"______, thy name is ______" is a
snowclone
A snowclone is a cliché and phrasal template that can be used and recognized in multiple variants. The term was coined as a neologism in 2004, derived from journalistic clichés that referred to the number of Inuit words for snow.
History and ...
used to indicate the completeness with which something or somebody (indicated by the second part) embodies a particular quality (indicated by the first part), usually a negative one.
History
In most instances, the usage is an allusion to the
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
an play ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'' (
I, ii, 146). In this work, the title character is chastised by his uncle (and new stepfather), Claudius, for grieving his father so much, calling it unmanly. In his resultant soliloquy, Hamlet denounces his mother's swift remarriage with the statement, "Frailty, thy name is woman." He thus describes all of womankind as frail and weak in character. The phrase is recognized as one of the "memorable expressions" from the play to become "proverbial".
In the book ''Idiom Structure in English'' by Adam Makkai, the author asserts that the phrase is included among English idioms that are expressed in a "standard format" and whose usage "signals to the hearer that he is using an authority in underscoring his own opinion." Researchers Andrew Littlejohn and Sandhya Rao Mehta acknowledged that the famous quote rendered not only a
discursive
Discursive is an adjective from the word discourse and may refer specifically to:
* Discursive complex, a methodological device in psychoanalysis
* Discursive democracy, any system of political decisions based on some tradeoff of consensus decision ...
use, but a
constructional one as well,
[Littlejohn et al. 2012, pp. 167-168] noting that "the structure itself can be used a salient, but neutral equation formula...'noun thy name is noun.'"
[
]
Examples
Law
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting from the Court's decision in King v. Burwell, upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, repeatedly used the construction to criticize the Court's majority opinion, stating: "Understatement, thy name is an opinion on the Affordable Care Act!"; "Impossible possibility, thy name is an opinion on the Affordable Care Act!"; and "Contrivance, thy name is an opinion on the Affordable Care Act!" (25 June 2015)
Quoted
Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and a ...
famously said of William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Chann ...
in 1871, "Whim, thy name is Channing." He was referring to Channing's Transcendentalist poetry style.
Literature
*The poet Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton (born Anne Gray Harvey; November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974) was an American poet known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book '' Live or Die''. Her poetry details ...
titled a poem "Divorce, Thy Name Is Woman".
*Borrowing directly from ''Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', Edmond Dantès (disguised as Abbé Busoni) utters the phrase "Frailty, thy name is woman!" in '' The Count of Monte Cristo'' after learning that his fiancée, Mercédès, has married his rival Fernand.
*In the James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
novel '' Ulysses'', Leopold Bloom utters the phrase, "Frailty, thy name is marriage," in response to a quip.
*In the Clive Cussler
Clive Eric Cussler (July 15, 1931 – February 24, 2020) was an American adventure novelist and underwater explorer. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached ''The New York Times'' fiction best-seller list m ...
novel " Plague Ship", Juan Cabrillo quips, "Ego, thy name is Gomez," to Corporation helicopter pilot Gomez Adams after he brags about his perfect takeoff.
*In Stephen King short story Herman Wouk Is Still Alive
"Herman Wouk Is Still Alive" is a short story by American author Stephen King. It was originally published in the May 2011 issue of ''The Atlantic'' magazine.
Synopsis
Old friends Brenda and Jasmine, along with their seven children between th ...
, Ollie responds to his friend, "Ingratitude, thy name is woman".
Music
*The Half Man Half Biscuit song "Whiteness, Thy Name Is Meltonian", from the 1993 album ''This Leaden Pall
''This Leaden Pall'' is the fourth album by the English rock band Half Man Half Biscuit, released in 1993.
The album cover features a bleak overdeveloped picture of the now demolished Hale Wood pub in Halewood, Merseyside. In 2001 it was v ...
'', refers to a brand of None-More-White shoe polish.
*The lyrics "Frailty, thy name is weakness. Vengeance, thy name is pain" appear in the Dark Tranquillity song "...Of Melancholy Burning".
Television
*Samantha
Samantha (or the alternatively Samanta) is primarily used as a feminine given name. It was recorded in England in 1633 in Newton Regis, Warwickshire. It was also recorded in the 18th century in New England, but its etymology is uncertain.
Specu ...
on '' Bewitched'' says to Darrin, "Vanity, thy name is human" (1.8; 1964).
*In ''Taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
'' (1982), Jim
Jim or JIM may refer to:
* Jim (given name), a given name
* Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James
* Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy
* OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism
* ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring
* ''Jim ...
, on learning that Zena is to marry another man (whilst believing that she is still with Louis): "Oh, perfidy! Thy name is woman!"
* Bart Simpson says, "Comedy, thy name is Krusty" in ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' episode "Krusty Gets Busted
"Krusty Gets Busted" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the first season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States on April 29, 1990.[Danny Tanner
The American television sitcom ''Full House'' ran for eight seasons on ABC from September 22, 1987, to May 23, 1995. Its sequel series '' Fuller House'' followed 21 years later, airing on Netflix, beginning February 26, 2016; the two parts of ...]
on ''Full House
''Full House'' is an American television Situation comedy, sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best ...
'' says "Loneliness, thy name is Danny" (in the episode " A Date with Fate", 1994).
*Professor Farnsworth
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''Futurama''. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Express ...
on '' Futurama'' says in his recorded message, "Oh vanity, thy name is Professor Farnsworth" (2.15; 1999).
*Referring to his wife, Ray Barone on ''Everybody Loves Raymond
''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American sitcom television series created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch an ...
'' (in episode 19, "The Canister", of the show's fifth season, 2001), says, "Devil, thy name is woman!"
*Gil Grissom
Gilbert Arthur Grissom (born August 17, 1956), Ph.D. is a fictional character portrayed by William Petersen on the CBS crime drama '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' and its sequel, '' CSI: Vegas''. Grissom is a forensic entomologist and for t ...
on '' CSI:Crime Scene Investigation'' says, "Vanity, thy name is Hodges" (6.13; 2005), referring to another CSI, David Hodges, after walking in on him trying to color some of his greying hair with a sharpie while looking intensely at his reflection in a piece of lab equipment.
*Dr. Perry Cox on Scrubs says to Dr. Elliot Reid, "Hypocrisy, thy name is you" (in the episode "My Inconvenient Truth", 2007).
*Winn Schott
''Supergirl'' is an American television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, and Andrew Kreisberg based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in the Superman franchise and Al Plastino and Otto Binder's character Sup ...
on ''Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. The character made her fir ...
'' says to James Olsen, "Jealousy, thy name is Olsen" (1.18; 2016), when Olsen denied he had a look after seeing how Kara talks to Barry Allen.
*In Community (TV series), after Jeff
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
refuses to wear short shorts to play pool, Coach Bogner says "Vanity, thy name is... his name. It's first day I didn't catch it."
*In the SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...
episode "Plankton's Army," Plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...
exclaims, "Victory, thy name is Plankton" upon assembling the titular army (3.18b, 2004).
*In the Ted Lasso
''Ted Lasso'' is an American sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NB ...
episode "Carol of the Bells," Ted exclaims, "Hubris, thy name is Ted" having seen his son prefer a gift to his company.
Gaming
*In Tetsuya Takahashi's Xenosaga Episode I
''Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht'' is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2; the game was released in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in North America. It is the first entry in the ''X ...
, when Albedo kidnaps the realian MOMO in order to extract the Y-Data implemented into her by her late father Joachim Mizrahi, he holds a short speech in which he addresses her with the words "Frailty, thy name is women." He then goes on by stating "No...that's not right. You little realians weren't even born from a women's womb," referring to the artificial nature of her existence. (Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (2003. Xenosaga Episode I (PS2 Version)ideo game
IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...
Tokio: Bandai Namco Entertainment.)
References
Footnotes
Works cited
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External links
"Frailty, thy name is woman"
from '' The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''
{{Hamlet
English phrases
Shakespearean phrases
Hamlet
Snowclones