The Joy of X

Love is everywhere!^note Clockwise from top left: Love Among Thieves, Love Among The Walnuts, Love Among The Ruins 1948, Love Among The Chickens. They're all shout-outs to Robert Browning's "Love Among The Ruins 1855".

...or 'Tis Pity She's an X.

Some works have titles that are just really easy to have fun with. All you have to do is replace a word or two, and there you go - instant funny title!

With other works... Well, substitute "well-known" for "easy to have fun with", and "memorable" for "funny". After all, what better way could there be to make people remember the title of your new work than making it a Shout-Out to a William Shakespeare title?

In other words, this is about the phenomenon of the title of a work being used as a template for other titles. The key feature is that the structure of the title is distinctive enough that even when replacing one or more words, it's still obvious what the reference is.

More generally, popular phrases with a variable element used in this manner as templates are termed "snowclones". See The Other Wiki.

See also Stock Shoutouts, Memetic Mutation. If your title is a Shout-Out to something other than another title, it's a Literary Allusion Title. If it's an episode title referring to another episode title of the same series, they're Cross-Referenced Titles. For trope title examples see pretty much any Title Tropes of your choice.

Some of these are bound to be Parallel Porn Titles.

Please list lots of actual examples of title variations, rather than just the template — it's more fun that way!

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Examples according to original work:

Comic Books

• Countdown to X: Since many comics tell ongoing stories with regular installments and no end in sight, they can build up to a big event in the future by having a countdown.
  • Countdown to Final Crisis
  • "Countdown to Unicron" (The Transformers (Marvel))
  • "Countdown to Necropolis" (Judge Dredd)
  • "Countdown to Destruction" (Power Rangers in Space; franchise Series Fauxnale)
  • Countdown to Extinction (an album by Megadeth, as well as its title track)
  • Kamen Rider Drive Episode 0: Countdown to Global Freeze
  • "Countdown to Murder" (case in Criminal Case: World Edition)

Films — Live-Action

• The X, The Y, His Z and Her A - starting with The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989), which went through tons of Memetic Mutation when it was first out.
  • Chapter 4 of The Curse of Monkey Island is "The Bartender, The Thieves, His Aunt, And Her Lover".
  • The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife, 1991 British documentary about Eugène Terre'Blanche, leader of the South African far-right party Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging.
  • "The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer" — three guesses.
  • Slightly more subtle was the series of missions in Grand Theft Auto III called "The Crook," "The Thieves," "The Wife," and "The Lover."
  • A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop is probably one these- this is the international film for a movie titled A Simple Noodle Story in reference to the film it adapts.

• Miracle on X, from Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  • Miracle on Evergreen Terrace (The Simpsons)
  • The winter 1980 Olympics where the US Men's hockey team beat the Soviet squad in the semifinal round was dubbed the "Miracle on Ice."
  • Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street
  • Miracle on 49th Street, a novel by Mike Lupica about a basketball star who learns he has a twelve year old daughter.
  • Miracle on the 17th Green, a novel by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge, which was made into a TV movie in 1999.
  • "Miracle on Third or Fourth Street", an episode of Frasier.
  • Miracle on Interstate 880, a TV movie about a disaster during the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.
  • Miracle on Jongno Street, a 2010 documentary that explores LGBT issues in Korea.
  • Miracle on Regent Street, a novel by Ali Harris.
  • Miracle on the Hudson River: US Airways Flight 1549.

• Attack of the Killer/50-foot X - starting with Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958)
  • Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
  • "Attack of the 50-Foot Sister" (Phineas and Ferb)
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Eyesores (The Simpsons)
  • The comedy short Attack of the Killer Refrigerator.
  • The Science Fiction short Attack of the Killer Metal Man from the Dimensions of the Unknown.
  • The documentary Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania.
  • The 1995 film Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfolds.
  • "Attack of the Killer Garage Sale", an episode of Danny Phantom
  • "Attack of the Killer App" (Futurama)
  • "Attack of the 5½ Foot Geek" (My Life as a Teenage Robot)
  • The Calvin and Hobbes collection "Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons"
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Attack of the Radioactive Hamsters from a Planet Near Mars"

• The X That Ate Y (Not based on any particular film, but a common title for B-movies parodies. May have referenced "The dog ate my homework.")
  • All of the books in the Lizzie And Booker series are titled like this, with the first two being "The Turkey That Ate My Father" and "The Computer That Ate My Brother".
  • The novelty song "The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati" by Rose and the Arrangement about a fictional horror movie.
  • In The X-Files episode "Detour", Mulder claims that he has an x-file called "The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati" filed in the C’s.
  • Likewise, "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" by Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band.
  • And the song "The Pizza That Ate Chicago" by Tom Paxton. Chicago must be tasty.
  • The Cars That Ate Paris
  • A Happy Days Expanded Universe novel gave us "The Cow that Ate Salt Lake City" and its sequel "The Cow That Got So Thirsty Eating Salt Lake City, It Had to go Drink Lake Erie"
  • There's another series of children's books titled The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks.
  • "The Tower That Ate People", a song by Peter Gabriel.
  • The 2008 documentary The Cars That Ate China.
  • The short documentary The Hair That Ate Hollywood.
  • The 1906 silent short The Horse That Ate the Baby.
  • The Science Fiction short film The Zucchini That Ate New York vs. Tomatozilla.
  • Bill Cosby had a standup bit involving The Chicken Heart that Ate Up New York City.
  • The Blob That Ate Everyone (Goosebumps)
  • Food Critic Jeffrey Steingarten's book The Man Who Ate Everything
  • The Doom Patrol storyline, "The Painting that Ate Paris", which in true Doom Patrol fashion is even weirder than it sounds
  • The Grog that Drank People, a book appearing in The Curse of Monkey Island.
  • The Monster That Ate Everybody, a Show Within a Show in The Simpsons
  • The Creature That Ate Sheboygan, both a tabletop game and an unrelated song by Aces & Eights.

• Crouching X, Hidden Y - starting with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
  • Crouching Support, Hidden Batshit
  • "Crouching Jimmy, Hidden Sheen" (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius)
  • "We'll return you to 'Crouching Tiger, Screaming Siegfried and Roy' in just a second..."
  • "Crouching Father, Hidden Husband", an episode of Will & Grace.
  • "Crouching Binome, Hidden Virus", an episode of ReBoot.
  • Crouching Tiger, Disembowelling Parrot, a Show Within a Show in Futurama.

• X, Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Y. - starting with Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
  • The Simpsons episode title "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)"
  • The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies was originally titled The Incredibly Strange Creature: Or Why I Stopped Living and Became a Mixed-Up Zombie before Columbia Pictures threatened a lawsuit.
  • The Bluetones song "Autophilia (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Car)"
  • According to IMDb, the working title for Soccer Dog: The Movie was Soccer Dog, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Pooch.
  • The Nostalgia Chick episode Blonde Girls Now and Then, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Ke$ha.
  • The 1964 comedy film The Monster of Camp Sunshine or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nature.
  • The short film The Origin or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the J.O.I.N.T..
  • The 2009 short film Dr Lewis Or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Corpse.
  • The 2010 documentary Flush! or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Toilet.
  • The 2005 short documentary The Zeros Post Mortem or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Box Office and Love DVD.
  • Iraq: A Look Baq (Or, How We Learned to Stop Reporting and Love the War), a 2003 television special hosted by Jon Stewart.
  • Wil Wheaton's The Saga of Spongebob Vega$pant$ (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Star Trek)
  • David Willis's Roomies! collection Roomies! Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Beer.
  • The final chapter of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc in the Project Zetsubou Fan Translation is titled "The Super Duper High School Unluckster, or: How I Learned to Stop Despairing and Embrace the End".
  • The first episode of the Touhou Project Fanime The Memories of Phantasm had the English title "The Ordinary Magician or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Kotatsu".
  • One Square Root of Minus Garfield strip is titled "Donutception, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Donut (Wars)".
  • Michael Rosen had a possible variation with "Tomato Two, or How I Learned to Love Tomatoes".
  • "How I Learned to (Almost) Love the Sin Lobbyists," article by Christopher Buckley about the Real Life inspiration for Thank You for Smoking
  • How I Learned to Stop Hating My Job and Love My Life, an article from The Huffington Post.

• A Fistful of X (where X is usually some kind of money) - starting with A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
  • A Fistful of Dynamite, by Sergio Leone himself.
  • "A Fistful of Yen," movie-within-the-movie from The Kentucky Fried Movie
  • Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
  • The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
  • "A Fistful of Auctions," episode of Storage Wars: Texas
  • "A Fistful of Brains," episode of Ben 10: Omniverse
  • "A Fistful of Chips," episode of Taggart
  • "A Fistful of Chowder," episode of Conan
  • "A Fistful of Datas," episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • "A Fistful of Diamonds," episode of Alias Smith and Jones
  • "A Fistful of Dinars," episode of Xena: Warrior Princess
  • "A Fistful of Dobbers," episode of Neighbours
  • "A Fistful of Donuts," cinematic music track from LittleBigPlanet 3
  • "A Fistful of Ed," episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy
  • "A Fistful of Energon," episode of Transformers: Animated
  • "A Fistful of Francs," episode of 'Allo 'Allo!
  • "A Fistful of Lire," episode of The Fall Guy
  • "A Fistful of Meg," episode of Family Guy
  • "A Fistful of Paintballs," episode of Community
  • "A Fistful of Reasons," episode of The Brady Bunch
  • "A Fistful of Fingers", episode of Wayne and Shuster.
  • "A Fistful of Rikers", a Fan Vid edit of Star Trek: TNG
  • "A Fistful of Tunes You Can Whistle", a sub-setting in the Discworld RPG.
  • Fistful of Frags, a Wild West-themed multiplayer FPS game.

• From X with Love - starting with James Bond novel/movie From Russia with Love (1963). There are some variations, too: To X with Love or From X without Love
  • From Eroica with Love
  • From Paris with Love
  • From Mexico With Love
  • From Rush Hour With Love was a song by Republica.
  • The French title for In Bruges is equivalent to "From Bruges With Love".
  • Artemis Fowl chapter title: "To Russia, With Gloves."
  • The boxart of the NES version◊ of Tetris features the tagline, "From Russia With Fun!"
  • From Beijing with Love is a Bond parody by Stephen Chow.
  • The Ground Control cheat "frommassivewithlove"
  • "From Alabamy, With Hate," Harlan Ellison's true story of the March from Selma to Montgomery
  • "From Raxacoricofallapatorius with Love" (The Sarah Jane Adventures Comic Relief special)
  • From Aberystwyth with Love, the fifth Aberystwyth Noir novel by Malcolm Pryce
  • From Above with Love, a book by Andrew Matthews
  • From Pluto with Love, episode of Ready Jet Go!
  • "From Buffalo with Love", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "From Venus with Love", episode of The Avengers (1960s)
  • Variation: "To Spank, with Love" and "To Sirloin with Love", episodes of King of the Hill
  • "From Russia without Love", "To Surveil with Love", "To Cur with Love" and "To Courier with Love" from The Simpsons

• The Good, The Bad And The X - starting with Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
  • The Good, The Bad And The Queen
  • "The Good, the Sad and the Drugly" (The Simpsons)
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Undead
  • The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland had the Tag Line "The Good, The Bad and The Stinky."
  • The Good, The Bad, The Weird, a Korean recycling of the Leone film (with some nods to the other films in the "Dollars Trilogy")
  • According to the Weird Experiments website, this is the most common snowclone movie title to be used in scientific papers, based on hits on Google Scholar.
  • A Beano "comics library" starting Plug from The Bash Street Kids called The Good, The Bad And Plug Ugly.
  • An episode of Wizards of Waverly Place was titled, "The Good, the Bad, and the Alex".
  • "We'll return you to our Politically-Correct Presentation of 'The Good, The Bad, and the Beauty-Impaired' in just a second..."
  • Panic! at the Disco has the song "The Good, the Bad and the Dirty", from the album Death of a Bachelor.
  • Bubsy level "The Good, the Bad and the Woolies"
  • "The Good, the Bad and the Wallaby" (Rocko's Modern Life)
  • "The Good, the Bad and the Tigger" (The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh)
  • "The Good, Tad and the Ugly", name of the last level of Frogger 2 (played as frog Tad)
  • "The Good, the Bad and the Ponies", two part arc from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW)
  • Our trope The Good, the Bad, and the Evil
  • "The Good, The Bad And The Motionless," an episode from Danger Mouse
  • "The Good, The Bad And Huckleberry Hound," a 1988 Hanna-Barbera made-for-TV animated movie
  • "The Good, The Bad And The Adorable," an episode of Bounty Hamster
  • "The Good, The Bad, And The Smurfy," an episode of The Smurfs
  • "The Good, The Bad, And The Snotty," an episode of Back at the Barnyard
  • "The Goood, the Bad & the Baby", an episode of Castle
  • "The Good, the Bad, and the Dominatrix", an episode of CSI
  • A Take That! case involved that movie's star, or rather his ex-wife, who titled her autobiography The Good, the Bad, and the Very Ugly

• Once Upon a Time in X - starting with Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
  • Leone himself repeated this title, using it for Once Upon a Time in America and in Once Upon A Time... the Revolution, an alternate title for Duck, You Sucker! (also alternatively titled A Fistful of Dynamite)
  • Once Upon a Time in Mexico
  • Once Upon a Time in India, a subtitle given to Lagaan
  • Once Upon a Time in China
  • Once Upon A Time In The Midlands
  • Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2012)
  • Once Upon A Time In The North, a prequel to His Dark Materials
  • Once Upon a Time in Wonderland; it's a spinoff of a show called Once Upon a Time that's set in Wonderland.
  • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
  • ... and more

• I Was a Teenage X - starting with I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
  • I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, film from the producers of I Was a Teenage Werewolf, released in the same year (1957)
  • I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf, novel by Max Shulman
  • I Was a Teenage T. Rex, book in the Dinoverse series
  • I Was a Teenage Worrier
  • I Was a Teenage Fairy
  • I Was a Teenage Faust, 2002 TV Movie
  • I Was a Zombie for the FBI, 1984 Film
  • I Was a Teenage Zombie, 1986 film
  • "I Was a Teenage Taylor", episode of Home Improvement
  • "I Was a Teenage Gary", episode of SpongeBob SquarePants
  • "I Was a Teenage Stimpy", episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show
  • "I Was a Teenage Spy", episode of Boy Meets World
  • "I Was a Teenage Anarchist", song by Against Me!
  • "I Was a Teenage Communist", a Radio 4 documentary on the history of Communist Party of Great Britain presented by Alexei Sayle (who was a teenage Communist).
  • "I Was a Teenage Brain Surgeon", referenced in a Spike Jones routine.
  • "I Was a Teenage Thumb", 1963 Looney Tunes short.
  • I Was a Teenage TV Terrorist, a 1985 comedy film.
  • I Was a Teenage Movie Maker: Don Glut's Amateur Movies, a 2006 documentary.
  • I Was a Teenage Feminist, a 2005 documentary.
  • I Was a Teenage Werebear, a 2011 short film parodying several movies, including Rebel Without a Cause.
  • Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, written by Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady on The Brady Bunch, and Chris Kreski, a screenwriter and biographer.
  • I Was a Teenage Popsicle, a novel by Bev Katz Rosenbaum, in which the main character is cryogenically frozen for ten years.
  • I Was a Teenage Professional Wrestler, a memoir by Ted Lewin
  • I Was a Teenage Alien, a science fiction novel by Jane Greenhill.
  • I Was a Teenage Zucchini...But I Didn't Get Squashed!, a play by Craig Sodaro.
  • I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, a book that chronicles the history of the Sex Pistols.
  • "I Was a Teenage Monster Mangler", a short story by Gordon Rowlinson.
  • I Was a Teenage Intellectual - a 1999 Czech short, "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" spoof.
  • "I Was a Teenage Blowfly," movie-within-the-show from The Fairly OddParents!
  • "I Was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" - Kevin Eastman writing about the series' creation, and a stand-up routine by one of the original movie's stuntmen
  • "I Was a Teenage Bigfoot" a Dresden Files short story, collected as part of Brief Cases.

• X House on the Y - specific to 1970s exploitation horror and starting with The Last House on the Left (1972)
  • The Last House on Dead End Street
  • House on the Edge of the Park
  • The Last House in the Woods
  • Little House on the Prairie is a more lighthearted example that actually features the same naming structure and debuted earlier — decades earlier, along with Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little Town on the Prairie echoed the pattern.
  • Little Mosque on the Prairie snowcloned that in another direction.

• All This, and X Y (in which Y should rhyme with "too") - starting with All This, and Heaven Too (1940), the famous movie with Bette Davis
  • All This and World War II, a 1976 musical documentary that juxtaposes Beatles songs, performed by a number of musicians, with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films from the 1940s.
  • All This and Rabbit Stew, one of the infamous Censored Eleven cartoons, about a black hunter and Bugs Bunny.
  • All This and Puppet Stew, an album by Los Angeles punk rock band The Dickies.
  • All This and Everest Too, an actual newspaper headline printed on the morning of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, referring to the British expedition becoming the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest a few days earlier.
  • The '80s shirt that said "ALL THIS AND BRAINS TOO".
  • The Venture Bros. special that takes place between seasons five and six is called "All This and Gargantua-2".

• X, Lies and Videotape / Sex, X and Videotape or Sex, Lies and X - starting with sex, lies, and videotape (1989). While "Sex" is usually the word replaced with something that sounds similar (or even not-so-similar), all three have been used at times.
  • Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics is a 1995 documentary film on Marilyn Waring, a feminist.
  • Less Than Perfect has a final episode titled "Sex, Lies and Office Supplies"
  • X-Men: The Animated Series has an episode titled "Weapon X, Lies & Videotape"
  • Boy Meets World has an episode titled "Wake Up, Little Cory" in the episode the name of Cory and Topanga's project is Sex, Lies and Videotape.
  • Season 4, episode 13 of the 90's TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is called "Sex, Lies, and Videotape".
  • Goof Troop has an episode titled "Wrecks, Lies & Videotape".
  • Dexter has an episode titled "Dex, Lies and Videotape".
  • Roswell has an episode titled "Tess, Lies, and Videotape".
  • Family Matters has an episode named "Food, Lies and Videotape".
  • Will & Grace has an episode titled "Sex, Losers, and Videotape".
  • The Simpsons has an episode titled "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes".
  • Martin has an episode titled "Checks, Lies, and Videotape".
  • Northern Exposure has an episode titled "Sex, Lies and Ed's Tape".
  • South of Nowhere has an episode titled "Love, Child, and Videotape".
  • Murray Torkildsen released an album called Sex, Lies and Videogames.
  • "Sex, Lies and Videogames" was also the name of a Game Informer article analyzing BMX XXX and Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball way, way back.
  • Perhaps closest to the original is a BBC programme Sex, Lice and Videotape.
  • The Ultimates 3 "Sex, Lies, & DVD"
  • Dawson's Creek has an episode titled "Text, Lies and Videotape."
  • CSI: NY has an episode titled "Sex, Lies, and Silicone."
  • The original CSI had "Sex, Lies, and Larvae"
  • Tripping The Rift has an episode titled "Six, Lies and Videotape".
  • Ally McBeal has episodes "Sex, Lies and Second Thoughts" and "Sex, Lies and Politics".
  • "Sex, Lies, and Expedia.com" is an episode of Judging Amy.
  • "Hex, Lies, and No Video Tape", an episode of 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
  • "Ex, Lies, and Videotape" is an episode of Wings.
  • Sex, Lies and Bacon
  • Atari's Batman Arcade Game had a movie theater showing Sex, Lies, Video Games.

• One of Our X is Missing - probably started by One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942)
  • One of Our Spies is Missing, 1966 film
  • One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, 1975 film
  • One of Our Porn Stars is Missing, 1993 film
  • One of Our Thursdays is Missing, 2011 novel by Jasper Fforde
  • "One of Our Angels is Missing", Charlie's Angels episode
  • "One of Our Planets is Missing", Star Trek: The Animated Series episode
  • "One of Our Olives is Missing", Get Smart episode
  • "One of Our Probes is Missing", Search Control episode
  • "One of Our Trains is Missing", Maverick episode
  • "One of Our Bombs is Missing", I Spy episode
  • "One of Our Chickens is Missing", Petticoat Junction episode
  • "One of Our Dogs is Missing", Lost in Space episode
  • "One of Our Assemblymen is Missing", Green Acres episode
  • "One of Our Running Backs is Missing", The Six Million Dollar Man episode
  • "One of Our Zeppelins is Missing", Switch episode
  • "One of Our Engines is Missing", McHale's Navy episode
  • "One of Our Bottles is Missing", I Dream of Jeannie episode
  • "One of Our Stately Homes is Missing", Danger Mouse episode
  • "One of Our Sweathogs is Missing", Welcome Back, Kotter episode
  • "One of Our Fruit Machines is Missing", song by Nik Kershaw
  • "One of Our Dholaks is Missing", song by Transglobal Underground
  • "One of Our Psychedelic Beakers is Missing", song by The Dentists
  • "One of Our Fifty is Missing", column in New Mexico Magazine about people who don't know New Mexico is a state
  • Variations:
    • "One of My Wives is Missing", 1976 TV Movie
    • "Two of Our Weirdos Are Missing", Laverne & Shirley episode
    • "Some of Our Airmen Are No Longer Missing", 1990 documentary
    • "Four Of Our Notes Are Missing", Oscar's Orchestra Series Fauxnale.
  • Aversion: "One of Our Submarines", a song by Thomas Dolby, omits the last two words from the title, but includes them in the lyric.
  • A group called Local Heroes, featuring various ex-members of The Shadows and other veteran guitarists, have released albums called One of Our Shadows is Missing, Two of Our Shadows are Missing and Three of Our Shadows are Missing, as well as a Compilation Rerelease, Some of Our Shadows are Missing.

• X, Y Style (more specifically Noun, Adjectival Style) starting with Divorce Italian Style (1961)
  • Marriage Italian Style
  • War, Italian Style
  • Paradise, Hawaiian Style
  • Love, American Style (which Back to the Future parodied with a theater showing "Orgy, American Style")
  • "Love, American Style", episode of Dexter
  • "Jealousy, English Style", episode of Green Acres
  • "Divorce, Walnut Grove Style", episode of Little House on the Prairie
  • "Divorce, Sanford Style", episode of Sanford and Son
  • "Divorce, Venusian Style", episode of The Greatest American Hero
  • "Love, Amazon Style", episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
  • "Love, Bayside Style", episode of Saved by the Bell: The New Class
  • "Love, Mancini Style", episode of Melrose Place
  • "Love, Pokémon Style" and "Love, Petalburg Style", episodes of Pokémon
  • "Love, Springfieldian Style", episode of The Simpsons
  • "Love, Sri Lankan Style", episode of The Drew Carey Show
  • "Intercourse, Italian style" is one film idea suggested in a Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch.
  • "Rome, Italian Style," sketch from SCTV
  • "Monkees, Manhattan Style, episode of The Monkees
  • "Love, Cirronian Style", an episode of Tracker
  • Wings did a two-parter with "Marriage, Italian Style" and "Divorce, American Style."

• So You Want to be an X - starting with the "So You Want" series, aka the "Joe McDoakes" series for the main character, a series of comedy short films about a goofball who always got into silly situations. Examples include So You Want to Be a Detective (a satire of Lady in the Lake), So You Want to Be in Pictures (Ronald Reagan had a cameo!), So You Want to Be on the Radio, and So You Think You're Not Guilty.
  • Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero.
  • The novel So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane.
  • The series of self-help books by Derek Bacon, from the Mega Crossover Fan Fic Undocumented Features.
  • So You Want to Be a Rock And Roll Star by The Byrds.
  • More than likely, every DJ Hero player reading this immediately thought of the mix of Groundhog by Noisia. "So you want to be a DJ... It's going to take an awful lot of practice..."
  • "So You Wanna be a Superstar" (Sailor Moon (NA Dub))
  • So You Want To Be Top, a CBBC gameshow from The '80s.
  • "So You Want to Be a Cop", a radio serial from the 1950s.

• Murder Most X - starting with the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple film Murder Most Foul (1964), which was quoting Hamlet (c. 1600)
  • Murder Most Horrid, Dawn French vehicle
  • Murder Most Medieval, anthology of historical whodunnits
  • Murder Most English, TV adaptation of the Flaxborough novels by Colin Watson
  • Murder Most Fab, novel by Julian Clary
  • "Murder Most Fowl", episode of Castle
  • "Murder Most Fowl", short story by Deborah Millitello in Dragon
  • "Murder Most Maris", episode of Frasier
  • "Murder Most Likely", a Canadian docu-drama starring Paul Gross.
  • Murder Most Unladylike, novel by Robin Stevens.

• Whatever Happened to X? - starting with Whatever Happened To Baby Jane (1962)
  • Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
  • "Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?", a season 1 episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
  • "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?", a season 4 episode of Babylon 5.
  • "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", an iconic pre-Crisis Superman story.
  • "Whatever Happened to The Caped Crusader?", a not-so-iconic post-Crisis Batman story.
  • Whatever Happened to Janie?, a Caroline B. Cooney novel.
  • Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?
  • Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice? (1969 horror film)
  • Whatever Happened to was a series of backups in the comic book DC Comics Presents.
  • ''Whatever Happened to PJ Soles?, a 2004 album by rock band Local H.
  • Whatever Happened to...? was a BBC Radio 4 Mockumentary looking at the later lives of fictional characters.
  • IMDb lists more than 30 other films and TV shows with this title format.

• My Big Fat X Y - starting with My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
  • "My Big Fat Greek Rush Week", Veronica Mars
  • "My Big Fat Greek Sandwich", Good Eats
  • "My Big Fat Bleak Wedding", Neighbours
  • "My Big Fat Geek Wedding", both The Simpsons and Comic Book Men
  • "My Big Fat Stinky Wedding", Chowder
  • There's a show called Big Fat Gypsy Weddings that had an episode titled "My Big Fat Gypsy Christmas"
  • Spore has a DLC adventure called "My Big Fat Pig Wedding"
  • "My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish", a series of children's books by Mo O'hara.
  • "My Big Fat Independent Movie", a comedy film that parodies indie films, directed by Philip Zlotorynski.
  • "My Big Fat Mimico Wedding", episode of Murdoch Mysteries

• Bring Me the X of Y - after Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974). X is most often "Head" as in the original, and Y is usually a name.
  • "Bring Me the Head of Willy the Mailboy!", Dilbert collection
  • Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis, film
  • "Bring Me the Head of Michael Portillo", song by The Family Cat
  • "Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin", live album by Hawkwind
  • "Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment", 1990s UK TV panel game
  • Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis, 1988 TV movie
  • Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, Roger Zelazny and Robert Sheckley novel
  • Bring Me the Head of Oliver Plunkett, novel by Colin Bateman
  • Bring Me the Head of Lance Henriksen, 2013 film
  • Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman. 2012 Chilean film
  • TV episodes:
    • "Bring Me the Head of Oswaldo Castillo", Medium
    • "Bring Me the Head of Hank Kaplan", Nurses (1991)
    • "Bring Me the Head of The Hulk", The Incredible Hulk (1977)
    • "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim", Earthworm Jim
    • "Bring Me the Head of Stuart Rosebrock", Coach
    • "Bring Me the Head of Santanico Pandemonium", From Dusk Till Dawn
    • "Bring me the Head of Donna Garland", Out of This World (1987)
    • "Bring Me the Head of Arthur Daley", Minder
    • "Bring Me the Head of Ranginald Bagel", Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja
    • "Bring Me the Head of Tatsurion the Unchained", Kaijudo
    • "Bring Me the Ted of Albert Garcia", Doctors (involving a teddy bear)
    • "Bring Me the Lip Gloss of Deirdre Arpelle", The Cosby Show
    • "Bring Me the Face of Hector Con Carne", Evil Con Carne
  • Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia, album by The Flaming Stars
  • "Bring Me the Head of Jerry Garcia" by Iron Prostate
  • "Bring Me the Sweat of Gabriela Sabatini", poem by Clive James
  • The animated short Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown
  • Bring Me the Head of the Taskmaster, a tie-in book for the British comedy game show Taskmaster (in which readers can compete to find the actual — replica — head of Greg Davies, the titular Taskmaster)

• X Mon Amour after the 1959 film Hiroshima Mon Amour. X is usually a city.
  • Aberystwyth Mon Amour, the first Aberystwyth Noir novel by Malcom Pryce
  • Grandville Mon Amour, the second Grandville graphic novel
  • New Orleans Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City, nonfiction book by Andre Codrescu
  • Paris Mon Amour, photography book by Jean-Claude Gautrand
  • Max Mon Amour, 1986 film

• X Goes to Washington after the 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Became a common snowclone after the 1962-3 TV series based on the film. Typically uses the (Title, Surname) format for X.
  • Billy Jack Goes to Washington, 1977 film
  • The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, 1977 film
  • Mr Rabb Goes to Washington, JAG episode
  • Paddington Goes to Washington, The Adventures of Paddington episode
  • Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington, The Simpsons episode
  • Ms. Knope Goes to Washington and Ms. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington, from Parks and Recreation
  • Inverted by the 2009 TV movie Mrs Washington Goes to Smith.

• Title of the Dead sometimes of the Living Dead which is popularly used for works featuring zombies ever since Night of the Living Dead (1968). Has its own page.

• When X met Y, starting from When Harry Met Sally... (1989).
  • The Google company page used to contain a small subsection called When Larry met Sergey.
  • When Larry Met Harry (CD album)
  • Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
  • "When Rita Met Runt"

• X do[es] Y, a Character Action Title format starting (perhaps) with Debbie Does Dallas (1978). X is a person and Y is a place, usually a city.
  • Beavis And Butthead Do America (later followed by a Licensed Game titled Beavis and Butt-head Do U.)
  • Dave Barry Does Japan
  • "Kimberly Does L.A.", episode of Melrose Place
  • "Kelly Does Hollywood", episode of Married... with Children
  • "Lydia Does New York", episode of Guest Appearances
  • "Bobby Does London", episode of Being Bobby Brown
  • Stage Door Canteen Does Chicago, a music documentary
  • "Nancy Does Dallas", episode of King of the Hill

• The X Who Y-ed Me, after the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
  • Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
  • The Spy Who Dumped Me
  • The Spy Who Boned Us
  • The Spy Who Raised Me
  • The Spy Who Conned Me (2006 documentary)
  • The Spy Who Knew Me
  • The Spy Who Fleeced Me
  • "The Spy Who Bugged Me", episode of Trapper John, M.D.
  • "The Spy Who Slimed Me", episode of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
  • "The Spy Who Smoked Me", episode of All of Us
  • "The Spy Who Left Me", episode of Up the Elephant and Round the Castle
  • "The Spy Who Taught Me", episode of Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures
  • "The Spy Who Fed Me", episode of InSecurity
  • "The Spy Who Hated Me", episode of The Ben Shapiro Show
  • "The Spy Who Rooked Me", episode of G.I. Joe
  • "The Spy Who Learned Me", episode of The Simpsons
  • "The Spy Who Loathed Me", episode of Pumpkin Reports
  • "The Spy Who Caked Me", episode of Ace of Cakes
  • "The Spy Who Bugged Me", episode of Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production
  • "The Spy Who Mugged Me", episode of The A-Team
  • "The Spy Who Scammed Me", episode of American Greed
  • "The Spy Who Shoved Me", episode of The Suite Life on Deck
  • "The Spy Who Loved Murdoch" and "The Spy Who Came Up to the Cold", episodes of Murdoch Mysteries

• Journey into the Depth of the X's Soul — Journey Into The Depth Of The Students Soul ^note Cesta do hlubin studakovy duse in Czech; actually it was a book first, but the film is more popular and started the pattern from 1939 is the original, likely influenced by Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) or by Louis Ferdinand Celine's Journey to the End of the Night (1932).^note Cesta do hlubin noci in Czech.
  • Journey into the Depth of the Footballer's Soul ^note  Cesta do hlubin fotbalove duse; a 1975 documentary about football players, coaches, referees, officials and fans
  • Journey into the Depth of the Cat's Soul ^note  Cesta do hlubin kocici duse, animated TV shorts
  • Jindrich Plachta: Journey into the Depth of the Actor's Soul ^note  Jindrich Plachta: Cesta do hlubin hercovy duse, a book about a Czech actor who had a starring role in the movie that started this trend
  • Journey into the Depth of the Teacher's Soul ^note  Cesta do hlubin kantorovy duse, a book about a Czech teacher
  • Journey into the Depth of the Brain ^note  Cesta do hlubin mozku; orig. title The Brain With Dr. David Eagleman
  • Graphology: Journey into the Depth of the Soul ^note  Grafologie: Cesta do hlubin duse; a book about graphology
  • Journey into the Depth of the Nutcase's Soul ^note  Cesta do hlubin magorovy duse, an alternative market-based title of the 2014 US/German movie The Voices
  • "Journey into the Depth of the Soul of Czech People" ^note  Cesta do hlubin duse ceskeho lidu; an essay about Jaroslav Zak's political satire; J. Zak wrote the book and script of the punny name trend-setter

• The X Patient starting with The English Patient (novel 1992, film 1996)
  • "The Canadian Patient", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • The Syrian Patient, a 2017 documentary
  • "The Singlish Patient", episode of Police & Thief
  • The Australian Patient, a short film

• Bend It Like X starting with Bend It Like Beckham (2002). It works best if the title uses alliteration. Bend It Like B.
  • "Bend It Like Brackenreid", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "Bend It Like Basil", episode of The Basil Brush Show
  • "Bend It Like Brent", episode of Corner Gas
  • "Bend It Like Baxter", episode of That's So Raven
  • "Bend It Like Bella", episode of Little Big Shots
  • "Bend It Like Becky", story in WordGirl
  • "Bend It Like Burtonburger", story in Kid vs. Kat
  • "Bend It Like Wreckem", story in Jimmy Two-Shoes
  • "Bend It Like Donald", episode of The Apprentice
  • "Bend It Like Czar Zar", episode of The New Adventures of Nanoboy
  • "Bend It Like Walberg", episode of Wahlburgers
  • "Bend It Like Radar", episode of Astroblast!
  • "Bend It Like Golic", episode of Off-Mikes

• X and the Temple of Y (alternatively, X and the Y of Doom), starting with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
  • "Murdoch and the Temple of Death", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "Murdoch and the Cloud of Doom", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, a video game
  • "Indiana Ivy and the Temple of Phlegm", episode of Storage Wars
  • "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Fails", episode of What Went Down
  • "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime", episode of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
  • "Sharky & George and the Temple of Boom", episode of Sharky & George
  • Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls, a mockbuster of the original
  • "Rusty and the Temple of Boom", episode of Rusty Rivets
  • Kimmy Dora and the Temple of Kiyeme
  • Hero in the Castle of Doom, 1984 Arcade Game also known as Hero in the Temple of Doom
  • Mutant Monty and the Temple of Doom, ZX Spectrum game
  • Ziggurat: The Temple of Doom, ZX Spectrum game
  • Lufia & The Fortress of Doom, video game

• Citizen X, inspired by Citizen Kane (1941). Best if X starts with K or rhymes with Kane. Can be a Whole-Plot Reference to the trendsetter.
  • Citizen Smith
  • Citizen Khan
  • Citizen X
  • Citizen Cohn
  • Citizen Lane (two works: 2013 and 2018)
  • Citizen K, an Israeli crime documentary
  • Citizen Duane
  • Citizen K.O., a short comedy
  • Citizen Kate, a 2016 TV movie
  • Citizen Havel
  • Citizen Ruth, a 1996 film
  • Citizen Jane
  • Citizen Jake
  • "Citizen Kang", a story from The Simpsons episode "Treehouse Of Horror VII".
  • "Citizen Max", episode of Tiny Toon Adventures
  • "Citizen Joe", episode of Star Gate SG 1
  • "Citizen Kraus", episode of Benson
  • "Citizen 'Caine", episode of The Blubburbs
  • "Citizen Lydia", episode of One Day at a Time
  • "Citizen Romeo", episode of Judge Roy Bean
  • "Citizen Wayne", episode of A Different World
  • "Citizen Wayne", used twice in DC for Batman Elseworlds stories, one written by Mark Waid and one by Brian Michael Bendis, both takes on Citizen Kane.
  • "Citizen Pain", episode of Arnie
  • "Citizen Caine", episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
  • "Citizen Knope", episode of Parks and Recreation

• Last Tango in X — starting with Last Tango in Paris (1972)
  • Last Tango in Halifax
  • Last Tango in Zagarol (Ultimo tango a Zagarol)
  • "Last Tango in Buenos Aires" (Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race)
  • "Last Tango in Philly" (Boy Meets World)
  • "Last Tango in Hartford" (Judging Amy)
  • "Last Tango in Dallas" (Dallas)
  • "Last Tango in Newark" (The Odd Couple)
  • "Last Tango in Pasadena" (Brothers & Sisters)
  • "Last Tango in St. Louis" (On Our Own)
  • "Last Tango in Bayreuth," Wagnerian pastiche for bassoon quartet by Peter Schickele
  • Variation: "Last Tap Dance in Springfield from The Simpsons

• What's Eating X? — starting with What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
  • "What's Eating Dexter Morgan?" (Dexter)
  • "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?" (CSI)
  • "What's Eating Zack Greenburg?" (The Zack Files)
  • "What's Eating Patrick?" (SpongeBob SquarePants)

• The Talented Mr. X, starting with The Talented Mr. Ripley (novel 1955, film 1999)
  • "The Talented Mr. Rollins" (Pretty Little Liars)
  • "The Talented Mr. Ridley" (Younger)
  • "The Talented Mr. Ripoff" (For Your Love)
  • "The Talented Mr. Finch" (Just Shoot Me!)
  • "The Talented Mr. Talisman" (The Zack Files)
  • "The Talented Ms. Boddicker" (Medium)
  • "The Talon-ted Mr. Colin" (Inspector Gadget (2015))
  • "The Talented Mr. Long" (American Dragon: Jake Long)
  • "The Talented Mr. Dingleberry" (American Dad!)
  • "The Talented Mr. Birg" (WordGirl)
  • "The Talented Mr. Buttons" (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2017))

• It's a Wonderful X — popularized with It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
  • It's a Wonderful World (1939, preceding the trendsetter)
  • "It's a Wonderful Lie " (episodes of The Riches, House, M.D., Gossip Girl, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
  • "It's a Wonderful Death" (Medium)
  • "It's a Wonderful Job" (Moonlighting)
  • "It's a Wonderful Mork" (Mork & Mindy)
  • "It's a Wonderful School (The Zack Files)
  • "It's a Wonderful Leaf" (Little Shop)
  • "It's a Wonderful Laugh" (Doogie Howser, M.D.)
  • "It's a Wonderful Wife" (Cheers)
  • "It's a Wonderful Night" (Boy Meets World)
  • "It's a Wonderful Nine Lives" (Eek! The Cat)
  • It's a Wonderful Sponge, the original subtitle for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run
  • It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010)
  • "It's a Wonderful Afterlife" (Beetlejuice)

• There's Something About X — popularized with There's Something About Mary (1998)
  • "There's Something About Harry", episode of Dexter
  • "There's Something About Larry", episode of Will & Grace
  • "There's Something About Leo", episode of Charmed
  • "There's Something About Heidi", episode of Spin City
  • "There's Something About Marrying", episode of The Simpsons
  • "There's Something About Mary Shelley" (jokingly used by Sue in The Supersizers Eat)

• X Doesn't Live Here Anymore — popularized with Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) but there are much earlier examples.
  • Johnny Doesnt Live Here Anymore (1944)
  • Roger Doesnt Live Here Anymore (1981)
  • "Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from The Simpsons
    • Troy McClure once starred in a medical documentary called Alice Doesn't Live Anymore
  • "Kelly Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from Married... with Children
  • "Becky Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from Roseanne
  • "Doogie Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from Doogie Howser, M.D.
  • "Juliet Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from Gossip Girl
  • "CatDog Doesn't Live Here Anymore" from CatDog
  • Word-play: "Alice Doesn't Lisp Here Anymore" episodes from Will & Grace and The Brady Bunch

• Driving Miss/Ms/Mrs/Mr X started with Driving Miss Daisy (1989).
  • "Driving Miss Gilmore", an episode of Gilmore Girls
  • "Driving Mr. Mossback", an episode of Six Feet Under
  • "Driving Mr McLynn", an episode of Doc Martin
  • "Driving Mr. Goodman", an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch
  • "Driving Miss Crazy", an episode of Pretty Little Liars
  • "Driving Miss Ethyl", an episode of Dinosaurs
  • "Driving Miss D.J.", an episode of Full House
  • "Driving Mr. Boondy", an episode of Married... with Children

• X Confidential, starting with Kansas City Confidential (1952)
  • New York Confidential (1955 film)
  • Chicago Confidential(1957 film)
  • Hong Kong Confidential (1958 film)
  • L.A. Confidential (1997 film)
  • Art School Confidential
  • Doctor Who Confidential
  • Emerald City Confidential
  • "Everwood Confidential" from Everwood
  • "M.P. Confidential" from Melrose Place
  • "Grade School Confidential" from The Simpsons
  • Kitchen Confidential
  • Cthulhu Confidential, a collection of noir scenarios for the GUMSHOE RPG.

• To Live and Die in X — popularized with To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). Oftentimes either one part of the title changed as a Pun or the name of the "X" town is a Place Worse Than Death for added Irony.
  • "To Live and Die in Mexico" (episode of NCIS: Los Angeles)
  • "To Love and Die in L.A." (episode of Castle)
  • "To Live and Die in Brentwood" (episode of Doogie Howser, M.D.)
  • "To Live and Die on TV" (episode of Sledge Hammer!)
  • "To Live and Diet in LA" (episode of L.A. Law)
  • "To Live and Die in Docket Flats" (episode of Time Trax)
  • "To Live and Die in Malibu" (episode of Melrose Place)
  • "To Shanshu in L.A." (episode of Angel — the word "Shanshu", which is an Arc Word because it's the name of a major prophecy Angel is supposed to fulfill, is revealed to mean "live and die")
  • "To Love and Die in Dixie" (episode of Family Guy)
  • "To Live and Die in Alderney" (name of mission in Grand Theft Auto IV)
  • "To Live and Die in Va.V (episode of The Cleveland Show)
  • "To Live & Die in Lazebnik" (opening sketch of Treehouse of Horror XXIV)

• X, interrupted, popularized with Girl, Interrupted, a 1999 film. The comma is optional.
  • Boy Interrupted (a 2009 documentary)
  • Life Interrupted (a 2017 TV movie)
  • "Maxine, Interrupted" (episode of Judging Amy)
  • "Bride Interrupted" (episode of Say Yes to the Dress)
  • "Boy, Interrupted" (episode of Sex and the City)
  • "Girls, Interrupted" (episode of Will & Grace)
  • "Girls, Interrupted" (episode of Californication)
  • "It Girl, Interrupted" (episode of Gossip Girl)
  • "It Girl, Interrupted" (episode of The Real Housewives of New York City)
  • "Dinner, Interrupted" (episode of The Real Housewives of New Jersey)
  • "Grill, Interrupted" (episode of Modern Family)
  • "URL, Interrupted" (episode of CSI: Cyber)
  • "Love Interrupted" (episode of McLeod's Daughters)
  • "Rape Interrupted" (episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)
  • "Family Interrupted" (episode of Forensic Files)
  • "Milo Interrupted" (episode of The Oblongs)
  • "Pepper, Interrupted" (episode of Iron Man: Armored Adventures)
  • Food Interrupted, TV series about food. All episodes have this naming pattern as well: "Grains Interrupted", "Plants Interrupted", "Sugar Interrupted", "Eggs Interrupted", "Meat Interrupted", "Clean Interrupted")
  • Man, Interrupted: Why Young Men are Struggling & What We Can Do About It (a psychology book)
  • "Emma, Interrupted: Speaking Jane Austen in Fiction and Film" (an essay from 2003)
  • "Phineas And Ferb Interrupted"
  • "Doctor, Interrupted" (case in Criminal Case: Mysteries of the Past)

• X on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, starting with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
  • Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown (1993 short comedy film by the Comic Strip)
  • France, a Nation on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2016 book by Jonathan Miller)
  • "Man on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (1993 song by the 3Ds)
  • Narcissist on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2012 album by Crywank)
  • "Sisters on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (2009 episode of Ugly Betty)
  • Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2008 book by Lorna Martin)
  • "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" (1993 episode of 2point4 Children)

Literature

• The Joy of X, the Trope Namer, is an interesting zigzag: most titles of this form reference The Joy of Sex (1972), which was itself titled in reference to The Joy of Cooking (1931). Conveniently, it also makes this a Just for Pun trope and a Self-Demonstrating Article.
  • In the Discworld book Maskerade, Nanny Ogg writes The Joye of Snackes - as a cookbook where every recipe is either an aphrodisiac, a double entendre, or both, it manages to reference both of this template's originals.
  • "The Joy of Sect" is an episode of The Simpsons.
  • Lisa is seen reading a book called The Joy of Sax in the episode "The Debarted".
  • There's a book entitled The Joy of Sox, talking about socks. It's incredibly amusing.
  • The Joy of Sox is also the title of a baseball blog.
  • The Joy of Lexx: Defunct Lexx fan site
  • "The Joy of Pokémon" and "The Joy of Water Pokemon", Pokémon episodes
  • "The Joy of Sects" is a title of a class about religions in the novel Love Among the Walnuts (itself a Joy of X title — see below).
  • There is a webcomic entitled The Joy of Tech.
  • The Joy Of TeX (yes, that formula markup language ... which, for the uninitiated, is pronounced "tecchhhh", rhyming with "blecchhhh", not "tex", according to ''The TeXbook''.)
  • The Joy of Sets: Fundamentals of Contemporary Set Theory, a math textbook.
  • The Joy of Painting (Bob Ross art instruction series)
  • Charles Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing
  • The Joy of Work, a Dilbert book
  • Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish and its sequel The Joys of Yinglish
  • The Joy of Origami, a book of origami models and instructions for folding them.
  • Sara Lee has a slogan entitled "The Joy of Eating", which is also found on the packaging of their Soft and Smooth breads.
  • The Joy of Sax album by the The Capitol Steps.
  • A Creator/BBC documentary about statistics, and how it doesn't have to be boring, is called "The Joy of Stats".
  • The Joy of Signing is a guidebook for learning American Sign Language.
  • In-Universe example: a book called The Joy of Witchery in the webcomic Darwin Carmichael Is Going to Hell
  • In The Front Page, a Freudian psychiatrist publishes The Joy of Impotence after being shot in the groin.
  • The Joy of Lex is a book about fun with words (think 'lexicon').
  • The Joy of Uncircumcising!, believe it or not, is a book written by Jim Bigelow. Full title is The Joy of Uncircumcising!: Exploring Circumcision : History, Myths, Psychology, Restoration, Sexual Pleasure, and Human Rights.
  • The Joy of x... this book is about algebra and calculus.
  • The Joy of X is a book about the X Window System.
  • The Sesame Street book The Joy of Cookies, by (of course) Cookie Monster.

• There was a spate of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About X (But Were Afraid to Ask) - starting with the sex manual Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex... (1969), which inspired a Woody Allen comedy movie of the same name (1972).
  • Charmed featured "Everything You Wanted To Know About Magic Portals (but were afraid to ask)".
  • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe considers The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to be more controversial than a book titled Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Sex But Have Been Forced to Find Out.
  • Everything You Wanted to Know About Guilt but were too ashamed to ask
  • The book Fight by Eugene Robinson has the subtitle Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking.
  • The book The Period Book by Karen Gravelle has the following subtitle: Everything you don't want to ask (but need to know).
  • There was a TV special called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Jack Benny But Were Afraid to Ask.
  • There is a documentary called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Computers... But Were Afraid to Ask.
  • There is a Czechoslovakian film called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Experience.
  • There is a short documentary called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Swing But Were Afraid to Ask.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Twilight breaks out Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties (But Were Afraid to Ask).
  • The Sea Lions' nearly eponymous album Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Sea Lions But Were Afraid to Ask
  • James McCawley wrote Everything that Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know About Logic (but were Ashamed to Ask)
  • The Sandman Presents: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Dreams but Were Afraid to Ask
  • Multiple Parental Bonuses in Sesame Street:
    • Everything You Always Wanted to Know About X is about the letter X.
    • Monster parents consult Everything You Wanted to Know About Baby Horns ... But Had to Ask Me Because You Don't Have a Clue and I Do.
    • In A Special Sesame Street Christmas, Michael Jackson gives Oscar his copy of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ghosts But Were Afraid to Ask.
    • In a Halloween issue of Sesame Street Magazine, the Count's library includes Everything You Wanted to Know About Bats But Were Afraid to Ask.
    • Another episode has Ruthie learn how to be a Grouch from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Grouches, But Were Afraid to Ask Because Grouches Don't Like to Answer Questions, by the Grouch advice columnist Dear Crabby.
  • Honest Guide: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Prague But Were Afraid to Ask, a book based on YouTube series and also known as a programme of Seznam TV.

• Xing Toward(s) Y: Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) - started as a Literary Allusion Title, but has morphed into template pattern.
  • Slouching Towards Gomorrah by Robert Bork.
  • Skipping Towards Gomorrah, the rebuttal by Dan Savage
  • Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow
  • Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, a Sarah McLachlan album.
  • Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, a How I Met Your Mother Fan Fic.
  • Slouching Towards Bedlam, an amateur Interactive Fiction
  • The original ('Slouching Toward Bethlehem') was used a title for an episode of Angel, an episode of Defiance, and a collection of Joan Didion's essays.

• A Tale of Two X - starting with A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
  • A Tale of Two Kitties (The Looney Tunes debut of Tweety), as well as the second Garfield film.
  • A Sale of Two Titties by Darles Chickens, at least according to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
  • "A Tale of Two Springfields" (The Simpsons)
  • A Tale of Two Critters, a 1977 live-action adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions about a bear cub and a young raccoon accidentally thrown together who become friends.
  • "A Tale of Two Sitters" (Wishbone)
  • A Tale of Two Sisters - the original title Janghwa, Hongryeon refers to a Korean folk tale.
  • A Tale of Two Kingdoms
  • "A Tale of Two Stans", in which The Reveal Gravity Falls had been building up to from the first episode is finally exposed and explained.
  • The Harvest Moon entry Tale of Two Towns
  • "Tale of Two Gents" (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries)
  • "A Tale of Two Bandits" (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
  • "A Tale of Two Santas" (Futurama)
  • A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones
  • A Tale of Two Rulers, a fanfiction webcomic.

• X for Dummies: After the For Dummies non-fiction franchise (since 1991). Note that the publisher has actually trademarked the phrase "for Dummies", so actual published works with this formula do not exist outside of the official series. Ironically, there is no such volume about ventriloquism.
  • Witchhunting For Dumb People (Discworld again) doesn't take any chances.
  • Raising the Dead for Dummies, from this Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Fic.
  • The Complete Idiot's Guide series, a for-real series modeled after the Dummies books.
  • In one Improv Everywhere prank, Princess Leia rides a subway while reading Galactic Rebellion for Dummies.
  • Data Structures for Assholes (vitriolic parody from Homestuck)
  • The Binding of Isaac has the book "Telepathy for Dummies".
  • In Hatoful Boyfriend, the headmaster has a copy of "Demographics for Dummies" in his office.

• How to Verb X and Other Verb Y - starting with the book How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie
  • How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People by Jonar Nader
  • How to Lose Friends and Irritate People by Justin Pearson
  • How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, memoir by Lenny Bruce
  • How to Make Enemies and Irritate People an album by Screeching Weasel
  • How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, memoir by Toby Young & 2008 movie
  • "How to Lose Friends by Influencing People," Part Two of How Not to Write a Play by Walter Kerr
  • "How to win friends and NOT FAIL", an item on Gaia Online; naturally, it's a book written by Diedrich.

• All I Really Need to Know I Learned from X.: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum (1986) is the original.
  • Erma Bombeck, All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned in Loemann's Dressing Room.
  • Dave Marinaccio's All I Really Need To Know I Learned From Watching Star Trek
  • The horror short Everything I Needed to Know About Zombies I Learned from the Movies.
  • Where There's a Will There's a Way Or, All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Shakespeare by Laurie E. Maguire.
  • El Paradigma: All I Really Need to Know in Business I Learned at Microsoft by Julie Blick.
  • Everything I Know I Learned at the Movies, a book by John J. B. Wilson, co-founder of the Razzies.

• A Are from B, C Are from D. - starting with Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992).
  • Parodied by our title Men Buy from Mars, Women Buy from Venus
  • Dave Barry Is From Mars And Venus
  • Shrek 2 had one scene where Queen Lillian was seen reading a book named Kings are from Mars, Queens are from Venus.
  • Futurama has "Women are from Omicron Persei 7, men are from Omicron Persei 9", as well as an episode where Amy is reading a book titled Martians are from Mars, Venusians are from Venus.
  • In one episode of Boy Meets World, Shawn claimed to have got his (frankly disturbing) relationship advice from a book called Men Are From Mars, Women Want To Blast Mars Out Of The Sky.
  • The 1997 documentary Men Are from Manhattan... Women Are from Saskatchewan.
  • The Reality TV show Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, But We Have to Live on Earth.
  • The 'Four Year Strong' song Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Hell
  • Imps Are From Imper, Deveels Are From Deva
  • The Dumbing of Age storyline "Men Are From Beck, Women Are From Clark".
  • "Men Are from Cliché; Women Are from Stereotype", section from How NOT to Write a Novel parodying gender stereotypes.

• I, X. Like The Joy of X, the generally-parodied template (I, Robot, 1950) isn't the original (I, Claudius [1934-35] or maybe something even older). See I, Noun for examples.

• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective X: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)
  • The Dilbert collection, Seven Years of Highly Defective People.
  • The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates, a Fictional Document from Schlock Mercenary. At least, until it was retconned into The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries after the author got a cease-and-desist notice from the creators of the original Seven Habits of Highly Effective People book.
  • The 666 Habits of Highly Effective Demons, a magazine article in Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (and probably a Woolseyism)
  • In The Simpsons episode "Brother's Little Helper" Bart is reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Pre-teens"

• Sex and the Single X, alternatively Sex and the Y X or X and the Single Y - starting with the non-fiction book Sex and the Single Girl (1962); which inspired a comedy movie of the same name (1964)
  • Sex and the Seasoned Woman
  • Sex and the Single Vampire
  • Sex and the Single Ghost, a romance novel
  • Sex and the Single Gallifreyan, a Doctor Who Magazine article
  • 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "Dick and the Single Girl"
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Hex and the Single Guy"
  • "Sex and the Single Mother", an episode of Judging Amy
  • "Sex and the Married Detective", an episode of Columbo

• Fear and Loathing in X - starting with Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971)
  • And his Alternate History story Fear, Loathing and Gumbo on the Campaign Trail '72.
  • Greece and immigration: Fear and loathing in Athens
  • Fear and loathing in Endsville. (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)
  • "Fear and Loathing with Bigfoot" (Japanese translation of an episode of, you guessed it, Phineas and Ferb)
  • The working title for Kentucky Straight Bourbon was Fear and Loathing in Kentucky.
  • A later-day Bugs Bunny cartoon, Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas
  • CSI episode "Fur and Loathing." (The show's set in Vegas.)

• Zen and the Art of X - starting with Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), which itself refers back to Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel (1948). The title of the latter is often quoted with an "and" instead of "in".
  • The BBC miniseries of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981) presented an excerpt from "Zen and the Art of Going to the Lavatory".
  • Zen and the Art of Faking It by Jordan Sonnenblik.
  • In the Animated Adaptation of Wyrd Sisters, one of the books on Magrat's shelf is Zen And The Art of Broomstick Maintenance.
  • Gears of War has an achievement called "Zen and the Art of Reloading."
  • And now, "Xen and the Art of" various things has over 40K results on Google and counting. Surprisingly, "Xen and the Art of Half-Life" is not one of them. Nor is "Xen and the Art of Bad Level Design".
  • "Zen and the Art of Breaking Everything in This Room," a song by The World/Inferno Friendship Society.
  • "Zen and the Art of Cab Driving", an episode of Taxi.
  • "Zen and the Art of Omelette Maintenance", an episode of Good Eats.
  • "Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair", a two-issue arc of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW).
  • Zen and the Art of the Internet by Brendan P. Kehoe.
  • Ultima VII has "Magic and the Art of Horse-and-Wagon Maintenance", which is essentially a lampshading of the game's reliance on Automaton Horses.

• The Art of X - starting with The Art of War
  • The Art of Raising Dogs
  • The Art of Small Talk
  • The Art of Manliness, a book by Brett and Kate McKay.
  • The Art of Love
  • The Art of Sex
  • The Art of Shaving
  • The Art of Trolling
  • The Art of Quartet Playing
  • The Bart of War (The Simpsons)
  • The Art of Noise (Band), and The Art of Noises (Luigi Russolo essay which inspired the band name)
  • The Art of Computer Programming, Donald Knuth's still unfinished book series.
  • The Art of Software Testing, a landmark work on software testing by Glenford J. Myers.
  • The Art of AVRT, a book on Addictive Voice Recognition Therapy, a method for stopping addictive behavior.
  • Tariq Nasheed wrote the books The Art of Mackin' and The Art of Gold Digging.
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain
  • The War of Art, a book about art and creativity, by Steven Pressfield.
  • Books of production art from a popular movie usually follow the formula "The Art of {movie title}"
  • Interestingly enough there's no "The Art of Art" (there's The Art of Art History though)
  • Every episode of Skunk Fu! has one of these titles. And yes, there was an episode named "The Art of Art".

• The Tao of X, starting with The Tao of Pooh (1982), the book that popularized Taoism in western society by relating it to Winnie the Pooh
  • The Tao of Archery, the second issue of the Great Ten miniseries (also a pun; Celestial Archer's real name is Xu Tao).
  • The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh of Homer
  • The Tao of Programming
  • The Tao of Steve
  • Dao of Pow is the tao used as a flail

• X Sutra - starting with the Hindu Sutras, followed by the Jain Sutras. Most modern examples are in parody of the Kama Sutra
  • Manga Sutra
  • GamaSutra
  • TV Tropes has Comic Sutra

• Are You There, God? It's Me, X - starting with the classic Judy Blume young adult novel, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (1970).
  • The Venture Bros., "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean"
  • South Park, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Jesus"
  • King of the Hill, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret Hill"
  • Bob's Burgers, "Are You There Bob? It's Me, Birthday"
  • Family Guy, "Are You There God? It's Me, Peter"
  • "Are You There, God? It's Me, Childhood", an article at Salon.com
  • "Are You There, God? It's Me, Madison Avenue", an article on advertising that seems to have multiple homes on the Web.
  • Supernatural, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester"
  • Are You There, God? It's Me, Kevin, an autobiographical book by Kevin Keck
  • "Are You There, God? It's Me, Detroit", an article in the Detroit Free Press
  • Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, by Chelsea Handler
  • "Are You There, Cthulhu? It's Me, Margaret"
  • Are You There, Primus? It's Me, Starscream. A Transformers fanfic.
  • "Are You There, Margaret? It's Me, God", a song by the American punk rock band The Lawrence Arms.

• The Compleat X - starting with The Compleat Angler (1653), by Izaak Walton.
  • The Compleat Al
  • The Compleat Conductor, a book on conducting by Gunther Schuller
  • ''The Compleat Dying Earth" by Jack Vance
  • The Compleat Beatles, a book of lyrics
  • The Incompleat Folksinger by Pete Seeger
  • In-universe example: The Compleat Atlas in Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series.
  • The Compleat Enchanter, an omnibus edition of L. Sprague de Camp's Harold Shea short stories.
  • The Compleat Turkey, a book of cartoons by Sandra Boynton illustrating irritating types of people by comparing them to turkeys. The turkey on the cover is insisting that the title should be spelled "complete", for example.
  • The Compleat Ankh-Morpork City Guide and The Compleat Discworld Atlas
  • The Compleat Practical Joker, a 1954 book by H. Allen Smith

• Love in the Time/Age of X - starting with Love in the Time of Cholera (1985)
  • Love in the Age of iPods, a review of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
  • Love in the Age of Fishsticks, a film made in 2008.
  • Love in the Age of Drought, a novel by Fiona Higgins
  • Love in the Age of Silicone, an article about RealDolls
  • Love in the Age of War, an album by Men Without Hats
  • In one episode of The Simpsons, Marge can be seen reading a pirate-themed romance novel called Love in the Time of Scurvy. In another, Lisa is reading Love in the Time of Coloring Books.
  • Love in the Time of LOLCats by Achewood's Ray Smuckles.
  • Love in the Time of Science, an album by Emilíana Torrini.
  • "Love in the Time of Dragons", an episode of Merlin and a novel by Katie McAllister.
  • Love in the Time of Goblins, Book One of the Hot Goblin Brotherhood Saga in Skin Horse
  • "Love in the Time of HYDRA", an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • "Love in a Dangerous Time", part two of the Flash game I Saw Her Standing There
  • "Love in the Time of Corona/Coronavirus/Covid-19" (news, web articles and fanfics published in 2020)
  • Love in the Time of Corona, a Czech series (2020).
  • Love in the Time of Human Papillomavirus, a song by band AJJ.

• What We Talk About When We Talk About X - starting with What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (1981), a story from Raymond Carver. Yes, the one referenced in the movie Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
  • What We Talk About - song by Old 97's that appears on the 1999 album Fight Songs
  • What We Talk About (When We Talk About Love) - 2005 song by Deus
  • What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - Haruki Murakami's 2007 memoir centered on running
  • The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop - and Why It Matters - 2008 book by Tricia Rose
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Ralph Samson - article by Chuck Klosterman that appears in the 2009 anthology book, Eating the Dinosaur
  • That of Which We Speak When We Speak of the Unspeakable - Cthulhu Mythos short story written by Nick Mamatas and published in the 2009 anthology Lovecraft Unbound: Twenty Stories (ed. Ellen Datlow)
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank - 2011 book by Nathan Englander
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About War - 2012 book by Noah Richler
  • What We Talk About When We Talk About God - 2013 book by Rob Bell

• Doing X with Gun and Camera - starting with Captain Ralph Bonehill's book Out With Gun and Camera (1906) - that, or Hunting Big Game in Africa with Gun and Camera, a film from 1922.
  • By 1930, this title was already being parodied, in the form of George Chappell's Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera.
  • Through the Uncanny Valley With Gun and Camera - a blog about James Cameron's Avatar.
  • Whale Hunting with Gun and Camera by Roy Chapman Andrews
  • Discworld:
    • Ridcully is the author of Along the Ankh with Bow, Rod and Staff with a Knob on the End.
    • Desiderata Hollow is the author of Across the Great Nef with Wand and Broomstick.
  • Into the Outdoors with Gun and Camera, an adventure included with the second edition of the Paranoia role-playing game.
  • Parodied in The Goon Show with alternative titles like "Through Hook, Line and Blizzard With Ava Gardner" and "With Igloo, Jack-knife and Saxophone Along the Appian Way".

• The X's Tale - starting with The Canterbury Tales as the Trope Namer, but sadly not the Trope Maker. The original is a frame story where X means "told by the", not "about a".
  • A Knight's Tale Including a character supposedly being Chaucer.
  • The Handmaid's Tale
  • "A Rogue's Tale" (X-Men: The Animated Series episode)
  • The Bard's Tale
  • Many, many examples are subtitled like this in the Star Wars Expanded Universe anthologies Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales of the Bounty Hunters.
  • All the stories in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe collection Short Trips: Repercussions have the slight variant of "The X's Story". The X in each case is someone who Charley meets in the Framing Story, and who tells her the story of why they had to be removed from time.
  • The historical mystery series by Margaret Frazer featuring the nun Sister Frevisse all have "The X's Tale" titles ... and are set in the 15th century, just a generation or two after Chaucer.

• X in Wonderland - starting with Alice in Wonderland (1865)
  • "Murdoch in Wonderland" (Murdoch Mysteries)
  • "Emily in Wonderland" (Gilmore Girls)
  • "Sabrina in Wonderland" (Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
  • "Orson in Wonderland" (Garfield and Friends)
  • Phoebe in Wonderland (a 2008 film)
  • A song by Kevin Ayers "Clarence in Wonderland"
  • "Mork In Wonderland" (Mork & Mindy)
  • GWAR: Phallus in Wonderland
  • Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
  • Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland (popular physics book)
  • The Engineer in Wonderland (1966 televised lecture series)
  • A Lez in Wonderland (a 2006 TV documentary)
  • Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (A spinoff of Once Upon a Time; literally in Wonderland.)
  • The Code Geass OVA Nunally in Wonderland.
  • Variation in The Incredible Hulk (1977) with "Alice in Disco Land"

• The Book of X - starting with most of the books of The Bible, other religious texts, and the medieval Books of Hours
  • Adventures from the Book of Virtues
  • The Book of All Hours
  • Enya's "Book of Days". The music video for it takes the idea and runs with it by showing a whole series of books cataloguing said days (aspects of life): Book of Water, Book of Love, Book of Music, Book of Motion, Book of Dreams.
  • Book of the Dead
  • The Book of Eli
  • Book of the Long Sun
  • The Book of Lost Things
  • Malazan Book of the Fallen
  • The Book of Mormon
  • The Book of Night with Moon
  • The Book of Pook
  • Loreena McKennitt's album Book of Secrets.^note Also the sequel subtitle to National Treasure, referencing the President's book of conspiracy theories and other confidential information. This is a fairly popular reference.
  • Book of Swords
  • During the John Fugelsang/Daisy Fuentes period, America's Funniest Home Videos had a regular segment called 'The Book of Why', where each clip started with John narrating "Why X (insert clip-related item here)"
  • The Book of Fours, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Expanded Universe novel.
  • Discworld
    • The four parts Pyramids are "Book I: The Book of Going Forth", "Book II: The Book of the Dead", "Book III: The Book of the New Son", and "Book IV: The Book of 101 Things for a Boy Can Do". The first two parody the Ancient Egyptian Book of Going Forth by Day also known as The Book of the Dead, the third is a Shout-Out to Gene Wolfe, and the Odd Name Out is an obvious parody of kids' activity books.
    • The Book of Going Forth Around Elevenish was mentioned in The Light Fantastic as being written by a rather lazy sect.
  • "The Book of Love", a song and later many other works

• X Come Home starting with Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight (1938)
  • Cathy Come Home, Ken Loach TV play
  • Snoopy, Come Home, Peanuts special
  • R2 Come Home, episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  • Laika Come Home, Gorillaz EP
  • Tropey, Come Home, TV Tropes page
  • "Hogan, Go Home", a Hogan's Heroes episode.
  • "Assie Come Home", episode of Futurama

• What Every Young X Ought to Know — started by What a Young Husband Ought to Know by Sylvanus Stall (1897) and similarly-titled books in the Self and Sex Series of "social hygiene" books published around the turn of the 20th century
  • In Bell Book And Candle, Shep tells Nicky he should call the book he's collaborating with Redlich on What Every Young Witch Ought to Know.
  • In Of Thee I Sing, Wintergreen claims to be writing a book titled What Every Young President Ought to Know.
  • Uncle Dynamite by P. G. Wodehouse makes mention of What Every Young Policeman Ought to Know.

• The Un-X-able Y-ness of Z(-ing) — started with The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (1984)
  • "The Unbearable Blightness of Being," episode of Captain Planet and the Planeteers
  • "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hank," episodes of King of the Hill
  • "The Unbearable Heatness of Fire," episode of Squidbillies
  • "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Family," episode of Judging Amy
  • "The Unbearable Lightness of Being Scooter," episode of Eek! The Cat
  • "The Unbearable Lightness of Boring," episode of L.A. Law
  • "The Unbearable Lightness of Light Beer," episode of Conan
  • "The Unbearable Lightness of Seeing," episode of Pokémon
  • "The Unbearable Like-Likeness of Gene," episode of Bob's Burgers
  • "The Unbelievable Wrongness of Talking," episode of Becker
  • "The Unblairable Lightness of Being," episode of Gossip Girl
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth, the third Aberystwyth Noir novel by Malcom Pryce

• The World According to X — started with The World According to Garp (1978)
  • The World According to Dave Barry (a compilation of Dave Barry Talks Back, Dave Barry Turns 40 and Dave Barry's Greatest Hits)
  • "The World According to Freedom," episode of Hill Street Blues
  • The World According to Irving, 2012 documentary on the author of The World According to Garp
  • "The World According to Matt," episode of Melrose Place
  • "The World According to Mendelsohn," episode of Sheena (2000)
  • The World According to Sesame Street, 2006 documentary about Sesame Street
  • The World According to Humphrey, a book by Betty G. Birney.
  • The Polish version of the phrase, Świat według X, is sometimes used in lieu of a more direct translation — it started in the 90s with Married... with Children being aired in Polish as The World According To Bundys^note Świat według Bundych and/or the Polish sitcom Świat według Kiepskich^note English: The World According to Kiepskis.
    • Life with Louie - Świat według Ludwiczka, literally: The World According to Ludwiczek
    • Stephen Hawking's Universe, a 1997 BBC documentary - Świat według Stephena Hawkinga, literally The World According to Stephen Hawking^note Two translations of the title were found at the time of writing, the other used the word "wszechświat" (universe), which still fits the snowclone
    • CEO Society: The Corporate Takeover of Everyday Life, a 2018 book - Świat według Prezesów. Jak korporacje kontrolują nasze życie, literally The World According to Chairmen. How The Corporations Control Our Lives.

• The Man with the Golden X — started with The Man With The Golden Arm (1949)
  • "The Man with the Golden Ears," 60 Minutes profile of record producer Clive Davis
  • The Man with the Golden Gun, James Bond novel and film
  • "The Man with the Golden Gut," episode of Johnny Bravo
  • "The Man with the Golden Hat," episode of McCloud
  • "The Man with the Golden Retriever," episode of Special Agent Oso
  • Man with the Golden Winchester, Spaghetti Western also known as Son of Zorro
  • "The Man with the Golden Wrist," episode of The Bob Newhart Show

• Life Begins at N — started with Life Begins at Forty by Walter B. Pitkin (1932)
  • Life Begins at 6:40, Adam collection
  • Life Begins at Eight-Thirty, 1942 movie
  • Life Begins at 8:40, 1934 Broadway revue
  • Life Begins at 17, 1958 movie
  • "Life Begins at Fifty," episode of My Family
  • "Life Begins at 300," episode of Space Academy

• They Shoot Xs, Don't They? — started with They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy (1935) and its film adaptation (1969). Sometimes "Shoot" is the replaced word, and sometimes both are replaced:
  • "They Shoot Fonzies, Don't They?", episode of Happy Days
  • "They Shoot Managers, Don't They?", episode of The Partridge Family
  • "They Don't Shoot Horses, Do They?", episode of Webster
  • "They Eat Horses, Don't They?", used in both Due South and Ally McBeal
  • "They Shoot Urkels, Don't They?", episode of Family Matters
  • "They Shoot Single People, Don' t They?", episode of Sex and the City
  • "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?", episode of Designing Women
  • "They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?", episode of Gilmore Girls (which, like the book and film, is about a dancing marathon)
  • "They Shoot Baskets, Don't They?", episode of Class Of 96
  • "They Use Horseradish, Don't They?", episode of The Odd Couple
  • "They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They?", episode of Gossip Girl
  • "They Shoot Hammers, Don't They?", episode of Sledge Hammer!
  • They Shoot Canoes, Don't They?, short story collection by Patrick McManus
  • "They Shoot Heroin, Don't They?", song by TISM from their 1990 album Hot Dogma
  • They Shoot Pictures Dont They, website dedicated to great film directors
  • They Eat Puppies, Don't They?, novel by Christopher Buckley
  • "They Shoot Hulks, Don't They?", #142 of The Incredible Hulk
  • "They Serve Horses, Don't They?" episode of Bob's Burgers
  • They Shoot Clowns Out of Cannons, Don't They?, a Show Within a Show starring Krusty the Klown of The Simpsons, a poster for which can be seen in the video game Virtual Springfield.
  • "They Eat Horses, Don't They?", episode of Ally McBeal

• There Were N of Us (N being a number), starting with There Were Five of Us by Karel Polacek^note Translated as We were a Handful into English (1946)
  • There Were Seven of Us (a film about making of There Were Five of Us TV adaptation)
  • There Were Six of Us (a TV series)
  • "There Were Four of Us" (a song)
  • There Were Three of Us (a children's book)

• The Strange Case of X (and Y): The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) is the original
  • The Strange Case of Starship Iris
  • The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (''Docteur Jekyll et les femmes, 1981)
  • The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle (2005)
  • The Strange Case of Doctor Rx, a 1942 horror movie
  • "The Strange Case of Dr. Rx", episode of Shock

• The Prince and the X — starting with The Prince and the Pauper (1882)
  • The Prince and the Showgirl, a 1957 romantic comedy
  • The Prince and the Surfer, a 1999 movie
  • "The Prince and the Rebel", an episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • The Prince and the Pirate ^note Italian movie: Il principe e il pirata (2001)
  • The Princess and the Frog
  • The Princess and the Goblin (1991, a Hungarian animated film)
  • The Princess and the Goblin (1872 novel)

• The Curious Case of Y started with "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (1922), a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Popularised with the film adaptation (2008).
  • The Curious Case of Mr Holmes, a theatre play.
  • The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau, a documentary about Peter Sellers.
  • The Curious Case of Dead End City (animated short)
  • The Curious Case of the Cottingley Fairies
  • The Curious Case of Santa
  • The Curious Case of Santa Claus
  • The Curious Case of Jeff Jefferson (a short film)
  • "The Curious Case of Britney B.", episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine
  • "The Curious Case of Curry", episode of Good Eats
  • "The Curious Case of Kellerman's Button", episode of Raising the Bar
  • "The Curious Case of Benjamin Butt-Ugly", episode of Partners
  • "The Curious Case of the Chamelippoo", episode of Kate and Mim-Mim
  • "The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon", episode of The Twilight Zone
  • "The Curious Case of the Countless Clues", episode of The Avengers

• (The) X's Guide to Y — a longstanding titling formula, an influential example being The Scholar's Guide to Arithmetic (1808)
  • The Child's Guide to Knowledge, a popular 19th century children's factbook.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe and similar travel guides.
  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy
  • "Hitchhiker's Guide to Gastronomy", episode of Winston Steinburger and Sir Dudley Ding Dong
  • The Gourmet's Guide to Gastronomy
  • A Bachelor's Guide to Seduction in the Kitchen
  • Wild Drugs: A Forager's Guide to Healing Plants
  • A Fan's Guide to Spider-Man: Homecoming(2017)
  • The Girl's Guide to Depravity
  • The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting
  • Hitman's Guide to Housecleaning
  • Explorers' Guide to Australia
  • A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
  • The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
  • The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers (Followed by ...For Classic Trekkers and For Deep Space Nine Trekkers)

• The Devil Wears X starting with The Devil Wears Prada (2003); the trend exploded with release of The Film of the Book (2006), though there are much earlier examples.
  • "The Devil Wears Whalebone", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "The Devil Wears Hanes", episode of The Exes
  • "The Devil Wears Lands' End", episode of The Mindy Project
  • "The Devil Wears a Lapel Pin", episode of American Dad!
  • "The Devil Wears Sneakers", episode of Murder Comes to Town
  • "Devil Wears Primark", episode of Match Not Found
  • "The Devil Wears Burberry" (part 1 and part 2), episode of Less Than Perfect
  • "The Devil Wears Armor", episode of Bearcats! (1971)
  • The Devil Wears White (1986)
  • "The Devil Wears a Toupee", episode of Eisenhower & Lutz (1988)

• Journey to the Center of the X, started by Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864)
  • Journey to the Center of the Universe
  • Journey to the Center of Time, a sci-fi from 1967
  • "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS", a Doctor Who episode
  • "Journey to the Centre of Toronto", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "Journey to the Center of the Bat!", episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold
  • "Journey to the Centre of the Neitherworld", Beetlejuice
  • "Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind", episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
  • "Journey to the Center of the Smurf", story of The Smurfs
  • "Journey to the Centre of the Bed", an episode of Dennis the Menace
  • "Journey to the Centre of Bottom World", episode of The Legend of Dick and Dom
  • "Journey to the Centre of the Garden", episode of George Shrinks
  • "Journey to the Center of the Mall" from The Neighbors
  • "Journey to the Center of the Nursery", episode of Muppet Babies
  • "Journey to the Center of My Sister", episode of Fantastic Max
  • "Journey to the Center of Attention", episode of The Golden Girls
  • "Journey to the Center of the Sewer", episode of Mega Babies
  • "Journey to the Center of Mason", episode of Wizards of Waverly Place
  • "Journey to the Center of Cow", story of Cow and Chicken
  • "Journey to the Center of Candace", story of Phineas and Ferb
  • "Journey to the Center of the Basement", story of Rugrats
  • "Journey to the Center of Uncle Charlie's Farm", story of Dennis the Menace
  • "Journey to the Center of Gilligan's Planet", episode of Gilligan's Planet
  • "Journey to the Center of Twayne", episode of Ugly Americans
  • "Journey to the Centre of the Sofa", episode of Kiva Can Do
  • "Journey to the Centre of the Telly", episode of Pablo
  • "Journey to the Center of the Mind", song by The Amboy Dukes.

• From X to Eternity. Originated in From Here to Eternity, a 1951 novel and its 1953 film adaptation. There are also exact copycats of the title for film, episode and song titles.
  • From Hare to Eternity (a 1997 animated short film)
  • "From Hare to Eternity", episode of Adventures in Wonderland
  • "From Hare to Eternity", episode of NYPD Blue
  • "From Air to Eternity", episode of Goof Troop
  • "From Hair to Eternity", episode of The Pink Panther
  • "From Hair to Eternity" (Part 1 and Part 2), episodes of Head of the Class
  • "From Beer to Eternity", episode of Cheers
  • "From Beer to Eternity", episode of Rendez-View
  • "From Beer to Eternity", episode of Cheers
  • "From Beer to Eternity", episode of Off-Mikes
  • From Her to Eternity, a 1984 album by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
  • From Her to Eternity, a 2011 French short film
  • "From Where to Eternity", episode of The Sopranos
  • From Fear to Eternity, a 2011 compilation album by heavy metal band Iron Maiden
  • "From Fear to Eternity", a 1999 episode of Charmed
  • "From Fear to Eternity", a 2008 episode of Eureka
  • Monster High: From Fear to Eternity, a 2013 TV special
  • "From Queer to Eternity", episode of Will & Grace
  • "From Murdoch to Eternity", episode of Murdoch Mysteries

• A Study in X, X being a colour or colour-based pun. Or just a Sherlock Holmes pun. Started with A Study in Scarlet by Arthur C. Doyle (1887).
  • "A Study in Pink", episode Sherlock
  • "A Study in Pink", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "A Study in Sherlock", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "A Study in Sherlock", episode of Timeshift (a documentary TV series)
  • A Study in Oak, a short film from 2017
  • "A Study in Read", episode of web video series Nothing Much to Do
  • "A Study in Gray", episode of Pete and Gladys
  • "A Study in Murder", episode of Taggart
  • A Study in Emerald, a short story by Neil Gaiman

• The Old Man and the Y, starting with The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952).
  • The Old Man & the Gun
  • The Old Man and the Pears, an animation short
  • The Old Man and the Whale, a 2008 short movie
  • The Old Man and the Cat, a German shot movie ^note original title: Der alte Mann und die Katze''
  • "The Old Man and the Lisa", episode of The Simpsons
  • "The Old Man and the Key", episode of The Simpsons
  • "The Old Man and the C Student", episode of The Simpsons
  • "The Old Man and the Big 'C'", episode of Family Guy
  • "The Old Man and the 'C'", episode of Civil Wars
  • "Old Man and the Sea Life", episode of Shipping Wars
  • "The Old Man and the G", episode of Lincoln Heights
  • "The Old Man and the City", episode of The Dick Powell Show
  • "The Old Man and the CEO", episode of Traders
  • "The Old Man and the Sledge", episode of Sledge Hammer!
  • The Old Man and the River, a theatre play for children (Theatre District)
  • The Old Man and the Pond, a 2019 movie
  • "The Old Man and the Lake", episode of Walking in Circles
  • The Old Man and C, an alternate-history short story in which Einstein became a violin teacher.
  • "The Old Man and the C-", episode of The Fairly OddParents!

• From the Diary of X, a Czech-specific example, started with a very popular book for children From the Diary of Tomcat Blue Eyes (1965)
  • From the Diary of an IT guy ^note  Z deniku ajtaka - a book
  • From the Diary of a Third Grader, or Edudant and Francimor ^note Z deniku zaka III. B aneb Edudant a Francimor - a children's book
  • From the Diary of Pussycat Lil'Paw ^note Z deniku kocicky Tapicky - a children's book
  • From the Diary of a Bulimic ^note Z deniku bulimicky - a book
  • From the Diary of an Anorectic, ^note Z deniku anorekticky - a series of online articles
  • 1989: From the Diary of Ivana A. ^note  1989: Z deniku Ivany A. - a film documentary
  • From the Diary of a Counter-revolutionary ^note  Z deniku kontrarevolucionare - a book by Pavel Kohout
  • From the Diary of Classmate Vokurkova ^note Z deniku spoluzacky Vokurkove - a radio programme for children
  • From the Diary of a Theatropunker ^note Z deniku teatropunkera - a series of theatre reviews
  • From the Diary of a Country Teacher ^note  Z deniku vesnickeho ucitele - a Facebook blog

Live-Action TV

• The, well, X Files (original series ran 1993—2002).
  • The Rockford Files may be the earliest example
  • The Springfield Files (The Simpsons)
  • The Dresden Files
  • The Laundry Files
  • The Radio Times once had a cut-out-and-keep series of fact-files on characters from The Archers called "The Ambridge Files".
  • The Goodies File, the book of the series.
  • The Odessa File and The Ipcress Files, a good two decades before The X Files.
  • The Dead Files, a history show.
  • From Germany: Aktenzeichen XY, a real-life crime show running for a long time before Akte X.
  • A collectible boxed set for a series of Origami books based on Star Wars characters is called The Origami Yoda Files, by author Tom Angleberger.
  • "The Ex-Files", episode of Ally McBeal
  • "The D'Arcy Files", episode of Married... with Children
  • The Walten Files

• Will the Real X Please Stand Up?: From the game show To Tell the Truth (since 1956)
  • "The Real Slim Shady", a song from Eminem containing the lyric "Would the real Slim Shady please stand up...".
  • "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?", an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959).
  • "Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down?", a cartoon series.

• X Behaving Badly starting with Men Behaving Badly (since 1992). Loved by British media for punning headlines, too.
  • People Behaving Badly
  • Brothers Behaving Badly
  • Boys Behaving Badly, a book by Jeremy Daldry
  • Girls Behaving Badly, a reality show
  • Nuns Behaving Badly, a book about nuns in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy strayed far from the paradigms of monastic life
  • Bear Behaving Badly, a British children's sitcom
  • "Dick Behaving Badly", episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun
  • Gods Behaving Badly, a straight-to-video film starring Christopher Walken and Sharon Stone

• Have I Got X For You, popularised by Have I Got News for You (since 1990), but there are much earlier examples. Embraced by British media for punning headlines, too.
  • "Have I Got Bad Language for You?", episode of Panorama
  • "Have I Got Noose for You ", episode of Crime and Punishment (2008)
  • "Have I Got a Deal for You", episode of Chicago Hope
  • "Have I Got a Girl for You", episode of It's About Time
  • "Have I Got a Boy for You", episode of The New Phil Silvers Show
  • "Have I Got a Couple for You ", episode of Wings
  • "Have I Got a Fellow for You!", episode of The Doris Day Show
  • "Have I Got an Apartment for You! ", episode of The Partners
  • "Have I Got a Steele for You", episode of Remington Steele

• Mr. X's Neighborhood, which originated with Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1962—2001).
  • "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood", episode of The Sopranos
  • "Mr. Murdoch's Neighbourhood", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood", a recurring parody segment of Saturday Night Live
  • Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
  • Mr. Jackson's Neighborhood, a short comedy film
  • "Mr. Cage's Neighborhood", one of Johnny Cage's Fatalities in Mortal Kombat 11 (the one where he tears off the upper half of his opponent's body and uses it as a ventriloquist's dummy)

• Have X - Will Travel, or alternatively Have Gun - Will [Verb], started with the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel (1957—63). Punctuation optional.
  • Have Space Suit – Will Travel
  • "Have Love, Will Travel", Richard Berry's 1959 song
  • Have Guitar Will Travel, Bo Diddley's 1960 album
  • Have Rocket, Will Travel, a 1959 film
  • Have Guitar, Will Travel, Joe Perry's 2009 album
  • "Have Dragon - Will Travel" (pt. 1 & 2), episodes of Dragons: Riders of Berk
  • Have Fork, Will Travel
  • Have Cake, Will Travel
  • Have Sword Will Travel
  • Have Camera Will Travel
  • Have Skis, Will Travel
  • Have Steam Engine Will Travel, a 2014 TV movie
  • Have Coffin Will Travel (TV Short)
  • "Have Baby, Will Travel", episode of House Hunters International
  • "Have Mask, Will Travel", episode of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
  • "Have Food Will Travel", episode of Giada at Home
  • "Have Hen Will Travel", episode of The Liver Birds
  • "Have Ozz Will Travel", (2005), episode of The Osbournes
  • "Have Bed - Will Travel", episode of Our Miss Brooks
  • "Have Love Will Travel", episode of Cougar Town
  • "Have Time Will Travel", episode of Popeye the Sailor
  • "Haven't Gun, Will Travel", episode of Sledge Hammer! (1986) (TV Series)
  • "Have Bird, Will Travel", episode of Critical Role
  • "Have Duck Will Travel", episode of Duck Commander
  • "Have Blop, Will Travel", episode of The Ruff & Reddy Show
  • "Have Broom Will Travel", episode of Winsome Witch
  • "Have Reindeer, Will Travel", episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
  • "Have Gondola, Will Travel", episode of Club Oasis
  • "Have Kimono, Will Travel", episode of McHale's Navy
  • "Have No Uniform Will Travel", episode of No Time for Sergeants
  • "Have Library Will Travel", episode of Petticoat Junction
  • "Philippines: Have Degree, Will Travel", episode of Frontline/World
  • "Have Plane Will Travel", story of Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
  • "Have Saucer Will Travel", story of The Skatebirds
  • "Have Broom Will Travel", story of The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show
  • "Have Gun, Will Unravel", episode of Civil Wars
  • "Have Gun, Will Unravel", episode of Family Ties
  • "Have Gun, Will Sell", episode of Sanford and Son
  • Have Guns - Will Haggle, episode of The Avengers

• The X Always Y-s Twice, starting with The Postman Always Rings Twice, a 1934 crime novel.
  • "The Doorman Always Rings Twice", an episode of Spin City
  • "The Janitor Always Mops Twice", an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  • "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice", an episode of Castle
  • "The Russian Aways Clings Twice", an episode of Neighbours
  • "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice", an episode of Moonlighting
  • "The Post-It Always Sticks Twice", an episode of Sex and the City
  • Late Night with Conan O'Brien: "The OCD Postman Always Rings Twice, Forty Times in a Row", "The Postman Always Butt-Dials Twice" and "The Postman Always Rings Ten Times. What's His Problem?"

Music

• X on a G-String (Air) - perhaps not so common in the English-speaking world, but oddly popular in Japan (where it takes the form G-Senjou no X).
  • G-Senjou no Neko / Il Gatto Sul G ("Cat on a G-string", a manga)
  • G-Senjou no Maou ("Demon Lord on a G-string", a H-game)
  • "Shisenjou no Aria" (an Image Song from YuYu Hakusho)
  • A website for the guitarist Ollie Halsall has a page about his collaborations with Kevin Ayers under the title "Ayers on a G-String".
  • A number of newspaper and magazine articles have used the "X On A G-String" form. Very few of them are talking about music.
• The X formerly known as Y - starting with Prince, it has its own page.
• X Meets Y Uptown - Started by King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976), a dub reggae album by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby.
  • Dread Meets Punk Rockers Uptown, a compilation album.
  • The Big Man and the Scream Team Meet the Barmy Army Uptown, a single by Primal Scream and On-U Sound.
  • Tayo Meets Acid Rockers Uptown (a dubstep group)
  • Last Train to Trancentral (Meets the Moody Boys Uptown), a remix of The KLF's single ''Last Train to Trancentral" by The Moody Boys.

• What's So Funny About X, Y and Z? - Started by the Elvis Costello song (actually written by Nick Lowe) "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?" (1974)
  • "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding," episode of Casualty
  • "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice and the American Way?" (Action Comics #775)
  • "What's So Funny About War, Pain, and Cynicism?", New York Sun article about the films of Buster Keaton
• Songs in the Key of X - Started by Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
  • Songs in the Key of Kids (1993), an album by children's entertainers Sharon, Lois, and Bram
  • Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files (1996), a soundtrack of songs from (and influenced by) The X-Files
  • Songs in the Key of Springfield (1997), a soundtrack of songs and sketches from The Simpsons
  • Songs in the Key of Rock (2003), a solo album by Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes

Podcasts

• This Week in X - starting with This Week in Tech (since 2005).
  • The TWiT network has its own variants, like This Week in Google, This Week in Law, This Week in Computer Hardware, and This Week in Enterprise Tech, This Week in Radio Tech, and This Week in YouTube.
  • This Week In Atrocity is a podcast about news media and fringe theories.
  • This Week in Baseball History, hosted by Mike Bates and Bill Parker.
  • This Week in Crypto, podcast about cryptocurrencies.
  • This Week in Machine Learning & AI, hosted by Sam Charrington.
  • This Week In Makeup, hosted by Crystal and partnered with MEL Products.
  • This Week in Photo, hosted by Frederick Van Johnson.
  • This Week in Podcasts, a podcast where Wil Williams reviews podcasts.
  • This Week In Science, hosted by Kiki Sanford.
  • This Week in Time Travel, news and views on the Whoniverse.
  • This Week In Travel, co-hosted by Gary Arndt, Jen Leo and Chris Christensen.
  • This Week In Zoltan, audio journal of comedian Zoltan Kaszas.

Poetry

• Love Among X - starting with Robert Browning's "Love Among The Ruins 1855".
  • P. G. Wodehouse's Love Among the Chickens
  • Jean Ferris' novel Love Among The Walnuts
  • Eric Alter's collection of eight one-act plays, Love Among the Squirrels
  • The film Love Among Thieves
  • Starship, the 1980s-vintage successor to Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship, recorded a song entitled "Love Among the Cannibals"...
  • ...which itself is a reference to Wright Morris's 1957 novel Love Among the Cannibals.
  • Ogden Nash's short poem Love Under the Republicans(Or Democrats).
  • The fictional play within Avatar: The Last Airbender titled "Love Amongst the Dragons".
  • In Dream Girl, Clark mocks Georgina's literary ambitions by suggesting that she wants to write "Love Among the Heifers: a pastoral in nine cantos, with costumes by Abercrombie and Fitch."
  • Referenced in The Stand, with one of the military guys thinking of 'love among the viruses' when he sees two people who died after getting it on.
  • On Star Trek: Voyager, the Doctor created lessons on romance for Seven of Nine entitled Love Amid the Stars: A Romantic Bestiary.
• "Tinker Tailor" is a nursery rhyme and fortune telling song, often used as a counting game. It spun off two naming patterns. A common modern version is:
  Tinker, Tailor,
  Soldier, Sailor,
  Rich Man, Poor Man,
  Beggar Man, Thief.
  • Rich X, Poor X:
    • Rich Man, Poor Man (a 1969 novel)
    • Rich Girl, Poor Girl (a 2009 novel and a 2017 novel)
    • "Rich Boy, Poor Boy", an episode of Murdoch Mysteries
    • Rich Dad, Poor Dad (1997)
  • Tinker, Tailor, Job X, Job Y:
    • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor (a 1918 silent movie)
    • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (a book adapted into film and miniseries)
    • "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", an episode of Star Trek: Voyager
    • "Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy", an episode of The Good Place

Radio

• One X's Family - starting with One Man's Family (1932—1959)
  • Tex Avery did "One Ham's Family" and "One Cab's Family" for MGM.

Theater

• 'Tis Pity She's a(n) X - starting with the 17th-century play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. Just replace the last word - the preference is for words that rhyme with 'whore' but it's also popular to insult other professions and nationalities.
  • Terry Pratchett has 'Tis Pity She's a Tree (this could well be talking about the tree spirits Dryads) and 'Tis Pity She's an Instructor in Unarmed Combat, both from Discworld novels.
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Neighbor
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Void
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Ho
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Bore
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Carl
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Dog
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Hawes
  • 'Tis Pity She's a Horticulturalist
  • A character in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell suggests a play about the Back from the Dead Lady Pole called 'Tis Pity She's a Corpse.
  • 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore, a song by David Bowie.

• The Taming of The X - starting with The Taming of the Shrew
  • The Taming of the Shoe (Magazine, animated short)
  • The Taming of the Vole (Discworld again).
  • The Taming of the Screw (Dave Barry book)
  • "The Taming of the Wu", episode of Grimm
  • "The Taming of the Schmo" and "The Taming of the Screw-Loose", episodes of The Red Skelton Show
  • "The Blaming of the Shrew", episode of Roseanne
  • "Framing of the Shrews", episode of Melrose Place
  • The Taming of the Grue

• Much Ado About X. The original is of course Much Ado About Nothing.
  • "Much Ado About Dick", episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun
  • "Much Ado About Murder", episode of Castle
  • "Much Ado About Baby Sitting", episode of Sailor Moon
  • "Much Ado About Garbage", episode of Eight is Enough
  • "Much Ado About Scrooge", episode of DuckTales (1987)
  • "Much Ado About Nana", episode of Home Improvement
  • "Much Ado About Vultures", episode of Noah's Island
  • "Much Ado About Musyamon", episode of Digimon: Digital Monsters
  • "Much Ado About Mitch", episode of Newhart
  • "Much Ado About Nachos", episode of Sweet Valley High
  • "Much Ado About Mara", episode of Haven
  • "Much Ado About Mad Dog", episode of Dog City
  • "U.S. Acres: Much Ado About Lanolin", story of Garfield and Friends
  • Much Ado about Stuffing: The Best and Worst of @CrapTaxidermy, a book
  • Much Ado About Shakespeare: Love's Labours Won, a fanfic
  • Other variations and plays on the title:
    • "Much 'I Do' About Nothing", episode of Gossip Girl
    • "Mulch Ado About Nothing", episode of The Suite Life on Deck
    • "Mitch Ado About Nothing", episode of Hitting the Breaks
    • "Much Apu About Nothing", episode of The Simpsons

• X's Well That Ends Well, inspired by All's Well That Ends Well.
  • "Oil's Well That Ends Well", episode of Popeye
  • "Oil's Well That Ends Well", episode of Tales from the Crypt
  • "Owl's Well That Ends Well", episode of Cool McCool
  • "High's Well That Ends Well", episode of Not Fit (India's mockumentary web-series)
  • "Ozz Well That Ends Well", episode of The Osbournes
  • "Ale's Well That Ends Well", episode of Six Pack
  • "Amaar's Well That Ends Well", episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie
  • "Old's Well That Ends Well", story of Numb Chucks
  • Other pun-based variations:
    • "Roswell That Ends Well", episode of Futurama
    • "Son of Roswell That Ends Well", story from The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
    • "All's Well That Ends Wishing Well" from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
    • "All's Well That Pretends Well", story from Rugrats

• The X And I - starting with The King and I (1951)
  • "The Thing and I" (The Simpsons)
  • The King And Eye, The Residents collection of Elvis covers.
  • The Egg And I, a 1945 book by Betty MacDonald, and the classic screwball comedy movie based on it which introduced Ma and Pa Kettle. The book actually predates The King And I by six years, but it's unlikely that it influenced the titling of the musical.
  • MacDonald herself called her account of her time in a TB hospital The Plague And I.
  • "The Egg And I", an episode of Married... with Children.
  • "The Wizard and I", a song from the musical Wicked.
  • The Egg and I restaurant chain in the USA.
  • "The Ogg and I", (1960s Batman)

• The Phantom of the X: Popularized by the 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera, but there are older examples referencing the original novel of the same name (1909-10).
  • The Phantom of the Oprah (One-episode stage-show-within-a-show on Wings) Which has then become a real show.
  • Phantom of the Megaplex (A Disney Channel TV movie)
  • The Phantom of the Paradise (A 1974 glam-rock mashup of Phantom of the Opera, Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray.)
  • KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park
  • The Phantom of the Telethon (American Dad!)
  • The Phantom of the Earwax
  • Phantom of the Auditorium, one of the Goosebumps books
  • Phantom Of the Fair, an obscure Golden Age superhero who used the Perisphere at the 1939 Worlds' Fair in New York City as his headquarters.

• A Streetcar Named X - starting with A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
  • "A Streetcar Named Marge" (The Simpsons)
  • There is a short animated film about menopause called Streetcar Named Perspire.
  • There is an animated short featuring Tweety called A Street Cat Named Sylvester.

• Dial X for Y - starting with Dial M for Murder (1954)
  • Dial H for Hero
  • "Dial M for Monkey", a superhero short on Dexter's Laboratory probably named after both of the above
  • "Dial J for Janitor" (The Honeymooners)
  • "Dial B for Virgin" (Married... with Children)
  • "Dial L for Loser" (The Clique)
  • Dial M for Musicology, a blog.
  • "Dial N for Nerder" (The Simpsons)
  • "Dial Z for Zombie" (also Simpsons)
  • "Dial 'M' for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu" (The Simpsons again)
  • "Dial Meg for Murder" (Family Guy)
  • Dial M for Pizza 1980s BBC Radio 4 comedy show.
  • "Dial N for Nelson" (Mork & Mindy)
  • "Dial F for Frankenstein" Arthur C. Clarke short story.
  • "Dial M for Martin" (Frasier)
  • "Dial 'M' for Mother", the Archer Season 1 finale.
  • "Dial M for Murdoch" (Murdoch Mysteries)
  • "Dial M for Mayor" (Castle)
  • "Dial 'S' for Suspicion" (The Flintstones)

• Waiting for X - starting with absurdist play Waiting for Godot (1953), by Samuel Beckett (no, not that one).
  • Waiting For Lefty by Clifford Odets predates Beckett's work by a dozen years or so and has some similar themes.
  • Waiting for Guffman, a Christopher Guest movie.
  • "Waiting for God" is a Red Dwarf episode.
  • Waiting for God is also the title of a UK sitcom set in a retirement home.
  • "Waiting to Go" is an episode of Arthur, containing several other references to the Beckett play.
  • "Waiting For Cousteau" is an album by French musician Jean Michel Jarre which is inspired by the underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
  • http://waitingforseedot.appspot.com/ is a Pokémon page that deals with identifying who can learn which moves and how to get which egg moves on which mon, plus IV calculations. Unfortunately, it wasn't updated with Gen V and VI.
  • Waiting For Superman
  • Waiting For Dublin

• Bye Bye X - starting with Bye Bye Birdie (1960)
  • "Bye Bye Nerdie" (The Simpsons)
  • "Bye, Bye, Boss" (The Dukes of Hazzard)
  • "Bye Bye Basement" (That '70s Show)
  • "Fagmalion Part 3: Bye Bye Beardy" (Will & Grace)
  • "Bye, Bye, Balloon" (F Troop)
  • "Bye Bye Billy" and "Bye Bye Baby" (Melrose Place)
  • "Bye Bye Love" (Spin City). It was probably named after the Everly Brothers song of the same name ("Bye Bye Love").
  • "Bye Bye Butterfree" and "Bye Bye Psyduck" (Pokémon)
  • "Bye Bye Greasy" (Home Movies)
  • "Bye Bye Ball" (Hannah Montana)
  • "Bye-Bye Kenan" (Kenan & Kel)
  • "Bye Bye Blakey" (On the Buses)
  • "Bye Bye Nerdy" (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends)
  • "Bye-Bye Birdies" (Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!)
  • "Bye Bye Biki" (Perfect Strangers)
  • "Bye Bye Bernecky" (Murphy Brown)
  • "Bye Bye Binnie" (Just Shoot Me!)
  • "Bye Bye Baldwin" (Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew)
  • "Bye Bye Babies" (The Osbournes)
  • "The New Class: Bye-Bye Tony" (Saved by the Bell)
  • "Bye Bye Blackball" (Happy Days)

• N Characters in Search of a(n) X - starting with Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921)
  • "Five Characters in Search of an Exit" (The Twilight Zone (1959))
  • "Six Charlies in Search of an Author" (The Goon Show)
  • An Author in Search of Six Characters by Milo Manara
  • "Two Characters in Search of a Country Song" by the Magnetic Fields
  • "Six Characters in Search of a House (King of the Hill)
  • "Five Characters in Search of an Author" (a level of The Simpsons Game)
  • Eight Characters in Search of a Sitcom

• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to X — a Stock Phrase popularized as a title by A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962)
  • "A Funny Thing Happened (on My Way to Love)," song from The Musical I Can Get It For You Wholesale
  • "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Station," episode of The Avengers (1960s)
  • "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Mercy," episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie
  • "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer," Marvel One-Shots
  • A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned is a 2010 book by Michael J. Fox.
  • One of the taglines of the movie Delta Farce was "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Iraq".
  • A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome, a book by Emma Southon.

• The Importance of X-ing Y — starting with The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
  • The Importance of Doubting Tom (a 2016 flick)
  • "The Importance of Being Jim", episode of According to Jim
  • "The Importance of Being Idle", an Oasis song
  • "The Importance of Not Being Too Earnest," episode of Dawson's Creek
  • "The Vital Importance of Doing Research", a Horatio Hornblower fanfic.
  • "The Impotence of Being Earnest", episode of The Golden Girls

• X-day in the Y with Z — referencing Sunday in the Park with George (1984); 'X' is usually a day, 'Y' is a location, and 'Z' a person or object.
  • "Sunday in the Park with Jorge", an episode of Law & Order
  • "Sunday in the Park with Fran", an episode of The Nanny

Western Animation

• Who's Afraid of X? — The Ur-Example is the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", written by Frank Churchill and Anne Ronell for the classic animation short The Three Little Pigs, produced in 1933 by Walt Disney; though use as a template only starts with Edward Albee's 1962 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Ideally, X ends on/rhymes with "wolf", but this is no longer a requirement. A hugely successful template among journalists and non-fiction writers.
  • "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" (1967), rejected pilot for a Wonder Woman TV series
  • Who's Afraid of Beowulf? (1988), comic fantasy novel by Tom Holt.
  • Who's Afraid of Elmo?, a 1997 Sesame Street book and tape set.
  • Who's Afraid of Boomer? (2000), children's book by Margaret Snyder.
  • "Who's Afraid of Wolf 359?" (2007), science fiction short story by Ken MacLeod.

Unknown Source

• The Life (and Times/Adventures/Etc.) of X
  • The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore
  • The Lives Of Christopher Chant
  • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
  • The Life Of Moses, a 1909 biblical epic.
  • The Life of Nob T. Mouse
  • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum
  • The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
  • The Life & Times of Tim
  • Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
  • Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, the 1881 autobiography of Frederick Douglass.
  • The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
  • The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, a 1972 western movie.
  • The Life of David Gale
  • The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, a 2004 biopic.
  • The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, a 1980 documentary on women in World War II.
  • The Life of Oharu, a 1952 historical fiction film.
  • The Life and Times of Hannibal Roy Bean, an episode of Xiaolin Showdown. ''
  • “The Life and Times of Captain Barney Miller”, the pilot for the series Barney Miller.
  • The Life and Times of a Winning Pony, or the Winningverse.

• Memoirs of a(n) X
  • Memoirs of a Geisha
  • Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
  • Memoirs of an Exorcist
  • The Science Fiction film Memoirs of a Survivor.
  • The 1979 film Memoirs of a French Whore.
  • The German film Memoirs of a Frustrated Hedonist.
  • The 2010 romance film Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac.
  • Memoirs of a Cigarette, a documentary film about the history of smoking.
  • The Brazilian film Memoirs of a Gigolo.
  • The 1852 Brazilian novel Memoirs of a Police Sergeant.
  • The 2009 documentary Memoirs of a Black Latina.
  • The short comedy film Memoirs of a Blogger.
  • The short animated film Memoirs of a Scanner.
  • Memoirs of an Invisible Man
  • Memoirs of a Space Traveller (1982)^note The 2nd part of the English translation of Dzienniki gwiazdowe (1971) by Stanisław Lem

• Me, Myself, and X
  • "Me, Myself, and I" by Billie Holiday from 1937. List of other songs with this title.
  • Me, Myself & Irene
  • Me, Myself, and I
  • "Me, Myself, and Murdoch", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "M.E., Myself and I", episode of Homicide: Life on the Street
  • "Me, Myself and Al", episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!
  • "Me, Myself and Eye", episode of Young Hercules
  • "Me, Myself & Die", episode of Hunter
  • Me Myself and Us TV, TV Series (2007–2008)
  • "Me, Myself and I", episode of Common Ground´
  • "Me, Myself, and O", episode of Younger
  • "Me, Myself and Io", episode of The Zula Patrol
  • Me, Myself and Her, a short film from 2011
  • Me, Myself, & Them, a short film from 2018
  • "ME, MYSELF, I" and "ME, MYSELF AND I/APPEARANCE", episodes of Here's Humphrey
  • "Me, Myself and Irate", episode of Pelswick
  • "Me, Myself, and Ian", episode of Self Absorbed
  • "Me, Myself, and You", episode of Red vs. Blue
  • Me Myself and HIV, a 2010 documentary
  • "Me, Myself, and the Note", episode of Living It Up
  • "Me, Myself and Isaacs", episode of The New Adventures of Nanoboy
  • Me, Myself & Your Husband, a 2010 short
  • Me, Myself, and AI, a short film from 2017
  • "Me, My Selfie, & News Team", episode of WTFark!

• [Insert Unlikely Activity Here] for Fun and Profit
  • Smashing the Stack for Fun and Profit, a hackers' manual for exploiting the memory stack in computers.
  • Telling Lies for Fun & Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block
  • The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit‎ by Jill Connor Browne
  • Selling Out for Fun and Profit is the bound compilation of Exploitation Now (which is also a snowclone title)
  • TV Tropes has War for Fun and Profit and Abusing the Kardashev Scale for Fun and Profit.
  • The Big Bad of Those Lacking Spines at one point reads Final Bossing For Fun And Profit, and her Dragon reads Toadying For The Final Boss For Fun And Profit.
  • On Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Quark makes a female employee read Oomox For Fun And Profit.
  • Writing Movies for Fun and Profit by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (from Reno 911!).
  • Believe it or not, there is a book called How to Pick Pockets for Fun and Profit by Eddie Joseph. It was mentioned by Jimmy Fallon in one of his "Do Not Read" segments in his show.

• X "They" Don't Want You To Know About: Oddly enough, "They" are rarely easily defined. Amazon gives the following:
  • Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You To Know About by Kevin Trudeau
  • Challenged by Natural scams "he" doesn't want you to know about, an article by Michael Shermer in Scientific American.
  • Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau
  • The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau
  • Doctors of Deception: What They Don't Want You to Know About Shock Treatment by Linda Andre
  • The Great Bird Flu Hoax: The Truth They Don't Want You to Know About the "Next Big Pandemic" by Dr. Joseph Mercola
  • The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About — Because They Helped Cause Them by Iain Murray
  • The 6 Dirty Little Secrets They Don't Want You To Know About Network Marketing by Gavin M-R
  • An Enlightened Vision Of Cyberspace and The Grand Illusion Which Threatens It... (The Secret Business Revolution They Don't Want You To Know About!) by The Core Executive Team — Zephyr Media
  • Natural Secrets Drug Companies Don't Want You to Know About by Mark A. Stevens with Christine Jones
  • What They Don't Want You to Know About Television and Videos by Lawrence Kelemen
  • Prehumous (As opposed to Posthumous): UNPOETIC POEMS about SEX, Violence and Secrets they don't want you to know by Steven Selman
  • The Natural Bird Flu Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About by David J. Kennedy
  • The Tricks of the Rich: What They Don't Want You to Know About Making Money and Accumulating Wealth by Paul A. Overy and Ken Lee

• The X's Daughter
  • The Captain's Daughter, by Alexander Pushkin (published 1836)
  • The Arsonist's Daughter (1847) by Josef Kajetan Tyl, a 19th century Czech dramatist.
  • The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde.
  • The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon.
  • The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen.
  • The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice.
  • The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan.
  • The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim
  • Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn
  • The Devil's Daughter (1991).
  • Made for TV film "The Ditchdigger’s Daughters''
  • The Doctor's Daughter
  • The Farmer's Daughter (1947 and 1976)
  • The General's Daughter by Nelso De Mille.
  • The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates.
  • The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch.
  • The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent.
  • The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea.
  • The Imposter's Daughter by Laurie Sandell.
  • The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.
  • The Mistress' Daughter by A.M. Homes.
  • The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty.
  • The Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernières.
  • The Ringmaster's Daughter by Jostein Gaarder.
  • Sculptor's Daughter (literal translation of Bildhuggarens Dotter) is an autobiographical novel by Tove Jansson.
  • The Shepherd's Daughter.
  • The Smuggler's Daughter.
  • The Squatter's Daughter.
  • The Weaver's Daughter, by Sarah E. Ladd.

• X Considered Harmful is a popular naming convention in Computer Science circles. Originating from Edsger Dijkstra's letter "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" (1968), nowadays it's possible to find 'Considered Harmful' articles concerning almost anything computer-related.
  • "Letter O Considered Harmful"
  • "Fragmentation Considered Harmful"
  • "Csh Programming Considered Harmful"
  • "Sending XHTML as text/html Considered Harmful"
  • "Recursive Make Considered Harmful"
  • "Partially Overlapped Channels Not Considered Harmful"
  • "NULL considered harmful"
  • "Star Trek Considered Harmful"
  • "'Considered Harmful' Essays Considered Harmful"

• The Thin X Line, where X is usually a color.
  • The Thin Red Line at the battle of Balaclava was a (Real Life) Ur-Example.
  • The Thin Blue Line, 1966 documentary film by William Friedkin
  • The Thin Blue Line, 1988 documentary film by Errol Morris
  • The Thin Blue Line, the 1990s Brit Com
  • The Thin Red Line
  • The Thin Pink Line (1998 film)
  • "The Thin Dead Line", episode of Angel
  • "The Thin White Line", episode of Family Guy
  • "The Thin Blue Line", a DueSouth episode.

• Aliens Ate My X (possibly from Lurid Tales of Doom headlines)
  • Commander Keen Episode VI: Aliens Ate My Babysitter
  • Aliens Ate My Buick, Thomas Dolby album
  • Aliens Ate My Cookies, unfinished Humongous Entertainment game
  • Aliens Ate My Homework, first book in Rod Allbright Alien Adventures
    • Aliens Ate My Goldfish, which got revised in the planning stages into the above Aliens Ate My Homework.
  • "Aliens Ate My Lunch," episode of Nightmare Cafe
  • "Aliens Ate My Pickup," short story by Mercedes Lackey
  • "Aliens Ate My Railway," track from the Transport Tycoon OST
  • Aliens Ate My Trousers: Crazy Comics from the Page of the Fortean Times

• The Private Life of X, where X is some famous literary or historical figure. Or something more generic or obscure.
  • The Private Life of Don Juan, 1934 movie
  • "The Private Life Of Genghis Khan," short story by Douglas Adams
  • The Private Life of Bill and Sue, a song from Music The Beach Boys album That's Why God Made the Radio
  • The Private Life of Helen of Troy, novel by John Erskine and 1927 movie
  • The Private Life of Henry VIII, 1933 movie
  • The Private Life of the Master Race, the American title of Bertolt Brecht's anti-Nazi play Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches (first staged in the US in 1945)
  • The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, 1970 movie
  • The Private Life of the Gannets (1934, short film)
  • The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)
  • The Private Life of a Cat (1947, short film)
  • The Private Life of a Modern Woman (2017, film)
  • The Private Life of the Royal Academy (2018, TV Movie)
  • The Private Life of Plants (1995, TV Series)
  • The Private Life of... (2010, TV Series)
  • The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)
  • The Private Life of Princess Diana (1997, TV Movie)
  • The Private Life of Marilyn Monroe (2013)
  • The Private Lives of the Tudors (2016, TV Series)
  • The Private Lives of Private Eyes (2014, short)

• The Secret Life of X:
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
  • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  • The Secret Life of Pets
  • The Secret Life of the American Teenager
  • The Secret Life of Bees
  • The Secret Life of Us
  • The Secret Life of a Mermaid
  • The Secret Life of Dolls
  • The Secret Life of Squirrels
  • The Secret Lives of Color
  • The Secret Life of Violet Grant
  • The Secret Life of Plants
  • The Secret Life of Fat: The Science Behind the Body's Least Understood Organ and What It Means for You
  • The Secret Life of Real Estate and Banking
  • The Secret Lives of the Four Wives: A Novel
  • The Secret Life of the American Musical: How Broadway Shows Are Built
  • The Secret Life of Flies
  • The Plaza: The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel
  • The Secret Lives of Introverts: Inside Our Hidden World
  • The Secret Life of Mrs. London: A Novel
  • Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain
  • The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us
  • The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids
  • The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean (P.S.)

• X Must Die
  • All Superheroes Must Die
  • The Beast Must Die
  • Bunny Must Die
  • Commander Keen Episode III: Keen Must Die!
  • The Concessionaires Must Die!
  • Dorothy Must Die
  • Ensign Sue Must Die
  • John Tucker Must Die
  • Ken Dozin Must Die
  • Orcs Must Die!
  • Romeo Must Die
  • Sam & Max: Freelance Police has an episode titled "Abe Lincoln Must Die!"
  • "Scott Tenorman Must Die," episode of South Park
  • Space Bunnies Must Die
  • Spock Must Die!
  • Surf Nazis Must Die
  • "Romeo and Juliet Must Die — Well, Maybe Just Juliet", an episode of Judging Amy

• A Very X Christmas has dozens of different versions. X is usually a proper name.
  • A Very Brady Christmas is likely the original example.
  • A Very Murray Christmas is a 2015 American Christmas musical comedy starring Bill Murray.
  • "A Very Supernatural Christmas", episode of Supernatural
  • "A Very Sunny Christmas", episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  • "A Very Murdoch Christmas", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • A Very Special Christmas, a series of all-star albums supporting the Special Olympics
  • A Very Trainor Christmas, an album by singer Meghan Trainor
  • A Very She & Him Christmas, an album by indie-pop duo She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward)

• (The) Cases of X, X being an investigator or an agency. Czech detective fiction with a very, very long tradition. Hard to identify the source. Often appears in translation.
  • The Cases of the 1st Department; original Czech title Případy 1. oddělení
  • The Cases of Detective Murdoch ^note Pripady detektiva Murdocha, English Murdoch Mysteries
  • The Cases of Inspector Lynley ^note Pripady inspektora Lynleyho, English The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
  • The Cases of Police Commissioner Joona Linna ^note Pripady komisare Joony Linny
  • The Cases of Inspector Nettle ^note Pripady inspektora Koprivy a book by Marek Vesely
  • The Cases of Detective Agency SharpSight ^note Pripady detektivni kancelare Ostrozrak
  • The Cases of Detective Top ^note Pripady detektiva Topa
  • The Cases of Inspector Bubble ^note Pripady inspektora Bubliny, comics in a children's magazine
  • The Cases of Detective "Eye" ^note Pripady detektiva Ocka
  • The Cases of Detective Bumbler ^note Pripady detektiva Packala
  • The Cases of Father Brown ^note Pripady otce Browna, translation)
  • The Cases for Laura ^note Pripady pro Lauru, orig. title The Mysteries of Laura
  • The Cases of brother Cadfael ^note Pripady bratra Cadfaela, translation, orig. English title Cadfael

• (The) X Mysteries / The Mysteries of X
  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) might be the original.
  • Murdoch Mysteries
  • The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
  • Mike Tyson Mysteries
  • A to Z Mysteries
  • Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
  • The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
  • Eagle Eye Mysteries
  • The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries
  • The Roman Mysteries
  • Moville Mysteries
  • The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog
  • Frankie Drake Mysteries
  • The Mysteries of Laura
  • "Merlot Mysteries", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "A Murdog Mystery", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • Mysteries of a Barbershop, 1923 short film co-created by Bertolt Brecht and co-starring Karl Valentin

• X Take(s) Manhattan. Unknown origin, though it is speculated that the phrase "take Manhattan" appears to reference the song "Manhattan" by Rogers & Hart, first heard in the revue Garrick Gaieties from 1925. The line is "We'll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island too"; later renditions changed this line to "I'll take Manhattan".
  • The Muppets Take Manhattan
  • Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
  • "The Angels Take Manhattan", episode of Doctor Who
  • "Murdoch Takes Manhattan", episode of Murdoch Mysteries
  • "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan", episode of Monk
  • "Rarity Takes Manehattan", episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
  • "Wil Takes Manhattan", episode of The Wil Wheaton Project
  • Jann Takes Manhattan, a TV movie
  • "Tori Takes Manhattan", episode of Tori & Dean: Inn Love
  • "Amy Takes Manhattan", episode of Take a Seat: Sharing a Ride Across America
  • "Freedia Takes Manhattan", episode of Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce
  • Keelia Takes Manhattan, a 2010 short film
  • "Shayne Takes Manhattan", episode of Leave It to Lamas
  • "Turtleman Takes Manhattan", episode of Call of the Wildman
  • "The Terrier Takes Manhattan", episode of It's Me or the Dog
  • "The Muffins Take Manhattan", episode of Ned and Stacey
  • "The Shahs Take Manhattan", episode of Shahs of Sunset
  • "The Clampets Take Manhattan", episode of My Big Redneck Vacation
  • "The Quints Take Manhattan" (Pt. 1 and Pt. 2), episodes of Outdaughtered

• One Hundred Years of X
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude is an influential example
  • One Hundred Years of Mormonism, a silent movie from 1913
  • One Hundred Years of Forgiveness (original title: Cien años de perdón)
  • 100 Years of Evil, a Swedish film
  • "One Hundred Years Of Free Speech"
  • Aenigma / One Hundred Years of Anthroposophical Art
  • One Hundred Years of Cinema, a youtube channel
  • One Hundred Years of Futurism: Aesthetics, Politics and Performance
  • One Hundred Years of Dirt
  • One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U. S. Navy, 1890-1990
  • Black Fire: One Hundred Years of African American Pentecostalism
  • Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba
  • The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years Of War

• The X World of Y: X is an adjective and Y"is usually a proper name that can refer to a character, a location or the author. But generic nouns are also common. Related to The Fantastic Trope of Wonderous Titles.
  • The Wild World of Batwoman
  • The Secret World of Alex Mack
  • The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss
  • The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
  • The Wonderful World Of Disney, one of the many titles for Disney's long-running TV series Walt Disney Presents. Also known as Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and The Magical World of Disney.
  • Wide World of Sports
  • The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau
  • The Strange World of Gurney Slade is an offbeat 1960 Brit Com starring singer/actor Anthony Newley as a man who can talk to people in posters and paintings.
  • The Wonderful World of Make Believe, an album by Johnny Mathis.
  • “The Wonderful World of the Young”, a hit song by ‘60s UK singer Danny Williams.
  • “The Wonderful World of Christmas”, a Christmas song by Elvis Presley.
  • The Very World of Milton Jones
  • "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter", a theme park attraction at Universal Studios Orlando.
  • The Amazing World of Gumball
  • The Busy World of Richard Scarry
  • The Wacky World of Tex Avery
  • "The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!", an episode of VeggieTales
  • The Simpsons: Bart Simpson imagines The Undersea World of Bart Simpseau in an Imagine Spot while taking a bath.
  • In the US, Arrietty is named The Secret World of Arrietty.
  • The first English translation of Don Camillo short stories was published as The Little World of Don Camillo (1950). The same was also the English title of the first Don Camillo movie (1952).
  • In Germany, French movie Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001) was called Die Fabelhafte Welt der Amélie ("The Marvelous World of Amélie").
  • Gaming Youtuber Caddicarus has taken to titling his videos like this, such as "The Cruel World of Getting ALL 202 Platinum Relics in Crash Bandicoot," or "The Comical World of the 287 WORST Game Reviews Ever."

Multiple References

• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge has The Joy of Hex as well as several others courtesy of the Phatt Island library catalog:
  • Memoirs of a Woman of Dubious Pleasure
  • A Fistful of Barnacles
  • Breakfast at Meathook's
  • Great Expectorations (By Captain Loogie)
  • My Mother the Cart
  • So You're Going to be Executed...
  • The Little Organ that Could
  • Crochet Eyepatches for Fun and Profit
  • Louse Ranching for Fun and Profit

• After you win or retire in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, the game chooses a book title to represent your reign. Most are a parody of a famous book title, and include:
  • "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Organic Superlubricant (But Were Afraid to Ask)".^note Organic Superlubricant is a technology in-game. For some reason it gives you access to a "fusion laser".
  • "Zen and the Art of Missile Rover Maintenance"^note Missile Rovers are a possible unit type in-game.
  • "Are You There, Planet? It's Me, FACTIONLEADER."
  • "All I Ever Wanted To Know I Learned In The Cloning Vats"^note The Cloning Vats is a Secret Project in-game. It grants a massive boost to population growth and for some reason eliminates the negative effects of certain warmongering social choices.
  • "Men Are From Chiron, Women Are From Nessus"^note Chiron is the main planet you're playing on, although it's usually called Planet; Nessus is one of its two moons.
  • "The 27 Habits of Highly Effective Talents"^note Talents are highly-skilled citizens.
  • "Transcendence For Dummies"^note Transcendence is, essentially, ascension to a higher plane of existence.
  • "Mindworms in the Mist"^note Mindworms are worms native to Planet, which use some unknown technique to strike terror in the minds of other creatures so that they can lay their eggs in their brains. Strangely, they are not evil and actually misunderstood.

• Murdoch Mysteries: The writers must love this naming pattern — it's almost the series' Idiosyncratic Episode Naming. The X or Y is usually replaced with the name of the eponymous hero or another of the main characters. ^note  The episode titles also might be a play on the names with no specific reference, like "Murdoch.com", "Loch Ness Murdoch", "Murdochophobia" or "CrabtreeMania". The episodes also might be an Alliterative Title like "Victor, Victorian", "Monsieur Murdoch" or "Murdoch Mystery Mansion". Many of the titles also reference films like "On the Waterfront" (an exact quotation of a film title), "Friday the 13th, 1901" (from the horror film franchise), "Victor, Victorian" (Victor/Victoria), "Mild Mild West" (Wild Wild West), "The Murdoch Identity" (The Bourne Identity) and even "Who Killed the Electric Carriage?" (from the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?). Books don't get left out either, e.g. there is "Crime & Punishment" (same name as Crime and Punishment). Some titles touch on rock and pop music bands and songs: "Twisted Sisters" (Twisted Sister), "Barenaked Ladies" (from the Canadian alternative band of the same name), "Glory Days" (a song by Bruce Springsteen) and "Summer of '75" (alluding to the song "Summer of '69" by Canadian rocker Bryan Adams). Famous people appear, too, like "The Tesla Effect", "Marked Twain" or "Master Lovecraft".
  • "The Prince and the Rebel" (The Prince and the X)
  • "I, Murdoch" (I, Noun)
  • "Me, Myself and Murdoch" (Me, Myself and X)
  • "Dial M for Murdoch" (Dial X for Y)
  • "Murdoch in Wonderland" (X in Wonderland)
  • "A Study in Sherlock" (A Study in X)
  • "Murdoch and the Cloud of Doom" (X and the Y of Doom)
  • "Murdoch of the Living Dead" (X of the Living Dead)
  • "Journey to the Centre of Toronto" (Journey to the Centre of X)
  • "The Spy Who Came Up to the Cold" (The Spy who X-ed)
  • "Murdoch Takes Manhattan" (X Takes Manhattan)
  • "Murdoch and the Temple of Death" (X and the Temple of Y)
  • "The Devil Wears Whalebone" (The Devil Wears X)
  • "A Merry Murdoch Christmas" (A Very X Christmas)
  • "From Buffalo with Love" (From X with Love)
  • "A Study in Pink" (A Study in X)
  • "Bend It Like Brakenreid" (Bend It Like X)
  • "A Murdog Mystery" (X Mysteries)
  • "Mr. Murdoch's Neighbourhood" (Mr. X's Neighbourhood)
  • "From Murdoch to Eternity" (From X to Eternity)
  • "Merlot Mysteries" (X Mysteries)
  • "The Canadian Patient" (The X Patient)
  • "My Big Fat Mimico Wedding" (My Big Fat X Y)
  • "The Spy Who Loved Murdoch" (The Spy who X-ed Y)

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