What is it with guys that they won't replace the toiler paper!

Question

1. I wonder why the passage below is funny.

As the lone female in our household, I find that certain male habits have really begun to get on my nerves. One day, I emerged from my teenage son's bathroom completely exasperated when I bumped into my husband. "What is it with guys that they won't replace the toiler paper!" I raged. "I know." he said, nodding in agreement. "I noticed that when I was just in there.“

What is it with guys that they won't replace the toiler paper!

I would like to know the meaning of “it” and “that” grammatically.

For example, “it” is dummy subject “,

real subject is ”that they won't replace the toiler paper“

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

I'm more inclined to see 'it' as a place-holder for 'the matter' or 'the problem':

What is the matter with guys that they won't replace the toilet paper?

I'm further inclined to see the whole construction as non-systemic and idiosyncratic. It carries a 'that' content clause at its end as no other construction does, elaborating on the matter that is annoying the speaker.

The paraphrase of What is it with X that X does Y? is basically Why does X (do Y)? (where Y is noteworthy, unusual, or annoying) You can treat What is it with ... as an idiom and skip the detailed analysis. Thus:

Why won't guys replace the toilet paper? (It's so annoying.)

Opinions may vary on this, but I don't see a way of construing this as asking what 'they won't replace the toilet paper' is with guys.

CJ

toilet, not toiler, by the way.

CJ

Englishmaven · Answer

This is an interesting and complicated question and situation. I'm interested to see how my peers react to this question and my response. I'm not 100% certain about part of my answer, but I'm going to make a good attempt. Here goes!

I think that the part starting with "that" is comparable to the following, and as such, "that" is a conjunction that begins a noun clause.

That he never arrives on time indicates that he doesn't respect you.

The problem is that he never arrives on time.

What is it with him that he never arrives on time? (What is it with him? means Why does he do this?)

"It"does not refer to the "that" clause. What is it with guys? means why do guys do this? In this case, my word "this" would be explained or elaborated by the "that" clause.

"That he never arrives on time" is a noun clause functioning as the subject of the sentence or the predicate nominative in my examples.

What is the problem with guys? Fragment : that they won't replace the toilet paper.

Two questions together: What is the problem with guys that they won't replace the toilet

With guys, it is that they won't replace the toilet paper.

That they won't replace the toilet paper is the thing with guys.

That they won't replace the toilet paper is the problem with guys.

At any rate, you asked why it is funny. It's funny because the man who responds is another guy who was just in the bathroom and didn't replace the toilet paper.

Anonymous · Answer

Yes, it is a hard question, and my grammar theory is not up to it, but I would put a comma in: "What is it with guys, that they won't replace the toilet paper!" The open-ended question "What is it with X?" can stand alone. A similar outburst would be "What gives, that you painted the room without asking me what color?" The "that" clause defines the question "what gives?", but it does not answer it as the structure might suggest.

What is it with guys that they won't replace the toiler paper!

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