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Bill Clinton It Depends on what the meaning of the word is is

bamageddrain · 752K views · 2007-12-22 · 0:05

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Overview

A short clip of Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony in which he says it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. It comes from questioning about Monica Lewinsky.

On Hacker News

HN mostly quotes the line as shorthand for hair-splitting over definitions, rather than recommending the video itself.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2017–2025

Topics

US politics & electionsLaw, policing & justice
Search by tags
bill clintonlewinskytestimonysemanticspolitics

What people said

kube-system · 2025-11 · Reference

Nah, the people who pretend that definitions in a criminal law book override natural linguistics are being deliberately obtuse. Language exists mostly outside of a courtroom. [VIDEO]

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ronilan · 2019-12 · Joke / meme

Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Is nicotine addictive? Was this reviewed by management? What the meaning of the word is is? [VIDEO] Edit: and from a completely different realm, sadly - why is the baby not moving?

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danso · 2017-01 · Reference

No, taking a quote of context is not the same as not running a quote with the source prior to publication. The former is unethical, the second is an optional practice. I dont't run quotes by sources when I know that I have recorded it correctly and when I feel certain of the speaker's intent and context. Most photojournalists don't let the subjects see the photos prior to publication. Not just in the past days of film, when it would have been logistically difficult, but even today with digital cameras. Most subjects have strong opinions about what photos capture them nicely. But photographers generally believe that photos capture truth, at least in a limited technical sense. edit: It's worth throwing in a hypothetical cases based on real quotes. Pretend these happened in a private interview that you have taped: - Case 1: "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?" [0] If you were not a journalist sympathetic to President Bush, you would print this quote ad verbatim (minus the stutter before "is"), because it fits a narrative that Bush is a doofus, even when speaking about our children's education. I think if you ran this by him, Bush would politely request that "is" be changed to "are". But including the quote verbatim isn't a distortion of the truth, it's literally what's on tape. - Case 2: "It depends on what the meaning of is is" [1] Here's a case where a neutral reporter might ask for clarification, because the reporter is genuinely confused. However, I thin

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Sources

Video by bamageddrain, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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