what with it being ... and all

[Shenfeng]

Hey there,

what kind of a construct is this?

I would normally drop the "what" and say 'with it being ... and all' which actually sounds more correct to me.
But I guess it's a colloquial thing where the 'what' is just added without having a function at all. Would you agree?

Here are some examples I found on the web:

Your grandmother would have hated this. Sure. What with it being her funeral and all.

This is the season for making lists, and this year more than most, what with it being the end of the decade and all.

Either way I assume a plastic OIL container will be fine then, what with it being designed for oil and all.

This is something I've been thinking about for a while, what with it being my birthday and all.

I guess this is more something you say than something you use in writing, but then again, at least on the web, you get a lot of hits 'googling' it.

 

[Tdol]

In many examples you could get rid of it without losing anything, but it does help make it clear, especially if there are other prepositions around, etc.

 

[Shenfeng]

Thank you,

that explains it for me.

Does anybody know what this phenomenon is called grammatically?