Tautophrase

A tautophrase is a phrase or sentence that tautologically defines a term by repeating that term. The word was coined in 2006 by William Safire in The New York Times.

Examples include:

  • "Brexit means Brexit" (Theresa May)
  • "Tomorrow is tomorrow" (Sophocles' Antigone)
  • "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" (Gertrude Stein)
  • "It is what it is"
  • "If it works, it works"
  • "Boys will be boys"
  • "A win is a win"
  • "A la guerre comme à la guerre" — A French phrase literally meaning "at war as at war", and figuratively roughly equivalent to the English phrase "All's fair in love and war"
  • Qué será, será or Che será, será — English loan from Spanish and Italian respectively (although these phrases are ungrammatical in those languages), meaning "Whatever will be, will be."
  • "Call a spade a spade"
  • "What will be, will be"
  • "Game is game"
  • "What's common is common."
  • "When I fool around, I don't fool around."
  • "A hole is a hole."

See also

References


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