The Snowclones Database

The queue

This is the current list of snowclones that don’t yet have entries in the snowclones database, but will. It has been compiled from a variety of sources, including several omnibus posts to Language Log, suggestions in comments, and the list of snowclones on Wikipedia. It is not comprehensive! If you have a suggestion and you don’t see it here, please comment so it can be added.

Note there are a few German variants mixed in here, thanks to my German correspondent, Emmanuel Dammerer. I welcome other foreign-language snowclones, if you know of any!

If I’m feeling particularly ambitious, once I’ve written about a snowclone on this list, I’ll link to it here … or I’ll just strike it through. In any case, I’ll do my best to keep this list updated with regard to what’s actually been posted about.

[Current count, posted/total: 41/382]
don’t hate me because I’m Y
to X or not to X
X is the new Y
Xcore
Xgate
I’m not an X, but I play one on TV
I am X, hear me Y
(Dammit Jim,) I’m an X, not a Y!
X? We don’t need no stinkin’ X!
have X will travel
save an X, ride a Y
In X, no one can hear you Y
If Eskimos have N words for snow, X must have M words for Y
In Soviet Russia, X Ys you!
I, for one, welcome our X overlords
X and Y and Z oh my!
Take this X and shove it
When I say X, what I really mean is Y
A few X short of a Y
not the Xest Y in the Z
X me no Xs
that’s not an X; this is an X
yes Virginia, there is an X
Im in ur X Ying ur Z
If it’s wrong to X, I don’t want to be right
Got X?
the only good X is a dead X
Whatever Vs your X
going to X like I’ve never Xed before
WWXD?
we’re gonna need a bigger X
X is hard, let’s go shopping
These are not the X you’re looking for
there once was an X from Y… (limerick)
bring me your poor, your tired, your X
There’s no crying in X
X 2: Electric Boogaloo
My kingdom for an X / Meine Koenigreich fuer X
I [shape] X
This is your brain on X

N Xs to Y before you die / X sehen und sterben
X is the Yest Z this side of the Mississippi (other geographical variants are possible here, too, I think)
Who’s got two thumbs and X? (This guy)
X’s world
as an X, M is a great Y
2 Xs, 3 Xs, many Xs
X is the Y of Z
busier than an X Y
I’m from X and I’m here to help
now if you’ll excuse me, I have an X to Y
Hardly/Not a X goes by without Y
If that’s X, every Y should be so lucky
X gone wild
no rest for the X
X and call me Y
The end of the X as we know it
A lot of people, when they have a problem, say ‘I know, I’ll use X’. Now they have two problems
An Xer shade of Y
If it’s not the X, it’s the Y
That’s why they call it X
Once an X, always an X
What is this X of which you speak?
X? What is X?
Xy McXerson
X considered harmful
Hey may be an X, but he’s our X
It’s X, (Jim), but not as we know it
X is to Y what Z is to A
X is to Y what Z is to Y
Sufficient unto the X is the Y thereof
You can’t X your Y and Z it too
Stupid X tricks
Pimp my X
If X are outlawed, only outlaws will have X
A watched X never Ys
The once and future X
Nothing says X like Y
X: panacea or Y?
Men are from X, women are from Y
X are from Mars, Y are from Venus
possibly X are from Y, W are from Z
Are we X yet?
the X from hell
X city, Xville
X for Jesus
X’s X
Step away from the X
LolX
Invisible X
I can haz X?
I made you a X, but I eated it
X-lorn (morphology)
X-tastic (morphology)
X-tacular (morphology)
One X does not a Y make / Eine X macht noch keinen Y
That and X will buy you Y
a fine line between X and Y
If I had a W for every X
The N that Xs together Ys together
You can take the X out of the Y, but you can’t take the Y out of the X (chiasmus)
X will be X
I’ve got your X (RIGHT HERE)
All over but the X
If you like X, you’ll love Y
The first rule of X is, you don’t talk about X
What happens in X stays in X
Et tu, X?
Is that an X I see before me?
X is dead, long live X
An X by any other name
X is X is X is X
I X therefore I Y
X is a dish best served Y
X or bust
Every time X, Y
When the going gets X, the X Y
the X to end all Xs
the care and feeding of X
X Ys can’t be wrong
X Ys agree
N out of M Xs agree
X for fun and profit
today X, tomorrow Y!
Is that an X in your pocket?
X, I have a feeling we’re not in Y anymore
Better X through Y
An X is a terrible thing to Y
Will the real X please stand up?
X has left the building
Happiness is (an) X
The good, the bad, and the X
Where no X has Y before
It’s X (o’clock). Do you know where your Y are?
If it’s Tuesday, it must be X
Holy X, Batman!
X and the single Y
X eye for the Y guy
It’s an X! It’s a Y! It’s a Z!
Everything you always wanted to know about X, but were afraid to ask
That’s no moon; it’s an X
I <3 X
X of Ying/X of Yness (role-playing)
Any sufficiently X Y is indistinguishable from Z
Friends don’t let friends X
X, thy name is Y
to X is human
This is your X. This is your X on Y
All I really need to know about X I learned in Y
I knew X. (X was a friend of mine.) Y, you are no X
A kindler, gentler X
Not your {daddy|father|grandma|granny}’s X
X, X, X
Will X for Y
The mother of all X
It’s the X, stupid
All your X are belong to us
You might be an X if
Will someone please think of the X?
X, N dollars. Y, M dollars. Z, priceless.
X called. They want their Y back.
If X then the terrorist have won.
If by X you mean Y
Not without my X / Nicht ohne meinen X
Our man in X / Unser Mann in X
Death of an X / Tod eines X
A fistful of X / Fuer eine Handvoll X
The unbearable lightness of X / Die unertrgliche Leichtigkeit des X
All roads lead to X / Alle Wege fuehren nach X
X in times of Y / X in Zeiten des/der Y
to X is human
X and let Y / X und Y lassen
In the beginning there was X / Am Anfang war das X
One does not simply X into Mordor (suggested in email)
Xzilla (suggested in comments)
vast, X-wing conspiracy
X, and by X I mean Y[not X]
Age and treachery beat youth and X every time (not sure about this one; http://recycledknowledge.blogspot.com/2007/01/old-farts-have-it.html)
His X was his undoing
If you look up X in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of Y
X is not a crime
No one ever got fired for X
How do you make a small fortune in X? Start with a large one.
I love the smell of X in the morning. (It’s the smell of … victory.)
Bury My Heart at X (Wounded Knee) (German)
Of X and Y (of mice and men)
(You can never be) too X or too Y (rich or thin)
There is no business like X business / there is no X like [adjective/noun] X
Dial X for X-word (M for Murder)
Sleepless in X (German)
Life is too short for X (German)
All power to X (the people)
X expects that every Y will do his Z (England expects that every man will do his duty)
[Grand|Great] unified X
Who are you and what have you done with X? (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005226.html)
X de chez X (French (mostly) equivalent of “X city” and “Xy McY/Xerson; need notes on origin)
Post-X (modern)
X is like Y on Z[drug] (tentative) / X auf Speed (also tentative)
An X a day keeps the Y away
X is bunk (history)
Portrait of the X as a Y / Porträt des X als Y
You are X[name] and I claim my Y[often "five pounds"] (British)
Who’s afraid of X?
the big X in the sky (tentative)
Semper X (tentative)
X-(a)holic (morphology)
X(en)freude (morphology)
X(o)nomics (morphology)
Xfest (morphology)
X(a)thon (morphology)
SchadenX (morphology)
X, call your office (original discussed by Ben Zimmer here: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004921.html)
X considered harmful (GOTO, http://xkcd.com/292/)
Give blood, play X
homo X (species names)
X nation
One (wo)man’s X is another (wo)man’s Y
You can’t keep a good X down
X is bliss
When did it become X to Y?
Who died and made you X?
Saving the world, one X at a time
Make X, not Y
Crouching X, hidden Y
X with a capital X
Put the X in Y
You can’t spell X without Y
X makes the baby Jesus cry
on a scale from one to X, (he’s a Y) http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004944.html
X and the city (X only one syllable?)
teach an old X new Ys (Y rhymes with “tricks”?)
you say X, I say Y (tomato)
the boy who cried X
today X; tomorrow, the world!
X 2: Electric Boogaloo
whatever X wants, X gets
my X runneth over
I eat X for breakfast
X leads to Y. Y leads to Z. Z leads to A.
X rising
X, schmX
I can’t believe it’s not X
Honey, I shrunk the X
Use X to control X (Chinese/Korean) / Fight X with X
It’s X all the way down
it’s X, bitch [not there yet, but popular in the young folks' speech, I hear]
don’t X me, bro! [not there yet, but popular in the young folks' speech, I hear]
there’s no X[letter] in Y[word not containing letter]
X and the city
dude, where’s my X
X fu
X for dummies
save the X, save the world [not there yet]
my X is longer than yours
Blue Horseshoe loves X
from X’s mouth to God’s ear (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005226.html. snowclone or idiom/proverb with open slot?)
all that and a X
every generation gets the X it deserves
tough on X, (and) tough on the causes of X
brother, can you spare a X?
sweet/holy X of Y (attributed to Futurama’s Hermes whatsit, but this structure is tricky as it’s so flexible. his usage is snowcloneish, not sure if I can blanket claim this as one)
love me, love my X
if God had intended X, he wouldn’t have invented Y
X out with your Y out
show me and X, and I will show you a Y
X and its enemies
X and its discontents
critique of X reason
X and its friends
the end of X
the Rise and Fall of X
from X with love
is X dead?
X is an N-letter word
one must imagine X happy
no X please, we’re Y
every X has the Y it deserves
keep X weird
two, two, two X in one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certs)
where good X go to die
X, sweet X
this X is clean (Poltergeist)
what price X?
a farewell to X
design for X (X0: living; Noel Coward)
they can have my X when they pry it from my cold, dead Y (maybe)
man does not live by X alone
the X is a lie (from Portal. this is a young one.)
instant X–just add Y
all over X like Y on Z
X, we hardly knew (ye|ya)
X has no Y; X needs no Y
great X’s ghost (this seems related to the Futurama one, also other Robin-isms)
the tao of X
suddenly, X! thousands of them!
X! X like the wind!
does this X make me look fat? (X is optional, though)
our X, our selves
what’s a little X between friends?
X ha(th|s) its privileges
color me X
he couldn’t X his way out of a paper bag
X is as X does
bitches don’t know ’bout my X (not a lot of instances of this one yet)
what was is that first attracted you to X, Y?
N X do not a Y make
the X whisperer
X: threat or menace?
your right to X ends where my Y begins
X? in my Y? (not sure about this one)
I am the very model of a modern X
how I stopped X and learned to love Y
you can lead an X to Y but you can’t make it Z
come for the X, stay for the Y
LastName. (pause) FirstName LastName
I’m bringing X back
X 2.0
The Talented Mr. X
Xes of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your Ys!
the X! it burns!
you had me at X
an X we can believe in [http://serendipity.lascribe.net/ling-lang/linguistics/2008/07/a-snowclone-we-can-believe-in/]
your inner X
X encounters of a Y kind
cool Xings
if you seek X, look around you
I’m out like an X [Prep [NP Y]]
love is a many x-[e|o]red thing
you can lead an X to Y but you can’t make him/her/it Z
when X met Y
X 101 [same as X for Dummies]
where’s your X now?
there’s gold in them thar X
one X to rule (Y?) them all
X agonistes
X on, Y off
if X is Y, then I’m Z
hot X-on-X action
just X it and forget it!
so [many|much] X, so little time
better the X you know than the Y you don’t / más vale X conocido que Y por conocer (see comment on this page)
X walk with me (not sure about this one, haven’t found much variation)
X giveth; X taketh away
love in the time of X
X. Y. Repeat.
an X’s work is never done.
night of the living X
we are all X now. (2 senses: monarchists/Keynesians; Americans/Hokies/Georgians)
they shoot X, don’t they?
the power of X of X compels you!
when X attack (in reference to reality TV?)
get your X on
in X we trust
X Y is X (long cat; also Xing Y Xes)
I’d X her Y (is this really a snowclone?)
the partnership for an X-free Y
I was a teenage X (werewolf)
ain’t no party like an X party
let a thousand Xes bloom
two X, no waiting
every X in the book
X(ness) is next to godliness
X-ass Y/X ass-Y (not sure about this one)
I take/like my X like I like my Y
black, white, and X all over
live long and X
may the X be with you
X your Y, X the world
it’s all fun and games until X
you made your X, now Y (lie) in it
one giant leap?
stuff X people like (http://ampersand.gosedesign.net/stuff-_____-people-like/)
Xer than a Y on Z
Xware (I think B. Zimmer has written on this one)
what if they gave an X and nobody came?
X-shaped hole
that’s no X–it’s a space station!
Notes:

  1. “tentative” is for those phrases whose snowclone-hood is not certain. That is, they are cliches or idioms, but don’t have a specific origin we can pin them to.
  2. Other material in parentheses is meant as notes to myself, for when I finally get to writing up the snowclones, or words from the original source that are optional in use of the snowclone. Material in brackets usually refers to the limitations on the variable(s) of the snowclone.

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