this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 145 points 5 months ago (5 children)

The Japanese say "shouganai" which literally translates to "It can't be helped."

The problem is, 90% of the time, it absolutely can be helped.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Me:"It is what it is."

Narrator:"But it wasn't."

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago (3 children)

It do be like that sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This is my new favorite sentence and now I will find a way to say it out loud.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Inshallah, or, "God willing" is the Quran approved version.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I hear that meaning "I hope so"

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

The problem is, 90% of the time, it absolutely can be helped.

Shouganai.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

The literal translation is “there’s no way/method”. Which figuratively translates into “can’t be helped”.

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[–] [email protected] 106 points 5 months ago (8 children)

I feel like "it is what it is" is too often shit on.

I had a boss from whom I learned about staying calm and keeping steady course.

His favorite saying was "it is what it is" and it was always in the context of simply recognizing the reality for what it is, instead of hoping or wishing it was something else or lamenting over how it should have gone a different way. Then, from the point of accepting that "it is what it is" we would focus on how to get to where we wanted to be.

Sure it can be used dismissively, but I feel like people always just dismiss it as a cliche when it's actually usually a very good philosophy.

[–] [email protected] 57 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

"Though-terminating" is not necessarily a negative thing.

Like how your boss used it: stop the train of anger and reframe the problem in a more constructive way.

It's still terminating a thought, it just wasn't a productive thought and needed terminating.

Edit: typo

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Good point, I didn't really consider that it could be used in a good way.

Although, in my defense, they are using the term cliche which usually has negative connotations.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's what it's

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I had a boss who used to say the same thing. He was telling us "We didn't set this dumpster on fire, but somehow it's our job to handle it. No point bitching, so roll your sleeves up and get to it." I've started saying the same thing for the same reason.

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[–] [email protected] 86 points 5 months ago (8 children)

Thought Terminating Cliches can be useful because it is not productive to worry about things over which you have no power.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Not YOLO, though, which is often used to stop thinking about the consequences of choosing to do something stupid.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I also often hear "It is what it is" to mean "someone made a bad decision and I'm not fighting it like I should."

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

Or the thing has already been done.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

I see it used oftentimes to dismiss systematic injustice aswell... "it is what it is"..

which on an individual level feels like we have no control over but is infact something we have a lot of control over. A very malignant useage I feel

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

This term seems like just an insult wearing academic robes. And a tautology. All cliches over simplify the world, side-stepping complex analysis.

There's nothing "thought terminating" about acknowledging that a problem is beyond your scope - which is what the first two mean. I've only heard YOLO used to encourage risk-taking, which is completely different.

Realistically, these are often just social cues that you're bored with the conversation.

Obviously whether you use a cliche to avoid thinking deeper on a topic or for some other reason changes with each use. It's not inherent to the phrase.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (14 children)

I don't think either of these are really thought terminating cliches inherently. The phrase is more for their usage as a rhetorical device to end arguments in certain ways. They become them when they are "used to intentionally dismiss dissent or justify fallacious logic" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9)

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I feel like "fuck it we ball" applies too. At least that's how I use it.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Or the Klingon "Today is a good day to die."

Instead of saying, "We're all going to die, why even bother?", they go, "We're all going to die, let's speedrun this bitch!"

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Well, sometimes an end to a discussion is exactly whats needed. Sometimes. Like when theres literally nothing to do about something. Or the discussion is going in circles. Or when it would take shorter time to try it out in practice than have another meeting about the best way to implement it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

I hear “it is what it is” used as a kind of “it’s okay to move on”:

A: I hurt my back and had to cancel my vacation.

B: Oh no, I’m so sorry!

A: Well, it is what it is. What’s for lunch?

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

That's another good one.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

Shit happens.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

Awful, added to my vocabulary

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

I think these phrases can also help if you are a person, like I am, who ruminates in unhelpful and damaging thought patterns.

Some of us think and agonize too much in an unhealthy way and definitely need ways to shut it down.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago (3 children)

“I haven’t stopped thinking about this since”

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

That's a meme terminating cliche

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 months ago (3 children)

But what about "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose"?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

That's not a Thought-Terminator, that is life!

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

They don't think it be like it is, but it do.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

Thought-Terminating Cliches aren't self-fulfilling!

It is what it is, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago

“Living their best life” and “Speaking their truth” are recent and annoying examples of this.

The first is always used to dismiss self destructive or irresponsible behaviour. The second is often used to make a statement that is either false, manipulative, subjective or a combination. Their isn’t a personal truth, there is only truth.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

maybe they couldn't stop thinking about it but I'm built different

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

Ah well, live and learn!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Or just "thought-stoppers".

Loaded language meant to quell criticism and dissent.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Loaded language meant to quell criticism and dissent.

Jesus Christ, Lemmy is way too anarchist for me to handle sometimes.

People just don't want to think about stuff that doesn't affect them or that they can't change. Not everything is some kind of fascist conspiracy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago (6 children)

It is what it is, ya know?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Can't stop thinking about thought terminating cliches? Sounds like you need a thought terminating cliche!

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Well I'm just sayin

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Cool story, bro.

Or my personal favorite, "that's just like, your opinion, man."

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Lol this lady doesn't know what platitudes are... hilarious

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