A tautophrase is a
phrase
In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...
or sentence that
tautologically defines a term by repeating that term. The word was coined in 2006 by
William Safire
William Lewis Safire (; Safir; December 17, 1929 – September 27, 2009Safire, William (1986). ''Take My Word for It: More on Language.'' Times Books. . p. 185.) was an American author, columnist, journalist, and presidential speechwriter. He ...
in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''.
Examples include:
* "
Brexit
Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).
Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...
means Brexit" (
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
)
* "Tomorrow is tomorrow" (Sophocles' ''
Antigone
ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP).
History
ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...
'')
* "
Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
The sentence "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose" was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem "Sacred Emily", which appeared in the 1922 book ''Geography and Plays''. In that poem, the first "Rose" is the name of a person. Stein later ...
" (
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...
)
* "
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
"Call a spade a spade" is a figurative expression. It refers to calling something "as it is"—that is, by its right or proper name, without " beating about the bush", but rather speaking truthfully, frankly, and directly about a topic; even to ...
"
* "What will be, will be"
* "Game is game"
* "What's common is common."
* "When I fool around, I don't fool around."
See also
*
*
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References
*Safire, William (2006).
On language: Tautophrases ''The New York Times'', May 7, 2006.
2006 neologisms
Rhetorical techniques
English grammar
English phrases
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