I never realized there was a term to describe the low-effort phrases that people often use to get other people to shut up.
A thought-terminating cliché (also known as a semantic stop-sign, a thought-stopper, bumper sticker logic, or cliché thinking) is a form of loaded language—often passing as folk wisdom—intended to end an argument and quell cognitive dissonance with a cliché rather than a point.[1][2] Some such clichés are not inherently terminating, and only becomes so when used to intentionally dismiss, dissent, or justify fallacies.[3]
The term was popularized by Robert Jay Lifton in his 1961 book Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, who referred to the use of the cliché, along with “loading the language”, as “the language of non-thought”.[4]
It is what it is
It’s what it’s.
It’s not what it isn’t.
Itn’t what it itn’t
N’tn’t w’tn’t
T’aint what it t’aint
'Tis what 'tis.
'Tain’t what 'tain’t.
Ain’t my taint.
Things always happen for a reason.
Jesus has a plan for you.
Isn’t that fecker dead?
☝️🤓 no, He ascended into Heaven after resurrecting, so He didn’t die.
Community note: this claim lacks empirical evidence 🤓
My source is the bible!
Note: I am explaining the lore, not sharing what I believe to be fact!
I’m always confused about that one. Isn’t there a time limit on how long after dying you can cast resurrect? Also, did he cast it on himself? Is that even allowed? I’m not really an expert on D&D.
Community note: source is highly contested, rife with disagreement on interpretation, and generally agreed to be unfalsifiable
He wouldn’t give you anything that you can’t handle
Of all of them, I hate this one the most by far
.:|;:I prefer the 2Pac variant, which I sing.
“That’s just the waayy it iss”
it ain’t what it should be
Ain’t that the truth
I use this one myself, but only as a statement of a fact that i cant change, not to just dismiss thing us dint want to deal with.
For example: a co-worker complaining about something going wrong on a project and at some point i have to say ‘it is what it is’ (or something of similar effect) and say that as much as that sucks, its out of our control and we need to deal with finding a solution because bitching aint gunna make the problem un-fuck itself.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
They don’t think it be like it is,
But it do.
😂
Way she goes.
Cool story bro
That’s nice, honey
Ok boomer
You’ll change your mind you are older.
Been hearing that one for over 15 years and it hasn’t gotten any less wrong.
The cliche probably seems pretty wrong now, but you’ll change your mind when you’re older
Used to get this all the time for over 10 years from a relative only 3 years older than me. We don’t talk anymore.
Sadly this is coming from my grandmother whomst I live with. Luckily we have everything set up so that if we do get into a fight it just means I need to figure out what to get for dinner.
Yeah.
Closely related I feel is the notion that people grow more conservative as they get older. Also heard that one mostly from people barely older than me. While over the past decade I’ve noticed the opposite in myself.
It’s a leftover from ye olden days when upward economic mobility was still a thing, and women and minorities still knew their place. Boomers gonna boomer
I had it told to me by a very conservative civics teacher. Lots and lots of garbage taught in that class.
You only get more conservative if you have a position of privilege to maintain. Was once quite commonly obtained with age.
That shit ain’t happening any more
My parents.
I realize now, that if an adult non-ironically says this, then it’s likely they are the ones that will never learn.
30 years here, and it’s not proved true yet.
So it goes. C’est la Vie (Such is life).
没办法 (méi bànfǎ) - roughly translated means “Nothing can be done to change it”.
Shouganai.
“It can’t be helped”.
Shoganai = しょうがない
Nothing can be done. Change it!
Kann man nix machen.
Just missing a “tja”.
Steckste nich din.
I should have thought of that one, I know way more German than French.
stecksde nich drin
Da machste nix.
It do be like that
They don’t think it be like it is, but it do
Damn that’s crazy
Agree to disagree
It is what it is
Has this one become rampant in the past few years? Everyone says it, I absolutely cannot stand this one for some reason
Trump said it about COVID deaths during an interview in April 2020.
I hate this one sooo much
Well there you have it.
“welp!” <slaps knees>
Here’s an example: “Israel has a right to defend itself”
From hungry children.
Sir, this is a Wendy’s.
And don’t call me Shirley.
And my axe!
Calm down Gandalf!
“Let people enjoy things.” – purports that criticisms to consumable media are attempts to prevent consumers from enjoying said media.
Yes and no. For example I’ve seen this response to the argument “new music is bad”. It’s a valid response to “I think something is bad, why does anyone enjoy it?”
I’ve usually seen it in response to a criticism of the people for enjoying the thing
Bless your heart.
Let’s not forget the grand daddy of them all: The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Somewhat apropos I recommend watching Adam Curtis’ take on what he calls Oh Dearism:
