I am what I say I am

[AlexAD]

Hi, there.
Given the phrase above I have absolutely no idea what they were going to say :). Could you please help with that.

Thank you, for your reply.

[Raymott]

Hi, there.
Given the phrase above I have absolutely no idea what they were going to say :). Could you please help with that.

Thank you, for your reply.

what = that which. "I am that which I say I am".
I say that I am a teacher, I am a teacher. -> I am what I say I am.

I say that I'm a pork pie. I am not a pork pie. -> I'm not what I say I am.

[AlexAD]

We can't omit I am at the end? That would be I am what I say ?

[freezeframe]

We can't omit I am at the end? That would be I am what I say ?

We can, but then it means something else.

"I am what I say" means that what I say defines who I am. So, for example, if I say a lot of racist things, I'm a racist.

Compare: "you are what you do".


Side note

There is a well known line in the Bible: "I am who I am"

In Russian this is rendered as,

Бог сказал Моисею: Я есмь Сущий.

[AlexAD]

Thank you for a russian translation. Seems that I can't understand that phrase being thinking in English. To be honest, I can't clearly understand that despite the fact I'm having translation to my mother tongue.
May be if I look at that some time later, it can help me...

[BobK]

Perhaps the old joke* about the Russian translation of 'The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak' has a grounding in fact - that some things are impossible to think about in one's mother tongue.

b

*PS 'The vodka is good but the meat is raw.'