sometimes a cigar is a cigar
Language: English
Part of speech: phrase
Senses: examples: text: “Why does everyone think my breaking my leg was one gigantic manipulation?” Roger complained. “Sometimes a cigar is a cigar.”
ref: 1981, Paul Buttenwieser, “Working and Loving”, in Free Association: A Novel, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 233:
text: The psychiatrist is the bailee of the coat and is responsible for the security of property brought to his office. The psychiatrist should provide a secure area for patients’ belongings. While the patient might productively examine feelings about the stolen coat, sometimes a cigar is a cigar, and the psychiatrist must deal forthrightly with the reality.
ref: 1982, Robert I. Simon, “Case 11: The Psychiatrist and the Patient Bearing Gifts”, in Psychiatric Interventions and Malpractice: A Primer for Liability Prevention, Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, →ISBN, section III (Clinical Cases Illustrating Thorny Medical-Legal Dilemmas), page 100:
text: “All right,” I conceded, “but what about the Mexican thing? The guy was down there for years. Then all of a sudden he leaves, surfaces in L.A., and becomes a hotshot.” / “Upward mobility is no felony, and sometimes a cigar is a cigar, Dr. Freud.”
ref: 1985, Jonathan Kellerman, chapter 15, in When the Bough Breaks (Alex Delaware; 1), New York, N.Y.: Signet, published May 1986, →ISBN, page 150:
text: “What a beautiful day, yes?” said Dr. Morales, beaming at the winterscape as if he had created it himself. “It makes you feel like a kid, no?” / “Yes,” I said. “But you couldn’t have had much weather like this in Cuba.” / “You are still at point-counterpoint, eh, Mr. Singer?” / “Just an observation,” I said, moving off down the path. “Sometimes a cigar is a cigar.”
ref: 1998, Daniel Menaker, “Part One: The Eden of Anxiety”, in The Treatment, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 12:
text: Jill and Randi have likewise stayed together by talking a lot. “It’s really important to talk,” says Jill, “but also to have a sense of humor. You don’t need to process everything to death—sometimes a cigar is a cigar. The most important thing is to be honest with each other.”
ref: 1998, Paula Martinac, “Making It Last”, in The Lesbian and Gay Book of Love and Marriage: Creating the Stories of Our Lives (A Seth Godin Production), New York, N.Y.: Broadway Books, →ISBN, chapter 4 (“For Better or Worse, For Richer or Poorer . . .”), page 172:
text: Millipede, the sequel to Centipede, takes the Freudian original and ramps up the challenge. As with the original, it was always one of the more popular games with women, for obvious reasons (or maybe sometimes a cigar is a cigar).
ref: 2000 October, Steve Bauman, “Atari Arcade Hits Volume II”, in Steve Bauman, editor, Computer Games Magazine, number 119, Richmond, Vt.: Strategy Plus, →ISSN, →OCLC, page C8, column 2:
text: Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. Your calves are tight because you ran in the cold wind in shorts yesterday.
ref: 2002, Jaime Stover Schmitt, “The Essential Postures for Women I: Pelvic Centering, Whole Body Integration, and Balance Poses”, in Every Woman’s Yoga: How to Incorporate Strength, Flexibility, and Balance into Your Life, Roseville, Calif.: Prima Publishing, →ISBN, part 2 (The Vocabulary of Yoga Practice), page 33:
text: On her website, wendymogel.com, psychologist Wendy Mogel says: “Yes, we psychologists will tell you that some of their questions are really a cover for anxiety. We’ll tell you that, rather than answering the questions directly, your children will profit more if you can unearth or pinpoint their underlying fears. But sometimes a cigar is a cigar. Or worthy curiosity about science or theology.[…]”
ref: 2003 September, Willow Bay, “Conversational Comfort Zone”, in Talking to Your Kids in Tough Times: How to Answer Your Child’s Questions About the World We Live In, New York, N.Y.: Warner Books, →ISBN, part II (Their Questions, Your Answers), page 117:
text: Today, I frequently ask depressed clients, for example, to get a medical consultation to eliminate possible physical or hormonal causes of their symptoms. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar and not a psychological or relational issue.
ref: 2006, Pauline Boss, “Cautions About Resiliency”, in Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss, New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, part I (The Developing Theory of Ambiguous Loss), chapter 3 (Resilience and Health), page 58:
text: “I’m not going on the march, Winston, unless you quit smoking that thing. You’re polluting the air, and that makes it hotter here. That thing in your mouth is an instrument of pollution.” / “Sometimes a cigar is a cigar,” growled Winston.
ref: 2007, Jean Davies Okimoto, Winston of Churchill: One Bear’s Battle Against Global Warming, Seattle, Wash.: Sasquatch Books, →ISBN:
text: One more thing I should touch on briefly is how apps can tell whether they’re running under Vista. The GetVersionExA API call gives you the information you need. A simple example is included in IsVista.prj. Figure 11 shows the test procedure running on a Vista machine. Figure 11: Sometimes a cigar is a cigar [Dialog box with “Vista” text and “OK” button]
ref: 2008, “Coping With Vista’s Registry Virtualization”, in David Harms, editor, Clarion Tips & Techniques, volume 5, Winnipeg, Man.: CoveComm, published February 2009, →ISBN, “Vista” section, page 271:
text: One can appreciate that the ‘politics’ of a world cup match between Iran and the USA is not as significant as their current international confrontation over nuclear issues. Nor would we wish to argue that watching pornography is a political act (sometimes, a cigar is a cigar and a naked woman just that) but in a context where the boundaries of public taste and morality are so heavily and literally policed, refusals to accept those definitions can take on political meanings.
ref: 2010, Annabelle Sreberny, Gholam Khiabany, “The Politics of and in Blogging”, in Blogistan: The Internet and Politics in Iran (International Library of Iranian Studies; 18), London; New York, N.Y.: I.B. Tauris, published 2011, →ISBN, page 47:
text: While anal sexuality is socially unacceptable, phallocentric sexuality was, before the ban on tobacco advertising, openly linked with cigarettes, cigars and the lovingly polished car. The director might secretly have hoped that despite his artistic efforts the sexual component of an advertisement would be ignored (sometimes a cigar is a cigar) in the interests of truth.
ref: 2010, Dennis Friedman, “Image Makers”, in An Unsolicited Gift: Why We Do What We Do, London: Arcadia Books, published July 2011 (2nd edition), →ISBN, page 103:
text: It took decades, but eventually Freud’s theories lost their grip. Not every dream is a subconscious journey through a dark tunnel of sexually repressed neuroses. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar—not a phallic symbol.
ref: 2011, William J. Birnes, Joel Martin, “The Subconscious, Relativity, Surrealism, and the Paranormal”, in The Haunting of Twentieth-Century America, New York, N.Y.: Forge, →ISBN, page 185:
text: But we doubt that any of these individuals are influenced by such logical considerations. Instead, they are all likely to be subject to the human weakness so well described by the biblical mote and beam conceit: They are blind to the very same defects in themselves which they are quick to point out in others. A word of warning: Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. It is possible that one partner is domineering/stingy/unstable while the other is not. As with other sayings, one has to differentiate between myth and reality.
ref: 2012, Daniela Kramer-Moore, Michael Moore, “It’s not the same thing”, in Destructive Myths in Family Therapy: How to Overcome Barriers to Communication by Seeing and Saying – A Humanistic Perspective, Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, part II (Saying – The Power of Words), chapter 7 (Inequality, or What Can You Expect from a Man?), “Spousal Equality” section, page 122:
text: “[…] You need GPS to tell you what you . . . ?” / “It makes me feel like there’s someone else in the car, okay?” She cuts me off. / “But you're not the only one in the car. I might be three-fifths of a person in North Carolina but . . .” / “You're never in the car with me . . . even when you're in the car with me.” There’s a silence that is about as long as it is uncomfortable. “You can let some things slide, you know. Sometimes a cigar is a cigar. Besides, I think Mr. T is charming.” I got nothing. “Are you mad?”
ref: 2012, H. Valencia, “Deeper than Atlantis”, in As Long As the Blue Canary Sings, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 46:
glosses: Alternative form of sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.