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…

Lady Gaga

In record time, Lady Gaga has become a reference point as commonly cited as the North Star or The Simpsons. The quotations below prove it.

Besides her talents—which I am unqualified to judge, and even less interested in thinking about—I think there’s another reason for her success: gaga is just a damn fun word to say. Gaga! Gaga! It’s addictive.

The technical term for words like gaga, mumbo-jumbo, fiddle-faddle, helter-skelter, boo-boo, and higgledy-piggledy is reduplication, because part or all of the word is repeated. This might be the most fun group of words in existence. Others include hurly-burly, teensy-weensy, namby-pamby, heebie-jeebies, hocus-pocus, itsy-bitsy, okey-dokey, hanky-panky, fancy-schmancy, wishy-washy, and freaky-deaky.

The mega-fun-itude of reduplication is the hidden secret to Lady Gaga’s success—but it won’t be a secret for long. We’re probably weeks away from the debuts of Princess Poopoo, Duke Dilly-dally, and Gentleman Jibber-jabber.

“I have to give companies credit for coming up with unusual names for the merchandise. One such company that comes to mind is Irregular Choice, a flamboyant Britain-based shoe company who goes all out to wow consumers. With asymmetrical heels, bizarre accessories, and designs that stop traffic, Irregular Choice is the Lady Gaga of the shoe world. The company has worked diligently to combine a little humor, a lot of fun, and heaps of quality in its lines, year after year. With its flagship NYC Soho store, it graced American shores with one of the best British invasions since the Beatles. Let’s just say I’ve always been a big fan.”

(Dec. 5, 2009, Wendi Muse, Racialicious)

“I think it is very odd that not many people on this planet had ever heard of her before her nomination, and now people are selling their children to get a place in line to get close to her. It seems as though she appeared from out of nowhere and suddenly became the ringleader of a massive cult. She is the Lady Gaga of politics. (I guess. I still don’t know who Lady Gaga is.)”

(Nov. 26, 2009, Tim Sampson, Memphis Flyer)

“Brett Favre is the story we all love to hate. He’s annoying, he’s repetitive, and this year he’s very very good. He’s the Lady GaGa of the NFL – you wish to hell that he would just go away, but damn it if ‘Just Dance’ isn’t a catchy little tune. Countless sports reporters have sworn off Big Brett, saying they won’t fall under his media trance ever again. Big time national guys, Mike Francesa, Peter King, Jay Glazer, they’ve all expressed their disgust with him at one point or another. Francesa, the host of New York’s ‘Mike’d Up’, has recently taken to hanging up on callers the moment they mention Brett’s name. So what are they gonna do when #4 becomes the #1 story of the day/week/century? I’m not sure, but here’s my best guess…”

(Nov. 24, 2009, Brian Donovan, True Slant)

“I always remained the dude who worked in the background. The guy who would take your skit and turn it into an animation. I was the Lady Gaga of Italian comedy (holy shit, a Lady Gaga reference). Even now, you really don’t see my face in the skit. I still remain in the background, a mystery. I kinda like it that way. This is what lead to my Halloween costume which was basically me, dressed all in black, carrying around Nonna Maria who was in her Dave costume.”

(Nov. 9, 2009, Lady Zimp)

“Man, ACORN has had some year, huh? Back before the election, the only ones who’d even heard of ACORN were the Census Bureau and poor people, but now everyone knows them. They’re like the Lady Gaga of beleaguered community organization behemoths. They even got a shout-out on South Park last night.”

(Oct. 15, 2009, Matt Tobey, Indecision Forever)

“The Lady Gaga of chickens”

(Oct. 1, 2009, Jim Gaffigan, Twit Pic)

“The most recent oddity arrived last month, when 92 year-old Dame Vera Lynn (who was the Lady Gaga of the World War II set), topped the charts with the wartime classic, ‘We’ll Meet Again.’ Do we have to? Back in March, those edgy hipsters Tom Jones and Robin Gibb teamed up with a couple of TV actors to take the No. 1 spot with a remake of the Dolly Parton song ‘Islands in the Stream,’ a tune that, like H1N1, we should all have been working together to eradicate.”

(Oct. 2, 2009, Simon Barnett, Newsweek)

“Inelegant and desperate for attention.

The Lady Gaga of furniture.”

(April 24, 2009, Apartment Therapy)

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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