I was never a fan of the phrase "words can't describe." That's what words do. They describe. It's even worse when the person who uses the phrase follows it up with...words that describe. Like, "You just threw a no-hitter, how do feel?"* "Words can't describe it, it's awesome."

Now we have something even worse. Something that says to the world "I'm stupid" even more that admitting that you can't think of one word to describe something that just happened in front of your eyes. That phrase, of course, is: "It is what it is."

I just saw a piece on ESPN about the Olympic protests. There were two consecutive clips from Olympic athletes who were asked their opinion on the subject. The first person's answer was "it is what it is." The second person's answer was "they are what they are."

If you don't know, just say so. If you have no opinion or don't want to talk about it, say that. But if all you're going to tell me is that, for example, a piece of shit is a piece of shit, you might as well just keep your mouth closed.


*Maybe idiot sports reporters never coming up with a better question than "how do you feel?" contributes to these ridiculous answers!