Comments on: Comments on 19497

Post number 19497

ao4047 — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:27:50 -0800

The Bush administration announces the slogan for the campaign to combat adolescent obesity: "Verb: It's what you do." I am totally confused. The website suggests I make a paper airplane (PDF) to get started on burning off those fat rolls. (via Slate)

By: Shadowkeeper

Shadowkeeper — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:31:22 -0800

If this backfires, the scandal will be called "Conju-gate". You think Bush or Cheny picked the background music for the site?

By: Dean King

Dean King — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:34:55 -0800

Verb to your mother.

By: omidius

omidius — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:37:02 -0800

Aight, so I'm 8 pounds verbiage, so i thikn i'll verb myself some tennis with a side of "grinding"? To me grinding, is something you do at a club.

By: sj

sj — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:37:56 -0800

And you can do it whenever, wherever, and with whoever you want. (maybe even famous people!) Finally.

By: soyjoy

soyjoy — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:40:29 -0800

Is this a new initiative to name entire Web sites after our president's daily parts-of-speech lessons? Cause that's the only way this seems to make any sense whatsoever. Tomorrow: "PREPOSITION - It's what you shouldn't end a sentence with."

By: junkbox

junkbox — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:40:36 -0800

And I thought those seizure-inducing ads were for teaching grammar. ("Ignorant: It's what you are.") Oops.

By: ao4047

ao4047 — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:41:15 -0800

I think enlisting in the War Against Terror would be a great way to burn those extra pounds.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:42:54 -0800

Oh yeah, I'm gonna verb stuff alright. Right after me and my Smurfs finish Smurfing the Smurfs we Smurfed. And after that, we have to Marklar all the Marklars we Marklared last Marklar.

By: NedKoppel

NedKoppel — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:44:43 -0800

This sentence, no verb. Did anyone click on the "stickers" section? I'm going to put a whole mess of these on my skateboard. Then all the cool kids will think I'm cool, too, because I'll have stickers on my skateboard that I stuck on there with rubber cement, and the stickers will say "VERB: It's What You Do." That'll be really cool. Somebody got PAID to DO THIS! AUGH!

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:47:23 -0800

wait, wait, wait.... i thought it was: "verb! it's what's happening!"

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:50:22 -0800

Man, that site manages to be both hip and rad!* *this comment brought to you by the years 1980-1989.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:52:11 -0800

"Doohickeys and thingamabobs". Talk about having your finger on the pulse of today's youth! I guess if you don't participate, you're a "ne'er do well."

By: slipperywhenwet

slipperywhenwet — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:02:09 -0800

So now we know what Bush is doing with all that time in the oval office.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:03:18 -0800

Gad, what tripe. In the rooftop skater game you can be the Hippie, Raver, Buff, Punk or...Chick. Word up!

By: alou73

alou73 — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:15:15 -0800

Intransitive verb: it's what does not take a direct object.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:19:09 -0800

Moot point anyway. End of the Slate article: President Bush has already pulled the plug on the "Verb: It's what you do" campaign. His 2003 budget doesn't ask for another penny for it.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:24:39 -0800

"President Bush has already pulled the plug on the "Verb: It's what you do" campaign." Yes, he's replacing it with one of his own ideas: Noun: It's what you is.

By: illusionaire

illusionaire — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:34:39 -0800

Am I the only person who thinks that some of the illustrations on the site look a bit obscene? The desktop patterns and the paper plane thumbnails? Or are they just supposed to be representations of our fine leader?

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 13:37:16 -0800

I've gone unemployed for five and a half months as a technical writer; meanwhile, some beltway bandit in DC, or worse yet, somebody actually in the Administration, is coming up with crap like this.

By: Wulfgar!

Wulfgar! — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 14:36:18 -0800

"LETS ROLL!" My government has hit rock bottom. I am soooo depressed.

By: kablam

kablam — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 14:38:17 -0800

How about: "Noun loves you when you're fat!" "The objective of the adjective is to agitate the obese!" "Exercise. It's the [expletive]."

By: teradome

teradome — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:14:52 -0800

Wait wait wait, I have one... hmmm... Adjective: It's what you get called in the hallways.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:28:15 -0800

Had Clinton gotten a third term: Verb to be... All depends on what the word is is.

By: Yelling At Nothing

Yelling At Nothing — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:30:18 -0800

How about Expletive! It's your response to slogans!

By: oflinkey

oflinkey — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:32:38 -0800

Crash- you must stop saying these things. This is the second beverage spill I have had due to you.... although, as an English teacher, I must correct your grammar. Noun: It's what you be.

By: owillis

owillis — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 15:37:19 -0800

Silly government campaigns are hardly the domain of Bush/Cheney, folks. This is the American Government we're talking about here - home of the original insipid idea.

By: aacheson

aacheson — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 16:09:09 -0800

Yes, he's replacing it with one of his own ideas: Noun: It's what you is Oh. My. God. I'm laughing so hard it hurts.

By: jragon

jragon — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 17:04:56 -0800

Noun: It's what you is Hilarious. No one's going to beat that one.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 17:16:58 -0800

I'm sorry, what planet did you say this was? I seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

By: madprops

madprops — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 18:23:39 -0800

Bush didn't pull the plug on this campaign. Instead, it's been renamed to Operation HIPS (Health Is Priority Six).

By: octobersurprise

octobersurprise — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 19:37:55 -0800

Well, there's no way they'd have named this program Get off your ass and put down those pretzels.

By: ao4047

ao4047 — Tue, 27 Aug 2002 22:48:23 -0800

Don't worry HTuttle - the guide says 'mostly harmless.'

By: crasspastor

crasspastor — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 01:23:49 -0800

I'll take the initiative and invoke godwinzlaw. Can we possibly drain another important word of its meaning? Verb, verb, verb. . . --where have I seen that before? Ah yes! A kite. Verb seemed to mean something much more important than a slogan of propaganda before those heady days. Those days before I spied the kite bearing the word VERB. If it's of any interest to anyone, we're fucking fighting a "war" against a verb!!!! What utter anti-intellectual poison comes from this "democracy".

By: Summer

Summer — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 02:11:59 -0800

crasspastor I don't understand, probably because I'm not American. What's happened to verb?

By: Dillonlikescookies

Dillonlikescookies — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 02:37:05 -0800

Crass, I think you missed the ever important, "Nazis!"

By: stuporJIX

stuporJIX — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 05:41:36 -0800

Tomorrow: "PREPOSITION - It's what you shouldn't end a sentence with." Preposition - It's with what you shouldn't end a sentence. Unless you were being ironic, of course. Either way this is probably, in Churchill's words, 'Arrant pedantry up with which I will not put.'

By: freakystyley

freakystyley — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 07:39:54 -0800

About VERB: Blading? Kicking? Grinding? Biking? Dancing? Or is it something else? VERB isn't what you think. It's about doing your thing - or finding a new thing. And you can do it whenever, wherever, and with whoever you want. Who the hell writes this stuff!? What's it supposed to mean!? This "mission statement" is an excercise in ambiguity, just as this campaign is an excercise in futility.

By: websavvy

websavvy — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 07:47:00 -0800

Does grinding your teeth count?

By: jennak

jennak — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 07:58:32 -0800

I've seen the "Verb: it's what you do" commercials for about two months now. I have a pre-teen sister, so she's their target market, I guess. I really liked the commercials, assuming that they're a neo-School House Rock campaign But they're intended to combat obesity?! I would have never guessed. I just thought it was so kids would remember what the hell a verb is over the summer. My favorite kid commercial aimed at obesity was this commercial called "Actual Reality." It started with a kid playing on his Playstation2 and a voice over said, "there's something better than virtual reality -- actual reality." The walls fell away and the kid was now outside on a basketball court. VO: "Feel the ball in your hand because it's actually real!!" Et cetera...

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 09:33:49 -0800

Burb: It's where you live!