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…

Pete Townshend

Anybody who is a God of classic rock, the lyricist for The Who, and the perfecter (if not the inventor) of the windmill, is bound to become a reference point for people and stuff that are similarly awesome.

So let’s hear it for Pete T.—the patron guitarist of the half-deaf and mega-schnozzed to boot.

“’Nothing to excuse.’ ;) Your translation was very close. So he is the Pete Townshend of German politics in other words.”

(June 2009, reddit)

“i just LOVE the new Green Day – they have produced rock opera for ’21st Century’ generation.  21st Century Breakdown is bold, even audacious – it includes elements of mariachi (‘Peacemaker’) and klezmer (‘¡Viva La Gloria!’). Billie Joe Armstrong swings for the fences, aiming to be the Pete Townsend of the punk pogoing, lizard brain set. “

(May 21, 2009, The Corner)

“She even told a story between songs about somebody once emailing her saying that she was ‘the Pete Townshend of clay pots.’”

(Feb. 26, 2009, Beyond Bedford)

“’Willie is Windmill Willie at 3B’
Wille: The Pete Townsend of 3B coaches”

(Oct. 14, 2008, The LoHud Yankees Blog)

“The Pete Townshend of tennis made it to the semis at Wimby.”

(July 3, 2008, The Defiant One)

“It’s just that even when a visionary like Zanes — the Pete Townshend of kids’ music — heads south for inspiration, the result could so easily turn into that ‘world music’ garbage that’s always tom-tomming through speakers at fair-trade coffee shops in Williamsburg.”

(June 7, 2008, Thurston Dooley III, The Brooklyn Paper)

“The first class to use the new courseware was held the week of May 7-11 in Evansville Indiana hosted by Q-Comm and included participants from three Q-Comm companies: nGenX of Overland Park, Kansas; Norlight of Brookfield, Wisconsin, and Cinergy Communications of Evansville, Indiana.  ‘These guys just rock!’ says James Derk, Director of Operations and Technology at nGenX.  ’Tim Mangan is the Pete Townshend of the SoftGrid world.  He was with Softricity early on to build the platform and created the first SoftGrid training program for the company.  He knows that product inside and out.’”

(June 6, 2007, GridmasterTraining.com)

“It is pretty cool hearing from other people that they know what you are talking about. The funny thing about it was, when she said ‘I talked to Dr. Corboy’, I felt like she talked to Pete Townshend or something. That’s a funny feeling to have about your doctor. Maybe he’s the Pete Townshend of MS doctors to me. He is my favorite of the 4 neurologists that I’ve seen, and is a researcher, which I like. He has been very influential in my choice to take MS meds, when I have taken them :-) Also, he’s got a cd.”

(April 10, 2008, These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty)

“That said, the workshop wasn’t quite what I’d hoped. It really concentrated an awful lot on the heroics of flogging. I think it was reflective of a sort of older generation of BDSM which revolved around flogger and whip heroics the way that Metal revolved around guitar heroics. Easton is sort of the Pete Townshend of getting flogged (how’s that for taking an analogy one step further than it should ever have been taken).”

(May 12, 2008, James Gordon, Gordon’s Dry Sin)

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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