Etymology

snowclone

S1N1O1W4C3L1O1N1E1

Today it means: A formulaic phrase that can be customized to fit a variety of contexts. Full definition →

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The story

Blend of snow cone + clone, in reference to the phrase “If Eskimos have dozens of words for snow, X have as many for Y” (which is an example of a snowclone). Coined by American television writer and economist Glen Whitman in January 2004, in response to Geoffrey Pullum on the blog Language Log.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.