Craft Beer Radio

Great comic, you know it had to be done eventually.

First off, someone buy Greg one of these: http://www.cafepress.com/saltyshirts

Now, let's get some background on the mythos surrounding "It is what it is"

According to Urban Dictionary...

1. "it is what it is"

A) A phrase that seems to simply state the obvious but actually implies helplessness.

B) A phrase that seems to simply state the obvious but actually means "it will be what it is," as in "it ain't gonna change, so deal with it or don't." See also tough shit, oh well, cry me a river and tfb.

Meaning A
J: I can't believe the price of gas!

B: It is what it is.

Meaning B
J: It troubles me that you continue to put cyanide in my Yoohoo even after I've asked you to stop.

B: It is what it is.

2. "It is what it is"

A cliche, popular within the circles of coaches, business execs, and those of us who just want to say "It's happened. 'I'm going to forget about it. I'm going to move on. There is nothing that can be done about it."

Voted by USA Today as the #1 cliche of 2004

"We showed up and gave 100%, and it is what it is."— NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, after finishing second in the Nextel Cup championship. (AP, Nov. 22)

"Never in a million years did I think we would be 1-5 at this juncture, but it is what it is."— Mike Minter, safety for the NFL's Carolina Panthers, on his team's start this season. (AP, Oct. 24)

Is this a better game than before? That's what a lot of people are asking. Perhaps the more precise question should be: Is this what hockey is going to evolve into? And if so, will the fans, the players, the coaches, and the general managers embrace it as NHL hockey?
"It is what it is," said Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock. "It's a new game." (AP, Oct. 23)

4. It is what it is

Used often in the business world, this incredibly versatile phrase can be literally translated as "fuck it."

The client changed the deadline to today? Well, it is what it is.

5. It is what it Is

What incredibly vapid, stupid and unoriginal people say when they cannot construct a proper thought, retort or sentence.

If you were to ask a nitwit why he left work early, the response would go something like this. I don't know, I mean, I just felt ...I left early. It is what it is.

Or, when you catch a person in a lie, scheme or have proven them wrong in any way, It is what it is is sure to leak from their gaping mouth.

Or, to be dismissive. You promised me a dollar raise a month ago and it hasn't appeared in my check yet.

Well, it is what it is

6. It is what it Is

Basically it is what it is. I dont know how else to describe it.

Referring to the example when something/someone always goes the same way or does the same thing.

John- Man the way the system works sucks man.

Mike-It is what it is

7. it is what it is

Usually said about something that has no frills, not perfect, more than a little to apologize for (but probably NOT delineated), not much to be said for it, but offered for face value.

"Is the 1969 Nova you're offering to sell for $150 a pretty good car?"
"Well, it is what it is."
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I thought some of them were fairly funny, and others quite apt to describe it's use in CBR. And an interesting quote from an article on "It's all good vs. It is what it is":
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"It is what it is" means what it means. Depending on context, it can be a statement of resignation or of defiance, but in neither case does it connote the optimistic good humor of "It's all good." If anything, it expresses the absence of emotion, the abdication of feeling. Although it seems to imply value-neutrality, that misses the point; it's not so much that something is neither good nor bad, but rather that its quality simply isn't relevant, that it's not worth the energy to make a value judgment.

To put it another way — it doesn't matter what you think about it because you can't do anything about it anyway. It was in this spirit that Al Gore invoked the phrase after winning the popular vote and possibly the electoral tally as well: "I strongly disagreed with the Supreme Court decision and the way in which they interpreted and applied the law. But I respect the rule of law, so it is what it is."

Meanwhile, the current administration has embraced the phrase as a tautological device to preclude further inquiry. Pressed about the intentions of the US regarding the ABM treaty, a 30-year-old agreement that would seem to preclude the Star Wars-type missile defense system currently under development, a defense official told a NATO ministers' meeting, "The ABM treaty is the current ABM treaty. It is what it is."

"It is what it is" can also be an agent of insinuation, a coy refusal to spell out something that the speaker clearly thinks goes without saying. During the run-up to GW2, the administration made a lot of noise about Iraq's links with international terrorists but refrained from presenting concrete conclusions. Instead, a senior official merely said, "It is what it is. It is a series of facts. People will have to judge for themselves."

Similarly, to sound an ominous note following the discovery in February on board a freighter of North Korean Scud missiles bound for Yemen without committing to a specific response: "Obviously this was suspected by American authorities for some time and I think it is what it is," said US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

-JDZJ
Tempe, AZ

I is what I is and that's all that I is.

"I ams what I am and I ams no more." - Popeye

Dave
UK