5 ms·
The meme is actually "X is dead, long live X" - it's been misused here.
by SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
The meme is actually "X is dead, long live X" - it's been misused here.
- css 7y agoIt is X and Y, the original phrase used the word 'king' in both places but it refers to a different person each time (i.e., the dead king and their successor). It would not make sense to say "Lynx is dead, long Live Lynx" as that implies Lynx's successor is itself. In the words of Robert Cecil: "The League is dead. Long live the United Nations."
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- m4r35n357 7y agoBut the word play is important, this fact seems lost on the OP.
- hombre_fatal 7y agoIs it, though? The title obviously communicates that a project called Browsh aims to be a sort of successor to Lynx.
- ycombobreaker 7y agoThis is more like attempted regicide than succession!
- oblio 7y ago> The original phrase was translated from the French: Le roi est mort, vive le roi!, which was first declared upon the accession to the French throne of Charles VII after the death of his father Charles VI in 1422. Charles VII would have probably not been amused by this historic statement being called a meme :-D
- balfirevic 7y agoIt is actually a (pretty silly) meme itself that being a meme is derogatory :)
- __s 7y agoBack in my day we called these snowclones
- nixpulvis 7y agoThe wiki page for "Snowclone" explicitly mentions X is the new Y. I wonder how many snowclones of meme there are? :P https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone
- nixpulvis 7y agoIDK, is a meme really a derogatory name for an idiom? I tend to think of memes as simply more attached to the current era. Sure our current era is devolving into madness, but I like to believe in a world with beautiful memes and healthier societies.
- throwanem 7y agoOn the other hand, Charles VII is dead, and thus in no position to object to the accurate description of this historic statement as a meme. Even if he weren't, I feel like this would be pretty far down on the list, considering that the intervening centuries have also seen the fall of the French monarchy...
- cestith 7y agoI doubt Charles VII had much opportunity to read Dawkins.
- nixpulvis 7y agoY=X is a specific instance of the expression.