Clockwork Motorboats

An expression that I have been using a fair bit of late is "It is what it is". In many ways, it's a get-out clause that stops the conversation dead. Once somebody says it, others shrug and, invariably, the discussion moves on in a different direction. The problem with "It is what it is" is that the phrase is a metaphor for life and, indeed, the human condition. It's not a case of adding, "if you say so" because its an indisputable fact and not something that is debatable. It means that whatever you're discussing is a foregone conclusion, a reality that nobody can change, it was already there and something, therefore, that shouldn't be discussed any further. It is, for some, a mechanism designed to stop a conversation dead and it implies the ignorance of the person it is directed at. To say "it is what it is" during any conversation is there to make the conversation starter feel in some way at fault, as if they should say, "Oh...