> > War is war. > > Women are women. > > I would agree that these are tautologies - if there is such a thing as a > tautology, which there seems to be. I've said it before and I'll say it again because some people don't seem to be paying attention. "War is war." and "Women are women" are NOT tautologies. "War is war" is a expression predicating something about war. "War is war" means cruelty and brutality and mercilessness are to be expected. It says that whatever happens is OK because all ethics are out the window once war begins. That is not a tautology. Only the most literal-minded, anal-retentive, analytical, biblical-inerrantcistic person would call "war is war" a tautology. Likewise for "women are women". That's an expression popular with men who shrink before the complex emotional lives of women and seek shelter in idiocy. "Women are women" means "I don't know what the hell she wants." Not a tautology. Hoping to have settled this once and for all, Mike Geary Midtown. Some say: Midtown is Memphis. I say Midtown is Midtown. Memphis is Memphis. No tautologies there either. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html