Sentence structured like this, "John is a man is a man."

Question

Pulled out from remote memory, I can be a little off about it. But I've seen sentence formulated this way at least twice. I'm guessing it is to emphasize a point or a fact. But is it grammatical? It doesn't bother if I don't think of it, when I do it bothers me to no end. Isn't the repitition ever so annoyingly redundant?

Sorry about the rant. Please shed light. thanks.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It is wordplay upon a famous line in Gertrude Stein's Sacred Emily:

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose.
Loveliness extreme.

CalifJim · Answer

Raen"John is a man is a man." ... But is it grammatical?

No. It's not grammatical, and it's not intended to be. It's modeled after the experimental poetry of Gertrude Stein. Stein's original line is "Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose". She may have just wanted to set up a musical rhythm with those words. She might not have had a particular meaning in mind, or if she did, it might be rather obscure. She once explained another line she wrote -- "Pigeons on the grass, alas!" -- as a reference to the Holy Ghost.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose_is_a_rose

CJ

Raen · Answer

Aha, so it's Gertrude. Now it all makes sense...There was a brief mentioning of her poem in an Art History class I had on Piccaso who was friend with Gertrude. Someone commented how the flavor of her poem was like that of Piccaso's paintings, but I had to admit their talents elude me. I remember I winced (no kidding) when someone recited the poem (don't even know the title of it), probably due to the rediculously irritating repititions.

Thank you, you are wonderful.

Sentence structured like this, "John is a man is a man."

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