The Double Is

The funny thing is, is that the English language has a way of adapting that isn’t always sensible or logical.

Does the above sentence bother you? It’s an example of a grammatical quirk that really grinds my gears: the double-is.

“Well, see, the thing is, is…”

Why do people feel obligated to add that second “is” in there? One potential reason is to cue up the part of the sentence that follows the first “is”—the object that’s referred to by “the thing is” or “the problem is”, for instance.

So, it works like this: “The problem is, is…” and then the rest of the sentence describes exactly what the problem is. The hope is that the listener really focuses on the importance of that object. In this way, the rhythm of the speech is more important than the order of the words.

Language is always evolving. What starts out as an error or a quirk of speech can become a standard part of a language over time. The "double is" might be an example of this evolution in progress.

I’m old enough to remember w…