In my “going better with” posting, I mentioned in passing the “snowclone-like” sentence
Nothing says summer like a delicious Picnic Pasta Salad
(of the form “Nothing says A like B”, roughly conveying ‘B is evidence for A, B indicates A’). It certainly feels formulaic, and I considered the possibility that it was a playful variation on some existing model, but the range of examples suggests otherwise; so the form does indeed look snowclone-like: a compact template available for connecting B to A.
I did consider possible models for playful variation. What came to mind immediately was the slogan of Poppin’ Fresh, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the rhyming:
Nothin’ says lovin’ like something from the oven
Pillsbury introduced Poppin’ Fresh in 1965, and (as far as I can tell) introduced the jingle along with the character. Nothing I’ve found on the web is at all close to the jingle, which suggests that the jingle exploited an existing template, rather than that the jingle inspired the template.
An assortment of instances:
‘Bachelor in Paradise’ recap: Nothing says romance like wrestling in Mexico (link)
Nothing says ‘presidential’ like a chainsaw stunt (link)
Nothing Says ‘I Love You’ Like Lucky Charms: It’s Last Night’s New Ads (link))
BLK Book List: Nothing Says Summer Like a Good Read (link)
Nothing says Christmas like a drone from Walmart (link)
Nothing Says I Love You Like Bad Poetry (link)
“Nothing Says Party Like A Box Of Fine Wine” (link)
Nothing Says “Old Dude” Like Getting a Motorcycle (link)
Nothing Says Intel and Computers Like Anime Art (link))
Nothing Says ‘Old Hollywood’ Like Cold Cream and Ostrich Feathers (link)
Nothing says “badass” like a feminist coloring book! (link)
Nothing says HOME like the smell of baking! (link)
Nothing says regret like the email address you made as a kid. (link)
(Other variants have more than rather than like.)
August 27, 2015 at 12:31 am |
From Chris Waigl: