A tautophrase is a phrase or sentence that repeats an idea in the same words. The name was coined in 2006 by William Safire in The New York Times. Examples include: "Brexit means Brexit" (Theresa May) "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." (John Wayne) "It ain't over 'till it's over" (Yogi Berra) "What's done is done." (Shakespeare's Macbeth) "I am that I am." (God, Exodus 3:14) "Tomorrow is tomorrow" (Antigone (Sophocles)) "A rose is a rose is a rose." (Gertrude Stein) "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." (Sigmund Freud) "A man's a man for a' that." (Robert Burns) "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam!" (Popeye) "Cars are cars." (Paul Simon song title) "Let bygones be bygones." "Facts are facts." "Enough is enough." "A deal is a deal is a deal." "Once it's gone it's gone." "It is what it is." "Boys will be boys." "A win is a win." "You do you." "A la guerre comme à la guerre" — A French phrase literally meaning "at war as at war", and figuratively roughly equivalent to the English phrase "All's fair in love and war" Qué será, será or che será, será — English loan from Spanish and Italian respectively, meaning "Whatever will be, will be." "Call a spade a spade." "Once you’re committed, you’re committed." "What wins out wins out." "You can only plan if you have a plan." "I don’t care how much you know, if you get caught in a fire, you’re caught in a fire." "Befehl ist Befehl" ("an order is an order") See also Ploce (figure of speech) Repetition (rhetorical device) Tautology Platitude References Safire, William (2006). "On language: Tautophrases" The New York Times, May 7, 2006. 2006 neologisms Rhetorical techniques English grammar English phrases