"This Just In..." 37

It is what it is. Or is it?

As a writer, I tend to fixate upon the fact that people in the USA often adopt words and phrases solely because they “sound right”. They’re oblivious to the fact that they’ve lost the former meaning and import and are speaking gibberish.

I’ve mentioned this one before but shall cite it here again because it simply refuses to die: “played a factor”. The mind boggles to think that anyone could hear that and make it part of his or her daily discourse.

Have you begun short-circuiting discussions with “It is what it is”? That’s a profound observation, to be sure. And it’s certainly not a statement one can easily dispute.

Retorting that it’s not what it is will get you nowhere. Likewise, it’s pointless to argue that it’s what it isn’t, because it clearly is not. Presented with such a conundrum, the prudent person will concede the speaker’s point, nod politely, and quickly depart, thinking “What a doofus.”

But what if, in some alternate universe, things were not what they were. I submit that confusion would run rampant and the simple act of seeking a decent burger could lead to disaster. No one wants that.

There are variations on the theme, of course: “You are who you are.” “I did what I did.” “I said what I said.” “I am who I am.”

The last one, of course, was a staple of Popeye the Sailor Man’s vocabulary. To be historically correct, one would express it as “I yam what I yam.” (In this particular context, “yam” is used not in reference to sweet potatoes but rather to reflect a state of being.)

I’m using “the Sailor Man” here, of course, to differentiate this particular Popeye from the others. But it would be a fool’s errand to argue that only this one matters, and doing so would be giving short shrift to, for example, Popeye the Accountant, Popeye the Shoemaker, and Popeye the Greengrocer. It’s easy to sympathize with Popeye the Tailor Man, who frequently fell victim to misidentification because he also happened to smoke a pipe and squint a lot.

Historians view those as confusing times, to be sure. But they were what they were.