The Picard Maneuver"Thought-Terminating Cliches"
givesomefucksWhat?
It is what is
Isn’t “designed” to short circuit cognitive dissonance…
I mean, it kind of could be put that way, but only because OP doesn’t seem to know they said the opposite of what they meant to from context.
It is what it is
Means
This is fucked, but I can’t help
It’s not to trick someone into ending a discussion, its commiserating over a shitty situation.
To let the other person know you’re not talking about what’s right and what’s wrong. Just stating how something is.
OpenStarsYeah, I take them as conclusions, summaries, wrap-ups, basically like “Goodbye” or “Well, I’ll be seeing you”, “It was nice talking to you”, “Welp, time to get back to work”, maybe something more personal like “I’ll see you in an hour at lunch”.
The decision may have already been made to stop / pause for now, but the former (OP) statements themselves do not cause that anymore than the ones I mentioned here.
short circuit cognitive dissonance…
Omg I’m literally dying here - except you know what, I’m actually not? I’m saying that it seems overly dramatic language to me. Like someone who heard those words somewhere and thought they sounded cool, without knowing what they even mean…:-P 😎
Though tbf they probably could be used for that purpose sometimes too, yet that doesn’t mean that is what they are “meant for”?
Maybe I’m just too old to get it.
snooggumsIt is a way end discussion by commiserating. Voicing shared helplessness out loud.
Do any discussions about changing things continue after both parties agree that “it is what it is”?
I do use it as a thought terminating statement usually when friends have asked me to help. I ask for them to tell me what has happened and then I suggest a forward plan of action. It is very common for people at this point to feel guilty about having to ask for help and also to go down a spiral of putting all the blame on themselves. Neither of these things are useful as I need their active help and participation in putting the problem right and that’s where their energy needs to be focussed.
So it this point I will very often say to them something like, “Well, it is what it is and we are where we are and there’s no sense in blaming yourself, let’s see what we can do about getting into a better position.”
I did encounter a proper thought terminating cliche in the form of, “I hear what you’re saying…” from bosses in various places. Means “I hear what you’re saying but I couldn’t give less of a shit about it even if I were prepared to put in the slightest effort, which I am not.”
It is what it is
Means
This is fucked, but I can’t help
Right, which stops you from thinking of solutions and ends the discussion. But maybe it's doesn't have to be like that if you just talked it out a little more.
It’s still accepting a shitty situation because it is what it is. While it might show empathy or at least understanding of the situation, it still is just accepting it that way without digging into it further, or trying to change it.
That line is usually the end of the topic. “Yeah, us working folks sure get fucked over, but it is what it is”. Doesn’t continue the thought or conversation. It terminates it
mad_asshatterThought-Terminating Cliches aren’t self-fulfilling!
It is what it is, I guess.
jkozakaI feel like “fuck it we ball” applies too. At least that’s how I use it.
Or the Klingon “Today is a good day to die.”
Instead of saying, “We’re all going to die, why even bother?”, they go, “We’re all going to die, let’s speedrun this bitch!”
I think it originally comes from a native American saying.
chąą nihí jooł
NorgorothBall fuckit we terminate
Well fuck now I feel old.
The Japanese say “shouganai” which literally translates to “It can’t be helped.”
The problem is, 90% of the time, it absolutely can be helped.
RBGMe:“It is what it is.”
Narrator:“But it wasn’t.”
It do be like that sometimes.
Narrator: but it ben’t
This is my new favorite sentence and now I will find a way to say it out loud.
Also I’ve now been singing “Let it Ben’t.”
Whispern’t words of wisdom
They don’t think it be like that, but like that it do indeed be.
Do be do be do.
But other times, it don’t do be like dat.
PugJesusNichevo.
Stern
I hear that meaning “I hope so”
It’s both
FozzyOsbourneDeus Vult if you happen to be a crusader
The problem is, 90% of the time, it absolutely can be helped.
Shouganai.
The literal translation is “there’s no way/method”. Which figuratively translates into “can’t be helped”.
If I remember correctly, the way to express inevitable necessity to do something also translates to something like “otherwise no way” in Japanese
Also, Chinese is “没办法” (méi bànfǎ) that is also “no way [of doing something]”
I was gonna bring this one up if no one else did.
“It is what it is”
I think these phrases can also help if you are a person, like I am, who ruminates in unhelpful and damaging thought patterns.
Some of us think and agonize too much in an unhealthy way and definitely needs ways to shut it down.
Some of us think and agonize too much in an unhealthy way and definitely need ways to shut it down.
just blame your parents like the rest of us.
emptyotherWell, sometimes an end to a discussion is exactly whats needed. Sometimes. Like when theres literally nothing to do about something. Or the discussion is going in circles. Or when it would take shorter time to try it out in practice than have another meeting about the best way to implement it.
determine next steps, then table the discussion.
Doesn’t table in the discussion rather imply that they’re going to come back to it at some point. I feel like “it is what it is” ends any further discussion on the topic.
yes, i was suggesting something different.
‘it is what it is’ is a verbal shrug.
i would argue that nothing is ever permanently tabled, merely indefinitely paused.
“had to cancel my vacation” doesn’t mean they aren’t vacationing, they might very well be staying home, and enjoying their time. They might not be doing that, but they might also be planning another vacation later, which i would argue is where it is no longer tabled, at that point.
I hear “it is what it is” used as a kind of “it’s okay to move on”:
A: I hurt my back and had to cancel my vacation.
B: Oh no, I’m so sorry!
A: Well, it is what it is. What’s for lunch?
“It is what it is.” Well no shit?
The ultimate thought-terminating cliche triumvirate: This is it Fuck it It is what it is
- Paul Crik
Okay, it is what it is. But is it really what it is?
It's in God's hands, but is it really in God's hands?
YOLO, but do you really LO?
TrashboatIt might be in gods hands whether YOLO applies, depending on the religion
In faiths that believe in a resurrection to immortality, it’d be more correct to say YODO (you only die once)
starman2112If you don’t fuck it we ball, you ain’t really lo
HegarThis term seems like just an insult wearing academic robes. And a tautology. All cliches over simplify the world, side-stepping complex analysis.
There's nothing "thought terminating" about acknowledging that a problem is beyond your scope - which is what the first two mean. I've only heard YOLO used to encourage risk-taking, which is completely different.
Realistically, these are often just social cues that you're bored with the conversation.
Obviously whether you use a cliche to avoid thinking deeper or not depends on context and individual. It's not inherent to the phrase.
Well, if you recognize that a situation is beyond your scope you might use such a phrase to suggest moving on from further discussion either internally or in conversation with others. It might be less a magic phrase that stops thoughts and more a request to move on; a “conversation terminating” phrase.
I don’t think either of these are really thought terminating cliches inherently. The phrase is more for their usage as a rhetorical device to end arguments. They become them when they are “used to intentionally dismiss dissent or justify fallacious logic” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_cliché)
Ending an argument often involves dismissing dissent. The end of an argument is also the end of thought on that argument. You’re just rewording the original term, that you’re arguing against.
SotuandusoIt’s not productive to argue endlessly.
I disagree.
Source?
I was just joking about arguing endlessly, by carrying on an argument.
denshirenjiNo you weren’t.
Yeah they were.
No I wasnt