not-quite snowclone

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for pointing out the figurative use of "empty dress", Victor.
To locate earlier examples of this figurative phrase I employed a
simplistic strategy of searching for newspaper articles containing
both "empty suit" and "empty dress" and examining the candidate
articles. Only NewsBank Access World News was searched, so earlier
instances are likely, I think.

The "empty dress" metaphor was deployed by July 1990.

Date: July 29, 1990
Newspaper: THE ORLANDO SENTINEL
Article: DRUG ABUSERS VISITS NOT MEANT FOR KIDS WHARTON REPLIES IN GENERALITIES
Author: Allen Rose of The Sentinel Staff

[Begin excerpt]
After watching and listening a few times to Bonnie Wharton, the
Janie-come-lately in the Republican primary in Congressional District
11, it's apparent that here is the archtypical electronic candidate.
Came across fine in the 100-grand-plus TV spots she bought with her
own money. But don't ask any hard questions to which you would like
substantive answers because Wharton is just not there on the issues.
Answers in generalities and over-the-top gloss. If the Republicans can
dub Bill Nelson "the empty suit ," the Democrats have found their
"empty dress" in Wharton.
[End excerpt]


Here is an instance in 2000 in which "empty dress" was used to
describe Laura Bush.

Date: August 1, 2000
Article: GOP LOVES MRS. W, BUT DEMS SEE INSINCERITY
Newspaper: New York Post
Authors: Laura Italiano and Ed Robinson
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
Strong, a corporate recruiter and a single mother of a 7-year-old
daughter, panned the first-lady job applicant as "a little
Stepford-wivish."

"She might just be a cookie-cutter woman in a nice outfit," Strong said.

Mia MacDonald, 35, of Brooklyn, agreed.

"To me, he's an empty suit ," MacDonald, an international policy
consultant, said of the Republican presidential candidate. "Maybe
she's an empty dress , too."

Added Herb Schwartz, 73, a Democrat from Floral Park, Queens. "She
looked plastic. It's the same old baloney; nothing special."
[End excerpt]


On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      not-quite snowclone
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  From the lips of the spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial
> Campaign Commission, Brad Dayspring:
>
>> "Alison Lundergan Grimes seems incapable of articulating her own
>> thoughts, and faced with questions, either directly parrots the
>> talking points handed to her by [Sen.] Chuck Schumer or she babbles
>> incoherently and stares blankly into the camera as though she’s a
>> freshman in high school struggling to remember the CliffsNotes after
>> forgetting to read her homework assignment."
>
> In further comments to The Hill he then referred to Grimes as "an empty
> dress".
>
> As someone had remarked in the comments on TPM, "We have witnessed the
> birth of a new cliche."
>
> VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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