The term "snowclone" describes the practice of transforming cliches, axioms and pop culture catchphrases into modern analogies. By replacing a few key words from the original saying, a writer can put a new context using the old formula. For example, the catchphrase "To be or not to be, that is the question" can be turned into "To eat or not to eat, that is the question."

 

“雪克隆”指的是把一些陈词滥调、公理、流行文化名言改编成现代版本的行为。通过替换原文的几个关键词就可以旧瓶装新酒。例如，名言“生，还是死，这就是问题的所在”可以变成“吃，还是不吃，这就是问题的所在”。

 

A snowclone can be formed simply by borrowing a timeworn but familiar cliche¹ and injecting the specific topic into its basic syntax. The movie catchphrase in Alien "In space, no one can hear you scream," for example, can be turned into a business-related snowclone: "In space, no one can hear you negotiate." The snowclone works in context because the two catchphrases have a common theme; nothing works in a vacuum.

 

雪克隆可借用一些过时但却脍炙人口的陈词滥调，在其基本句式中加入具体话题。举例来说，电影《异形》的名句“在太空中，没有人能听到你的尖叫”可以改编成跟商业有关的雪克隆：“在太空中，没有人能听到你的谈判”。雪克隆在这个情境下有意义，因为两句话表达相同的主题：在真空中，什么都无法奏效。

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