Comments on: X is the Y of Z http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/ Snowclones are the new eggcorns. Tue, 15 May 2012 22:58:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: snowclones http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11723 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:48:38 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11723 Did you mean to leave this comment on the “there’s no crying in Y” post? (http://snowclones.org/2008/04/22/theres-no-crying-in-x/) It’s more evocative of that for me.

]]> By: Teresa http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11702 Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:51:43 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11702 I ialiintly thought that Dr. Strangelove contained the more general form of this snowclone with X = fight and Y = war room, but according to IMDB, the actual quote is, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”

]]> By: Julholts framtid: en språklig prognos utifrån retoriska schabloner | På svenska http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11333 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:12:40 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-11333 [...] hemsidan för snowclones beskrivs den så här: The metaphor processing that this snowclone induces is more [...]

]]> By: maracry http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-7535 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:43:35 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-7535 Brevity is the mother of wit!

I’m DISAPPOINTED! : )

When you said this would be a snowclone database it’s what I expected, and wanted! I think talking about it makes it less readable and boring.

All you need to do is have each snowclone as a heading followed by a list of examples.

Remember: Necessity is the mother of invention!

Please do this!

]]> By: En gengångare: den metaforiska mallen X är Z:s Y http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-2542 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:28:00 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-2542 [...] nätet är (den engelska) mallen X is the Y of Z (här mitt första inlägg om gengångare). På hemsidan för snowclones säger man så här: The metaphor processing that this snowclone induces is more [...]

]]> By: mollymooly http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1801 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:14:09 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1801 Not itself an origin, but somewhere in Douglas Hofstadter (perh. “Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies” ?) has lots about this kind of analogizing.

]]> By: snowclones http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1462 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:31:44 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1462 @GregW: Thank you, I think. ;)

]]> By: GregW http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1457 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:54:20 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1457 Here’s my contribution: “Snowclones.org is the William Safire column of the Internet.”

]]> By: snowclones http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1442 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:45:35 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1442 When Bruce Perens originally coined the expression, Eric had just made a splash via his talk and paper, “The Cathedral And The Bazaar”, which explicitly treated the customs of the hacker tribe as worthy objects of study from inside. So calling him “Margaret Mead” primarily meant that he was a participant observer, a hacker anthropologist manqué.

This was the way I interpreted it, certainly.

The change in connotation over time is a great illustration of that “metaphorical framework” the phrase sets up, too.

]]> By: John Cowan http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1441 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:35:32 +0000 http://snowclones.org/2007/12/18/x-is-the-y-of-z/#comment-1441 As a major propagator of the Eric Raymond / Margaret Mead instantiation through my email signatures — about one-third of all Google hits for the two names also include my name — I feel I should write down some of the subtleties in this expression for the permanent record (hopefully).

When Bruce Perens originally coined the expression, Eric had just made a splash via his talk and paper, “The Cathedral And The Bazaar”, which explicitly treated the customs of the hacker tribe as worthy objects of study from inside. So calling him “Margaret Mead” primarily meant that he was a participant observer, a hacker anthropologist manqué.

Since then, however, the implicatures have varied over time and speaker. Sometimes “Margaret Mead” is taken to be not the Mead of _Coming of Age_, but the much later Mead of the talks and films. So to these people, “Margaret Mead” means “respected tribal elder”. To others, though, Mead’s work in Samoa is seen through the lens of Derek Freeman’s controversial debunking, and to those people “Margaret Mead” means “gullible, egotistical fool who saw what she wanted to see.” Perhaps as a result, Perens now disclaims the expression (though not the fact that he devised it).

I remain on good terms, as far as I know, with all parties, and I get some considerable sardonic glee as a result of superposing all meanings simultaneously in my head.

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