Mysteries of the Modern World: The Double Is

That's the Double Is as in 'the reason is, is that...'. 'the thing is, is that...' Everybody's doing it, including broadcasters. Jeremy Bowen, that hireling of the Zionist lobby (hem hem), did it on the Today programme this morning, in the construction 'the reason is, though, is that...' Keep your ears cocked and you'll hear it several times a day - and it's only started happening recently. Why? I'd suggest that it's another semiconscious attempt to give a simple statement extra emphasis in a world that is full of noise of one kind and another, and where in everyday use words seem to be losing meaning and impact. This probably also explains the extraordinary increase in the use of 'strong language' (a telling term) in everyday discourse, even among the perfectly respectable, but especially in the public arena. As for the Double Is, perhaps it is also related to the fact that a generation brought up without formal lessons in grammar (or Latin) have little sense of the structure of language, of what the words they use are actually doing. Or perhaps the reason is, is that...