Frequently I look at the headlines and see phrases co-opted from old play titles, etc. Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh" seems to be the forerunner in this phenomenon, and his "Long Day's Journey Into Night" another. What seems to be happening here is that these titles have been so influential on the language that they have become parodied endlessy until these ghosts of phrase have taken on a life of their own, in parody, long after most people know the title which created the parodying (parodising?). Anyway, I was wondering if there is a name for this linguistic phenomenon (tsuwm? nuncle?)

And does anyone have any more titles (plays, books, films, songs) that have become staple parodies of phrase in the language?

A recent and simpler example would be the 80's country song "What Part Of No Don't You Understand." I've heard that endlessly with any number of words substituted for "no".

(BTW, [and of course] many of Shakespeare's titles have suffered the same fate)

Well, I don't about titles, but Dame Ngaio Marsh's choice of "Light Thickens" as the title for one of her mystery novels was my introduction to The Scottish Play.

Anyway, I was wondering if there is a name for this linguistic phenomenon [tsuwm? nuncle?]

While we await the official word on this, WO'N, I propose to fill any vaccuum which might exist with the coinage "biblionym".

A book title which enters the language long after its leaves leave no impression is no less deserving of a name describing the phenomenon than a person whose name becomes an "eponym".

However, in a day when fame is conferred by people who have scarcely read a book out of interest, it is probably fair to judge a book by its title ... if only because that is the only thing about the publication which merits a book review.

Exhibit #1: Paris Hilton's new voyeurography: "Confessions of an Heiress. A Tongue in Chic Peek Behind the Pose".
http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/5838668/

Obviously, the best writing is on the cover.

This is an act we can all get in on!

Paris Hilton: At the Peek of my Career.

Or:

Paris Hilton: A Peep beyond the Prose.

Or:

Paris Hilton: Need I say more?

Or:

Paris Hilton: Confessions of an Heirhead

Paris Hilton adds new meaning to the the phrase "cover girl".

"Confessions of an Heiress" isn't a book. It's a cover.

"A peek behind the pose"???

The only thing we don't get to peek at "behind the pose" on the cover is her photogenic behind. No doubt that appears on the back cover.

Coming to you LIVE!

Has anyone figgered out why some ask "for whom the bells toll"? and some, "for whom the bell tolls'? If one will use titles, shouldn't it/they be correct?

Good point, amnow...and that's another title heard in parody often.

Here's a more specific "for instance' which might help folks target more what I'm trying to put a finger on...I've seen "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in the sports pages as "Long Game's Journey Into Loss".

Long Game's Journey Into Loss

that's just bad, no matter what you call it...

I'm not a big fan of puns, but I love a play on words. That one was pretty good. No idea what to call the phenom, though.

Speaking of John Donne’s, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, No. 17, I once wrote a parody entitled For Whom the Dog Barks, in response to an annoying neighborhood canine. A couple of years later, my son was looking through one of those trashy gag item catalogues and spotted a coffee mug, or tee shirt or some such thing with the same dog eared phrase imprinted on it. He jokingly suggested that I should sue the company for stealing my idea. We decided to check with John first, but he hasn’t gotten back to us yet.

We decided to check with John first, but he hasn’t gotten back to us yet. He's prolly not Donne with it yet.

ask not, Jackie...

I have an idea for a play about a family who runs a laundrette; the eldest son works through the night, where he gets high on the fumes from the dry-cleaning machine, and ends up ruining an entire overnight run of laundry for the local hospital when he puts it by mistake into a large vat of green Rit. It's working title is Laundry's Journey into Night. Of course the son dyes in the end.

Somewhat along the same lines, I was in Germany some years ago when the film The Longest Day opened there. I couldn't understand why it was such a smash hit until I went to the cinema and discovered they were running it in reverse.

that's just bad, no matter what you call it...

Well, these ghostly parodies are all usually pretty bad, or weird, eta, being mostly a newspaper copy-editor thing (nothin' peronal-like, ASp and wow ). But it isn't really a quality thing.

re "For whom the dog barks" coffee mug

Now you can get the doormat, OwlBow, and make a really good first impression with first-time visitors.

http://www.t-shirtshop.biz/107-00306.html

Maybe you could apend the legend:

Welcome to the OwlBowWow's