Talk:people are people

RFD discussion: June 2018–January 2019
Googling phrases of the form "X are X" or "X is X" tends to produce hits, usually with a meaning like, "the nature of X is what it is". Examples are "men are men" and "dogs are dogs". What makes a Randian phrase of the type "A is A" worthy of inclusion? In some cases (e.g., boys will be boys) this may be an established saying, but in general it is a snowclone whose meaning is basically a sum-of-parts and not idiomatically fixed. Compare the present sense ("People are basically the same everywhere") with the sense supplied by the original creator ("People are inherently imperfect, and thus should be expected to make mistakes"). While I contend the first one is more commonly implied, both are within the vague spectrum of meanings of phrases of the form "X is Y" for the case where Y is the same of X, depending on the speaker's incidental notion of the nature of X. Lambiam 10:48, 27 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm confused, wasn't this added by User:Lambiam? DonnanZ (talk) 19:50, 27 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes, wrong revision. —Suzukaze-c◇◇ 00:10, 28 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I merely edited it, after it had been added by another editor. See also Tea room/2018/June. --Lambiam 01:20, 28 June 2018 (UTC)
 * I think DonnanZ was referring to the username I attributed to the post? You forgot to add your username (one too many hyphens). —Suzukaze-c◇◇ 01:29, 28 June 2018 (UTC)
 * This hasn't really reached the status of "boys will be boys". It seems SoP to me and I would lean toward deletion. I am also reminded of the modern Internet slang of e.g. "obvious troll is obvious" or "long cat is long". Equinox ◑ 22:24, 27 June 2018 (UTC)


 * I have never been particularly happy with the definition, I'm not sure how to redefine it (if it's salvageable). All people have human failings? DonnanZ (talk) 09:12, 28 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete, might be worth an entry in the snowclones Appendix. Per utramque cavernam 15:11, 1 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete per PUC. --SanctMinimalicen (talk) 01:16, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Moved to Appendix:Snowclones/X are X. Per utramque cavernam 18:35, 10 January 2019 (UTC)