X is the Y of Z

“X is the Y of Z” is a snowclone–an adaptable, Mad Libs-like idiom like “May I compare thee to an X?”, “X is the new Y,” and “I for one welcome our new X overlords.” This snowclone touches on every subject imaginable, including music. So without further adieu, today’s topic is…

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono is to bands as Raid is to bugs — or so the story goes. Guess that’s why she’s such a common comparison, especially when the very foundation of the mob, the atom, or the Bush administration has been shaken to its foundations:

“Despite residing there peacefully for some 22 years, two weeks ago lawmaker Maria Beatriz Lenz opened a storm of controversy by declaring her intention to request that the writer’s earthly remains be repatriated to Buenos Aires, where they could be laid to rest in his family’s plot in Recoleta Cemetery. Borges’ widow Maria Kodama, a woman who some consider the Yoko Ono of Latin American intellectualism, has long claimed that the writer wished to be buried in Geneva, something that Borges’ biographer Alejandro Vaccaro, who supported Lenz’s move, strongly disagrees with.”

(March 4, 2009, Dean Nicholas, The Argentine Post)

“Publicist Tom Brennan — a man who once described Tina Louise as ‘the Yoko Ono of Gilligan’s Island’ — is calling the film ‘Romeo and Juliet with Cannibals’ … and I can’t get that image out of my head.”

(Feb. 15, 2009, Buck Wolf, About.com)

“I had the honor of being asked by Kristin Block of Block Sports Hounds to pick up at the airport and ‘foster’ for a few days one of the most important and valuable greyhounds ever imported into the United States this past summer. I am a ‘dog’ person by trade, what’s the big deal right? The buzz this dog’s importation caused worldwide had given me a case of insomnia and heartburn not experienced since I enlisted in the military. Its ‘just a dog’ after all, yeah right…I knew for a fact if anything happened to this dog while under my care, I would instantly become the Yoko Ono of dogracing. This legendary hound stole my heart, he has a home here with me when he retires from stud if the Dog Gods allow it. Right now, he’s doing his job making the American greyhound breed bigger, stronger, healthier and faster…”

(Sept. 29, 2008, Information on Massachusetts Dog Racing)

“The 10 Worst Cartoon Characters… #1 Scrappy Doo
And, really, who else COULD it be? This guy ruined Scooby Doo! Just came in and ruined it! Scrappy is the Yoko Ono of Saturday morning cartoons. I can’t even talk about it anymore. It’s too upsetting.”

(May 30, 2008, Dixie Chick… Holding Onto Those Southern Roots)

“Perhaps former FBI Special Agent Joseph O’Brien, co-author of Boss of Bosses: The Fall of the Godfather—The FBI and Paul Castellano, best characterized Gloria Olarte’s position within the Gambino family. O’Brien, who was one of the agents who planted the bug in Castellano’s house, called her ‘the Yoko Ono of the Mob.’”

(Nov. 15, 2007, Anthony Bruno, True Crime Stories)

“After all, the last time Bryant stepped outside the cautious “I’m just a basketball player, I don’t worry about those kinds of decisions” box, he was widely ridiculed as the Yoko Ono of the Shaq-Kobe-Phil Era Lakers.”

(May 7, 2007, Kam Pashai, The Lakers Nation)

“Isn’t she kind of like the Yoko Ono of the Bush administration?”

(Oct. 18, 2006, Washington Monthly)

“We created a new game called Yoko Ono due to me, the girlfriend on the set, also it was instigated by me, see if you can add any, I had about fifteen by the end.

1. Eva Braun, the Yoko Ono of the Third Reich

2. Marie Curie, the Yoko Ono of Radiation

3. Pandora, the Yoko Ono of the Human Race

4. Eve, the Yoko Ono of Eden

5. Penelope, the Yoko Ono of the Oddessy

6. Einstein, the Yoko Ono of the Atom

7. Mary Pickford, the Yoko Ono of United Artists

8. The Queen of France, the Yoko Ono of The Three Muskateers

9. Annie Oakley, the Yoko Ono of the Wild West

10. Cortney Love (too easy)”

(Aug. 22, 2005, Livejournal)

Mark Peters is a language columnist and humorist who writes for Good, Visual Thesaurus and other mags, while maintaining too many blogs, including Wordlustitude, The Rosa Parks of Blogs, and The Pancake Proverbs.

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