How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Snowclone

A snowclone, if you’re not familiar with the term, is “a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as ‘a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants.'” (from Wikipedia). For example, X is the new Y, as in “Black is the new pink” or “Sixty is the new forty.” For enough snowclones to build an army of snowclonemen, check out The Snowclones Database.

I became immediately interested in snowclones after learning about them. There are a lot out there… I’m sure one could fill several books with examples.

Today I want to share with you one of my favorites. Any guesses on what it is? I’ll give you a clue: the title of this post! I hope you’ve seen Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, it’s a wonderful movie but I’m not here to review the film.

I’ve been combing the net for for examples of this Snowclone just for the heck of it. Now that I’ve got this blog, I’ll show my findings. Below are examples of “How I Learned to Stop Worring and Love the X”:

  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Paki-Bomb
  • How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Commodity
  • How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blog
  • How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Propaganda
  • How I learned to Stop Worring and Love the Dead
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the suicide
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Bass
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Resolut
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Dual-layer [DVD]
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Dance
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Death Panels
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Leak
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Internet
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Merge
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Anonymous Comments
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Pen
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Pixel
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Music
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the LiveJournal
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Diesel
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Cause
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Pillow
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Blonde
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Sandman
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the DSLR
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Book
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Web
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Dallas Mavericks
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the War
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Want
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Home
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Bread
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Debt
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the new Smart Choices
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Cramps
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the layers
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Moneybomb
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Bum
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Lies
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Ride
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Stock Market
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Single Life
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Dice
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Corporation
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the New Moon Soundtrack
  • How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Complexity

There are many many many more out there, but I think you get the idea. The snowclone has other forms as well: “How I Learned to stop X and Love the Y”:

  • How I Learned To Stop Racism And Love the ‘Bama
  • How I Learned To Stop Driving And Love the Walk
  • How I Learned To Stop Drinking And Love the Run

I also found one example of “How X Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Y”:

  • How Californians Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Global Warming

There are some creative ones in there, aren’t there? If they sound weird, it usually makes more sense if you read the rest of the blog or article. I didn’t follow most of the links, though. I don’t really care to find out what “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Cramps” is referring to.

Feel free to send me more examples of this snowclone if you happen to spy some.

I’ve been collecting other snowclones, too; you’ll read about them sometime in the near future. Do you have a favorite snowclone?