The Picasso of Picassos

October 25, 2011 11:39 AM

Who is the Picasso of Picasso cliches?

Previous examples of the cliche on Metafilter

posted by Potomac Avenue (19 comments total)

This is a real one ear of a post.
posted by Apropos of Something at 11:41 AM on October 25, 2011

Guess who else never got called an asshole?
posted by koeselitz at 11:42 AM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

Apropos of Something: “This is a real one ear of a post.”

I'm not going to say it. I hope somebody else does, though.
posted by koeselitz at 11:42 AM on October 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

Goddamit!

"That other asshole."
posted by From Bklyn at 11:44 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

This mostly just makes me think of the Fat Albert episode where he goes "Just call me Picka-soe!"
posted by SharkParty at 11:54 AM on October 25, 2011

given Picasso's fidelity to lifelike form - or lack thereof - I'm not inclined to visit the Picasso of Proctology.
posted by entropone at 11:55 AM on October 25, 2011

The pumpkin carving Picasso wears Play-Doh cologne.
posted by Specklet at 11:57 AM on October 25, 2011

Why wouldn't you compare geniuses to Picasso? The guy was a freakin' Einstein.
posted by PlusDistance at 11:59 AM on October 25, 2011 [5 favorites]

At least being the "Picasso" of something still means something positive. I recall when calling something the "Cadillac" of whatever was high praise.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:02 PM on October 25, 2011

Zangwill... edited a comic journal called Ariel, and discovered the English "Shakespeare": Shakespeares were being discovered everywhere just then. J. T. Grein, the dramatic critic, had discovered a Dutch Shakespeare, and another critic, not to be outdone, had dug up one in Belgium. In the end, every country in Europe was found to possess a Shakespeare, except England. Zangwill did not see why England should be left out, and discovered one in Brixton. Judging from the extracts Zangwill published, he certainly seemed as good as any of the others. The Bacon stunt was in full swing about the same time; and again it was Zangwill who discovered that Shakespeare's plays had all been written by another gentleman of the same name.

Jerome K. Jerome: "My Life and Times".
posted by TheophileEscargot at 12:07 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I think Picasso is the Picasso of Picassos. Asshole or not, the man made a mark.

I am reminded of an article I read by a mystery writer. He had interviewed Mickey Spillane in maybe the late 80s, and during the interview he allowed as to how he hoped to become his generation's Mickey Spillane. Spillane looked at him and said something like "listen, punk, I'm your generation's Mickey Spillane." I imagine Picasso would much the same.

He'd certainly rip "the Picasso of Proctologists" a new one. As it were.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:13 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I recall when calling something the "Cadillac" of whatever was high praise.

I read this somewhere: "my personal favorite was when I was doing a survey about cars, and I asked a guy what he liked about Cadillac. His response: 'Cadillac is the Cadillac of.....cars....' He kind of trailed off there as he realized what he'd just said."
posted by martinrebas at 12:17 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

I recall when calling something the "Cadillac" of whatever was high praise.

You mean Lexus, but you ain't know it.
posted by dhartung at 12:43 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

given Picasso's fidelity to lifelike form - or lack thereof

Fidelity to lifelike form is overrated.
posted by blucevalo at 12:46 PM on October 25, 2011

Picasso was all ABOUT infidelity if you know what I mean WINK WINK
posted by LogicalDash at 1:19 PM on October 25, 2011

Also interesting: "the Rosetta stone of X." I encounter this phrase surprisingly frequently, and often it's totally unclear what is meant by it. (Wikipedia seems only to cover uses of the phrase that make sense pretty obviously; I've seen it in book blurbs, etc., used as some sort of weird generic form of praise.)

I wish there were some key by which I could decode or translate this metaphor!
posted by RogerB at 1:23 PM on October 25, 2011

"The Picasso of the Middle East" (who definitely HAS been called an asshole)
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:00 PM on October 25, 2011

glenn healy is the picasso of saying 'sometimes you paint a picasso and sometimes you paint a barn'
posted by rap and country at 4:55 PM on October 25, 2011

More generally:
The Rosa Parks of Blogs
Everybody is the Rosa Parks of something—or at least the Michael Phelps, Cap'n Crunch, Dick Cheney, Elmer Fudd, or Paris Hilton of whatever. This blog collects examples of the adaptable idiom "X is the Y of Z", which is a snowclone.
posted by fredludd at 8:16 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]