Nothing is new anymore. It’s all been done before, and it’s been done to death. New fashions are wearing old clothes from 20 years ago, new movies are remakes of old movies and books, new TV shows are carbon copies of European ones, conversations consist of year-old quotes from Dave Chapelle and the Simpsons, even the news is the same old shit.
These issues are too large for the scope of this blog, so I’ll attack what I can:
The phrase “X is the new Y.”
Everybody loves using this formula. It stems from “it’s the new black” which means it’s de rigueur for the time being. It’s as annoying as the trends it’s used to describe. Can’t think of something clever to say? Just say Yahoo is the new Google. Iraq is the new Vietnam. Prequels are the new sequels. Supporting our troops is the new AIDS. Awake is the new sleep. It doesn’t even have to be coherent, but it’ll be funny.
If I hear another person utter something like “black is the new white” they’re my new punching bag. Their teeth will be the new things littering the floor. And Heaven will be the new eternal resting place of their immortal soul.
Update: The name for this phenomenon is snowclone.
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