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Few expressions anger me more than "it is what it is". It sounds so incredibly dumb to me. And I keep hearing it lately, from all kinds of people:

Any sentence goes here. It is what it is.

All the time. What does that even mean? "It is what it is"? You don't say...

There is something provocative about this expression to me, as if the person saying it is really saying:

Things are the way they are and we can't do anything about it, so we shouldn't even try to change the situation.

It seems like people are constantly just "shrugging their shoulders" and use this phrase. Does it mean something else?

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    I’m voting to close this question because this is a rant about a pet hate.
    – David
    Aug 3, 2021 at 19:57
  • Rants can be about English usage. Hang in there. Though I do share the frustration. I often follow someone's use of the comment with *So is midget wrestling." Pardon the antique use of the term.
    – Elliot
    Jan 15 at 5:45
  • As Bill Clinton said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.“
    – Xanne
    yesterday
  • Another way to discourage over-frequent use of this phrase is to respond in a thoughtful tone with "And it isn't what it isn't."
    – Sven Yargs
    11 hours ago

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A lot of ink has been spilled over this phrase, which seems to have originated many decades ago, but gained popularity more recently.

The phrase, racing through the language, shows no sign of tiring. The first use I can find is in the Newspaper Archive, from a column by J.E. Lawrence in The Nebraska State Journal in 1949 about the way that pioneer life molded character: "New land is harsh, and vigorous, and sturdy. It scorns evidence of weakness. There is nothing of sham or hypocrisy in it. It is what it is, without apology."

Databases show a steady buildup in usage toward the end of the 20th century. A burst of the sentence's activity followed Billy Frolick's movie with that title in 2001. The jam band the String Cheese Incident used it a year later. Gary Mihoces of USA Today examined a dozen uses of the cliché by sports figures in 2004. On Election Day 2004, when exit polls showed the Democrat John Kerry in the lead, Time magazine reported that President George W. Bush, avoiding any show of pessimism to his aide Karen Hughes, said only, "Well, it is what it is."

It is What It Is - New York Times

Note that this article was published in 2006, so if you've only heard the expression being used lately, your speech community may be a bit behind the times.

These examinations of the phrase usually include a fair amount of philosophizing, e.g.

The increased use of “it is what it is” seemed to be a sign that people are increasingly comfortable with “states of potentiality,” which are states that could “collapse” to different actual states depending on the context.

The Hidden Meaning of “It Is What It Is” - Psychology Today

"It is what it is is also a way of expressing philosophical resignation over a disappointment, of saying that the situation just has to be put up with."

New York Times

And while these analyses may be on point, they also seem to me to be making a mountain out of a molehill.

It's not clear to me how this phrase is meaningfully different than older, more invisible clichés like

Oh well
Too bad
I give up
Them's the breaks
Boys will be boys
Let Reagan be Reagan
Let Poland be Poland
I yam what I yam

And on and on and on.

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    'Que sera sera' almost certainly antedates all these, but when it actually entered the English lexicon is another matter.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Aug 3, 2021 at 18:10
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    @EdwinAshworth - I think you're a man who knows too much.
    – Hot Licks
    Aug 3, 2021 at 19:37
  • The Wikipedia page on the song Que Sera, Sera says it's been used in English since the 16th century but was popularised by the 1955 song. (And apparently it's bad Spanish.) For much more, see this article.
    – Stuart F
    Aug 4, 2021 at 16:37
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    When I was just a little baby I asked my mother Eh, what’s in this tea? Is it organic? Ethically sourced? Here’s what she said to me Sarah Kay, Saraaa Whatever it be, it’s tea The label’s not ours to see Sarah Kay, Saraaa What it be is tea When I grew up and learned to read I read the label What did I see? Magnesium oxide Soy lecithin What did this say to me? Sarah Kay, Saraaa Whatever it be, it’s tea The label is bad to see Sarah Kay, Saraaa What it be is tea When I grew old and got real cranky I told my nephew Buy me some tea He brought me a baggie Filled with
    – Hot Licks
    Aug 5, 2021 at 18:17
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    @Hot Licks; Please continue. I'm on the edge of my crumpet to see the next line.
    – Elliot
    Jan 15 at 5:44
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Where I live, it is what it is means: you can't change it.

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The use of the phrase has increased enormously since approximately this time last year when Donald Trump used it to refer to the coronavirus death toll in a TV interview. Since then it has been used, generally sarcastically or ironically to indicate that the speaker has lost control of something or has been ineffective at performing some duty.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/it-what-it-trump-interview-covid-19-death-toll-u-n1235734

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