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…
Milli Vanilli
Often, the name of a celebrity is ambiguous. Even in the forgiving light of his death, being the Michael Jackson of, say, podiatry could mean a groundbreaking, beloved, heaven -sent gift to the tootsie industry—or a dangerous creep who should have been locked up at some point, where he can’t get near any little piggies.
But when the name Milli Vanilli is invoked, there is a refreshing lack of grey area. It is about as ambiguous as buttmunch or sleazewad, and it is more specific: the Milli Vanilli of anything is a lip-synching, no-talent, phony-baloney poser of the highest (or, rather, the lowest) order. You gotta like the clarity.
“how about how AMD entered the market in the first place? Once called the ‘Milli Vanilli of Semiconductors’, they allegedly got their start in the x86 market by stripping the layers off an Intel chip under an electron microscope and reverse engineering it.”
(June 5, 2009, Barron’s Online)
“with this, de niro becomes the milli vanilli of italian actors who portrayed a psychopath in a 70s film directed by martin scorsese.”
(June 2, 2009, Filmdrunk)
“When on teleprompter, he has the strong, confident tone, with his head up high, looking down his nose on everyone. Off teleprompter, his head is down, eyes are closed, and it takes him 20 seconds to spit out a few words in between the umms and ahhs.
I call him the Milli Vanilli of Presidents.”
(April 7, 2009, Neil Boortz.com)
“Citizens Bank is the Milli Vanilli of the banking industry. They give you all kinds of lip service about customer service but really they are a bunch of alcoholic crack whores who are performing deviant sex acts on each other, dancing their ridiculous Milli Vanilli dance, and stealing your money to do it. I hate Citizens Bank.”
(Feb. 19, 2009, Hooray! Comedian Tim Kaelin!)
“However, we have terrible news for any potential fans of the supposedly talented creature – because Sara is not actually playing the saxophone. She’s just miming, the big faker. She’s actually the Milli Vanilli of the musical-walrus world. However, pretend-saxophone-playing is not the limit of Sara’s skills. She can also dress up as a train conductor and blow a whistle, for some reason.”
(Dec. 3, 2008, Dave Mac on the Blog)
“The Hills aren’t superior to The Palisades or much of Encino for that matter. It is a community that skates on reputation more than content. It’s like the Milli Vanilli of incorporated townships.”
(Oct. 13, 2008, Hal Sparks, LA Daily)
“Kristina Contes = the Milli Vanilli of scrapbooking. They unsuccessfully tried to stage a comeback too. The only difference is that their lip-synched song appealed to more fans than Kristina’s ‘art’ before they got caught. It’s not edgy or fashionable, it’s just cussing and narcissim. That’s not art.”
(Jan. 12, 2008, Scrap Smack)
“I consider myself to be somewhat adept with desserts and pastries. I’ve pretty much always have been able to make a great pie crust. I made a sachertorte when I was 13. I’m very good with scones and biscuits and shortbread. But the one thing I’ve never made is puff pastry. I’ve seen others make it, and damn, it’s a lot of work, folding the butter in time and time again. So I cheat and buy frozen puff pastry sheets. Yes, I’m finally coming clean and letting the world (and my professional baking friends) that I’m a puff pastry fraud. I’m the Milli Vanilli of puff pastry.”
(Jan. 3, 2008, VarmintBites)
“The Milli Vanilli of miming? Try to map your noodle around that one.”
(Feb. 19, 2007, MetaFilter)
“To carry my metaphor further than is necessary, Irving Fisher was the Milli Vanilli of 1920s economics, Hoover of government. They paid dearly for it. During the Great Depression, the people who were widely seen people who were seen as complacent in the creation of the depression became public paraiahs. Nowadays, such amazing mistakest get you promoted.”
(July 6, 2005, Ross Lincoln, The Talent Show)
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.
