The Puzzling Popularity of the Phrase "It Is What It Is"

Why is the tautology "it is what it is" so damned popular?by Dave SegalAn early example of the annoying phrase; at least the music's sublime. Transmat Records
It happened again last night. In a chat with a friend, he concluded a gripe about a coworker's baffling personality quirks with the words "It is what it is." It is what it is—after every utterance of this tautology, I roll those five syllables around in my head, and all I'm left with is a crushing sense of linguistic uselessness, a f