it is and it isn't
English
Phrase
it is and it isn't
- An answer in reply to a yes-no question, indicating there is no simple "yes" or "no" answer
- #*1972: United States House Committee on the District of Columbia Hearings on Interest, Usury, and Consumer Credit, p. 111.
- Mr. JENNINGS. But if it is on the basis of handling it under a "with recourse" situation, that isn't affected by this bill.
Mr. MIKVA. It is and it isn't.
Mr. JENNINGS. It is from the standpoint of collection, you are right.
- Mr. JENNINGS. But if it is on the basis of handling it under a "with recourse" situation, that isn't affected by this bill.
- 2009, Richard P. Feynman, The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen-Scientist, p. 84.
- If you want to know how many people are taller than six feet tall, then you just pick people out at random, and you see that maybe forty of them are more than six feet so you guess that maybe everybody is. Sounds stupid. Well, it is and it isn't. If you pick the hundred out by seeing which ones come through a low door, you're going to get it wrong.
- #*1972: United States House Committee on the District of Columbia Hearings on Interest, Usury, and Consumer Credit, p. 111.
Related terms
- yes and no