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…

Bono

Bono deserves credit for being a rock god of Mick Jagger-ian proportions, only without such a remarkable dropoff in musical quality. As someone born in 1972—the year of Exile on Main Street—it amazes me to think the Stones have been past their prime my entire life. U2, after over 30 years, has yet to fall off the cliff of relevance.

Yet most uses of “the Bono of X” have nothing to do with this unbelievable record of musical accomplishment and awesomeness. Instead, Bono is a reference point for noisy spokesmanship—sometimes as praise, often not. When I joked on my Twitter account that you rarely heard the insult humanitarian-wad, one of my followers said it is useful. Nyah-nyahing Bono was use #1.

Some say I am the Bono of pancakes, but that’s just idle chatter. I’m too much a gentleman to discuss my relationship with Mrs. Butterworth.

“I’m not going to bang on her overall belief system, because I don’t know anywhere enough about it. I just hope she isn’t gunning to be the Bono of UFOlogy, because one Bono is enough for the whole of the Milky Way. I’d be ok with someone like Chris Isaak, but that is more probably because I’ve had a crush on him for years (Yeah, I know — but in my defense, he does kind of look like a lesbian. Right?).”

(Dec. 28, 2009, The Interstellar Housewife)

“Wow, you’re like the Bono of the insignificant causes. If you’re living in Chelsea and working in SoHo I suppose you don’t have anything better to rant about.”

(Sept. 15, 2009, The New York Times)

“Ah, the sweet cartoon violence and rapist mentality that is ICP. They’re like the Bono of misogyny and ignorance. It’s like Burning Man for chubby chasers and meth heads. Finally, a festival for people who hate music but love dick measuring.”

(July 31, 2009, Harmony Central Musician Community Forums)

“He’s kind of like the Bono of Presidents. Who is black. And young. And can do the Kobe Bryant clenched fist thing and not come across as a dickhead.”

(July 14, 2009, Balloon Juice)

“’I am here in Madrid, Spain,’ Jillian informs us in case, you know, we thought maybe they were in Madrid, Alabama (yes, there is one). Yes, I know there are Madrids elsewhere in the world, but all the other ones are the ones you need qualifiers for. Madrid is the Bono of the atlas. If you’re talking about Sonny Bono, you have to say Sonny Bono. Otherwise it’s the lead singer of U2.”

(July 7, 2009, Guy MacPherson, Bachelor Blog)

“Onion Goggles for the Bono of Onion Dicers”

(Nov. 6, 2008, John Brownlee, Boing Boing)

“The only other thing I can tell you from the Con is that Joss Whedon is the pioneer of new media, Seth Green is the Bono of Geeks, and Boba Fett – from what I can tell — has put on some serious weight.”

(July 30, 2008, Cory Edwards, Cory’s Curiosities)

“(I can’t help but compare Levitin and Steven Pinker, a presentation of whose I attended a few months ago (and no, I didn’t get around to writing about it here). Pinker started out in Montreal and journeyed to MIT and beyond, while Levitin made the reverse trip. Pinker’s event was a rock concert with high production quality; he’s the Bono of cognitive science. The show, and it was a show, had well-rehearsed banter, precision timing — a choreography of slides, commentary, and use of physical space, and just the slightest edge of boredom in his voice. Levitin, on the other hand, was like some obscure little indie band no one’s ever heard of, but there’s something so genuine, and clever, about the performance you rave about it to all your friends and wonder why more people haven’t heard of this guy.)”

(May 11, 2008, Magnificent Octopus)

“I am really surprised by this. In a week where Lady Thatcher has tea and biccies with Gordon, what harm would being polite and shaking someone’s hand make. It seems like an over reaction to me. Is she going to become the Bono of TV cooks telling us what’s right and wrong Cameron is a prat, but I wouldn’t blank anyone except Gary Glitter and their ilk.”

(Sept. 18, 2007, Digital Spy Forums)

“what you don’t see is when i stuck my nose in it. they were talking about sweater wizard software, with significant audience participation, and somehow i managed to mention that i do knitty [cough, cough] and that’s when it happened. tracey ullman called me the Bono of knitting. it doesn’t need to be true. it just means that Tracey Ullman reads Knitty.”

(Sept. 30, 2006, Amy R. Singer, Knitty Blog)

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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