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warren clements: word play

Isis is back. I refer not to the ancient Egyptian goddess, but to the widespread tendency of people to insert a redundant "is" into their conversations: is is. I discussed the trend in a 2007 column, but it's time for a return visit.

The impetus came from reader Margaret Parker, who wrote of hearing "is is" frequently on CBC Radio in remarks by academics and others. One speaker "used the phrases 'the issue is is …,' 'the problem is is …,' 'the question is is …' et cetera four times in a few minutes. … I know languages have to change over the years, but this seems to be a step [backward]"

Once attuned to the hiccup, the ear catches it everywhere. An expert from Virginia Tech, speaking about bedbugs on CBC Radio's The Current on Sept. 6, said, "The thing is, is we have a lot of obstacles in the way." One of two women quarrelling over home payments on the TV show Judge Judy on Aug. 12 said, "But the thing is, is that I've loaned her money in the past." On an Aug. 10 episode of The Agenda with Steve Paikin, a journalist said, "Well, I think the mistake is, is that.…"

The hiccup has made it into official transcripts. The White House released a print version on Sept. 9 of a speech on education by U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. "And the thing is, is that if your kids see you doing it - your grandparents, uncles, teachers - they're going to be engaged," she said.

"The thing is" is a colloquial way of opening a sentence, emphasizing what follows and giving the speaker a second or two to compose her thoughts. It is naturally followed by a pause: The thing is, he didn't see the car coming. Obama and the others appear to be treating "the thing is" the same way they would treat a self-contained dependent clause such as "what it is." Syntax requires a second "is" after that clause: What it is is a mystery. Syntax gasps in horror at the addition of a redundant "is" to the earlier arrangement: The thing is is we don't care. What the second sentence needs is a "that," even if it's left implicit: The thing is [that]we don't care.

Barbara Wallraff, recording the construction in her 2000 book Word Court, suggested that people who speak should be cut more slack than people who write. Susie Dent gave the phenomenon a brief mention in her 2005 book Fanboys and Overdogs, under the heading "Sloppy speech?" (Apparently she wasn't sure; note the question mark.) The use "of the double 'is' is becoming increasingly frequent," she noted.

In the 2009 edition of Garner's Modern American Usage, Bryan Garner referred to the construction as "this sloppy phrasing," without a question mark. He had heard the hiccup as far back as 1984. "The minister who performed my wedding service in May of that year used it habitually (I thought anomalously)."

Garner pointed to a 2002 paper by Michael Shapiro and Michael C. Haley in the journal American Speech, in which the authors were able to trace the phrase only to the 1990s. The title of the paper, should you wish to seek it out, is The Reduplicative Copula Is Is. ("Be" is a copulative verb.)

Their conclusion was essentially as stated above: that speakers are confusing the constructions "the thing is" and "what it is," and don't realize that what works for the second doesn't work for the first. If you'd rather hear it from Shapiro and Haley directly, brace yourself: "When the copula of identity stands between two syntactically equivalent but heterogeneous constituents - topic noun to its left, dependent nominal clause headed by that to its right - the link between the two constituents can be interpreted to be asymmetrical, and this asymmetry tends to undermine the (inherent) meaning of identity."

You're welcome.

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