[Ads-l] no X left behind - snowclone - and the nonexistent poop fairy

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Fri May 5 01:48:24 UTC 2017


I wrote about the "no X left behind" snowclone on Language Log in Feb. '06,
after Safire brought it up in an On Language column (without calling it a
snowclone):

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002877.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/magazine/no-left-behind.html

Larry Horn followed up with an example that August:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2006-August/061931.html

...but the "poo(p)" variant is new to me.


On Thu, May 4, 2017 at 8:52 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

> It looks like this snowclone hasn’t been discussed here. I don’t know if
> it originated with the “No Child Left Behind Act” (
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act <
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act>), but that’s what
> I think of when I hear it.
>
> The variation I see a lot is “no poop left behind”, as an admonition to
> dog walkers to pick up dog poop.
>
> http://www.elizabethriver.org/sites/default/files/styles/
> news_flexslider/public/scoop-the-poop.png?itok=ZDb8bZND <
> http://www.elizabethriver.org/sites/default/files/
> styles/news_flexslider/public/scoop-the-poop.png?itok=ZDb8bZND>
> http://southsidedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/poop.jpg <
> http://southsidedaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/poop.jpg>
>
> No poo left behind:
> https://nopoopleftbehind.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/waronpoop2.png <
> https://nopoopleftbehind.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/waronpoop2.png>
>
> In this scatological connection, I would also like to report the
> nonexistent poop fairy:
>
> There is no poop fairy / pick up that poo!
> http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.52330197.6299/sticker,
> 220x200-pad,220x200,ffffff.u2.jpg <http://ih0.redbubble.net/
> image.52330197.6299/sticker,220x200-pad,220x200,ffffff.u2.jpg>
> http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.52329210.6242/sticker,
> 220x200-pad,220x200,ffffff.u2.jpg <http://ih0.redbubble.net/
> image.52329210.6242/sticker,220x200-pad,220x200,ffffff.u2.jpg>
>
> There is no poop fairy / scoop your poop
> http://www.greenvillesoilandwater.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/
> webbanner-1024x430.png <http://www.greenvillesoilandwater.com/wp-
> content/uploads/2014/03/webbanner-1024x430.png>
>
> There is no poop fairy / please clean up after your dog
> http://moira-company.com/images/poopfairy.jpg <http://moira-company.com/
> images/poopfairy.jpg>
> http://www.mobileranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/poopfairy.jpg <
> http://www.mobileranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/poopfairy.jpg>
>
>
>

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