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Anytime someone pulls that phrase on me, I look and them and slowly say, "You're right. It definitely is, what it is." Then they have the look of realization on how much of a filler thing that is to say.
A variation is, "It certainly isn't what it isn't".
It's shorthand for "shits fucked but there's not much I can do about it from here, so I just continue to exist in spite of everything"
russians use nichevo/nichego
It certainly isn't what it isn't!
You just gotta accept that people are going to say thought-terminating cliches to you. You only live once, man, and you gotta do what you gotta do. Que sera sera.
The problem with thought terminating cliches like "it is what is is", is that it promotes lazy thinking.
You may as well say "I've encountered another problem which I'm not going to attempt to resolve. "
Ok, so you’ve got it all figured out huh? You earn a lot of money, are in really good shape, eat healthy self prepared food, have a good relationship with everyone around you, have everything in your home organized and tidy, have hobbies that fulfill you… and you still have enough time to post on lemmy.
All by the power of never giving in to “it is what it is” but instead carefully dissecting and solving everything in your waking life.
Props my man, what shall we call you? Captain Solveitall? Supersolver? Something else?
That's not really what I'm saying... at all.
Everyone encounters unsolvable problems, whether or not they favor thought terminating cliches. However, we also encounter problems which only appear to be unsolvable. My point is, if you take the attitude that "it is what it is", you'll never know the difference.
You can call me captain solveitall if you wish, but I suspect that won't make you any less miserable.
If you try to solve everything you won’t solve anything. Life is just too complex.
There aren’t only solvable or unsolvable problems. You also have to consider constraints like time, money, physical and mental health and whatever else you can think of. Which becomes a murky soup of tasks.
Sometimes it’s just best to say “it is what it is” for your own mental health. I’m sure you’ve done it, you just haven’t thought or said those specific words. Otherwise you’d not be posting on lemmy, you’d be out there solving problems.
Let's agree to disagree
Presuming you were trying to illustrate a point, well done. Otherwise yes we do disagree.
Can't win 'em all!
nah. it's more akin to "I have nothing (else) to say or do" doesn't mean there was no attempt.
I didn't say there was no attempt.
Saying you have nothing else to say or do is "thought terminating" you're stifling discussion rather than encouraging investigation of potential solutions.
no you're not.
and yes you did:
You may as well say "I've encountered another problem which I'm not going to attempt to resolve."
I can't believe I have to say this but "I'm not going to attempt to resolve this" is not the same as "I have not made any attempt to resolve this".
Honestly though, you're very welcome to continue spouting dumb phrases like "it is what it is" if you find that helpful.
you're so full of shit. you know what you meant. I know what you meant. that's not a phrase that acknowledges past attempts at all. you're breaking basic axiom of cooperative communication just to double down on your dumb opinion. people are not robots, learn to live with them.
Settle down pet. Of course I know what I meant but I'm concerned that you do not.
lol sure bb
Most especially, literally, at the end of the day!