {
          "word": "cliché"
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          "word": "meme"
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          "word": "proverb"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "xuěkèlóng",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "雪克隆"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "sneeuwkloon"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "kulunut ilmaus"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "snowclone"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "sprachline Schablone"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "mojiri",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "もじり"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "sunōkurōn",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "スノークローン"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "fráza-klišé",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "фра́за-клише́"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a type of cliché",
          "word": "snöklon"
        }
      ]
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      "tags": [
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  ],
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    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "43 57",
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          "ref": "2006 November 15, “The word: Snowclone”, in New Scientist, number 2578",
          "text": "Many journalists are guilty of serial snowcloning, but snowclones aren't always a symptom of laziness – they can be a cultural in-joke.",
          "type": "quotation"
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      ],
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        "To use a snowclone in speech or writing."
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      "id": "en-snowclone-en-verb-gqHywNCb",
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        "(intransitive) To use a snowclone in speech or writing."
      ],
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      "tags": [
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  "related": [
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      "word": "catchphrase"
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        {
          "text": "\"To fry or not to fry\" is a snowclone of the famous quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet, \"To be or not to be\".",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 November 5, auuV, “Some articles that I like. They are about language,”, in alt.running.out.of.newsgroup.names (Usenet)",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005 December 3, David Rowan, “\"Snowclone\" journalism”, Trendsurfing, in The Times, archived from the original on 2006-09-06",
          "text": "Suddenly snowclone hunters were documenting media usages suggesting that, in space, no one can hear you belch, bitch, blog, speak, squeak or suck.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 June 20, Michael Erard, “Analyzing Eggcorns and Snowclones, and Challenging Strunk and White”, in The New York Times, page F4",
          "text": "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.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2006 July, Mark Peters, “Not Your Father's Cliché”, in Columbia Journalism Review, volume 45, number 2, page 14",
          "text": "If so, you're being snowed under by snowclones — a category of fill-in-the-blank cliché identified by linguists.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
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        "(grammar, linguistics) A type of cliché which uses an old idiom formulaically placed in a new context."
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        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
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  "sounds": [
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      "tags": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈsnoʊ.kloʊn/",
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "xuěkèlóng",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "雪克隆"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "sneeuwkloon"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "kulunut ilmaus"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "snowclone"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "sprachline Schablone"
    },
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      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "mojiri",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "もじり"
    },
    {
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "sunōkurōn",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "スノークローン"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "fráza-klišé",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "фра́за-клише́"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a type of cliché",
      "word": "snöklon"
    }
  ],
  "word": "snowclone"
}

{
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          "ref": "2006 November 15, “The word: Snowclone”, in New Scientist, number 2578",
          "text": "Many journalists are guilty of serial snowcloning, but snowclones aren't always a symptom of laziness – they can be a cultural in-joke.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To use a snowclone in speech or writing."
      ],
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      ],
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        "(intransitive) To use a snowclone in speech or writing."
      ],
      "tags": [
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  "sounds": [
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      "ipa": "/ˈsnəʊ.kləʊn/",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsnoʊ.kloʊn/",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/En-us-snowclone.ogg",
      "tags": [
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      "audio": "en-au-snowclone.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/0f/En-au-snowclone.ogg/En-au-snowclone.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/En-au-snowclone.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "snowclone"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-30 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (210104c and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.