It Is What It Is - Or Is It?

Have you ever noticed how certain phrases pop up and quickly imbed themselves into the collective consciousness of our society? Case in point:

“It is what it is”.

I am not entirely sure how long the phrase has been around. I do know that I had not heard it until I started a new job four years ago, and boy did I ever hear it then. People said it in meetings. They shared it in private conversations. I even overheard it in elevator conversations.

Pretty soon I started hearing the phrase in public. People used it in subway conversations. Kids used it in the mall. It showed up on television shows. My mom even included it in an email message.

 “It is what it is.”

It’s a common phrase. It’s also incomplete. You see, there’s a second half of the saying that people almost always forget. And so, as a public service, let me share the complete phrase with you:

 “It is what it is – but that isn’t the way it has to be.”