August 27, 2002

12:27 PM

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)
posted by ao4047 (40 comments total)

If this backfires, the scandal will be called "Conju-gate".

You think Bush or Cheny picked the background music for the site?
posted by Shadowkeeper at 12:31 PM on August 27, 2002

Verb to your mother.
posted by Dean King at 12:34 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by omidius at 12:37 PM on August 27, 2002

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

Finally.
posted by sj at 12:37 PM on August 27, 2002

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."
posted by soyjoy at 12:40 PM on August 27, 2002

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

Oops.
posted by junkbox at 12:40 PM on August 27, 2002

I think enlisting in the War Against Terror would be a great way to burn those extra pounds.
posted by ao4047 at 12:41 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 12:42 PM on August 27, 2002

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!
posted by NedKoppel at 12:44 PM on August 27, 2002

wait, wait, wait.... i thought it was: "verb! it's what's happening!"
posted by grabbingsand at 12:47 PM on August 27, 2002

Man, that site manages to be both hip and rad!*


*this comment brought to you by the years 1980-1989.
posted by ColdChef at 12:50 PM on August 27, 2002

"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."
posted by ColdChef at 12:52 PM on August 27, 2002

So now we know what Bush is doing with all that time in the oval office.
posted by slipperywhenwet at 1:02 PM on August 27, 2002

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

Word up!
posted by gottabefunky at 1:03 PM on August 27, 2002

Intransitive verb: it's what does not take a direct object.
posted by alou73 at 1:15 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:19 PM on August 27, 2002

"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.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:24 PM on August 27, 2002

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?
posted by illusionaire at 1:34 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by alumshubby at 1:37 PM on August 27, 2002

"LETS ROLL!"

My government has hit rock bottom. I am soooo depressed.
posted by Wulfgar! at 2:36 PM on August 27, 2002

How about:

"Noun loves you when you're fat!"

"The objective of the adjective is to agitate the obese!"

"Exercise. It's the [expletive]."
posted by kablam at 2:38 PM on August 27, 2002

Wait wait wait, I have one... hmmm...

Adjective: It's what you get called in the hallways.
posted by teradome at 3:14 PM on August 27, 2002

Had Clinton gotten a third term:

Verb to be... All depends on what the word is is.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:28 PM on August 27, 2002

How about

Expletive! It's your response to slogans!
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 3:30 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by oflinkey at 3:32 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by owillis at 3:37 PM on August 27, 2002

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.
posted by aacheson at 4:09 PM on August 27, 2002

Noun: It's what you is

Hilarious. No one's going to beat that one.
posted by jragon at 5:04 PM on August 27, 2002

I'm sorry, what planet did you say this was? I seem to have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
posted by HTuttle at 5:16 PM on August 27, 2002

Bush didn't pull the plug on this campaign. Instead, it's been renamed to Operation HIPS (Health Is Priority Six).
posted by madprops at 6:23 PM on August 27, 2002

Well, there's no way they'd have named this program Get off your ass and put down those pretzels.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:37 PM on August 27, 2002

Don't worry HTuttle - the guide says 'mostly harmless.'
posted by ao4047 at 10:48 PM on August 27, 2002

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".
posted by crasspastor at 1:23 AM on August 28, 2002

crasspastor I don't understand, probably because I'm not American. What's happened to verb?
posted by Summer at 2:11 AM on August 28, 2002

Crass, I think you missed the ever important, "Nazis!"
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 2:37 AM on August 28, 2002

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.'
posted by stuporJIX at 5:41 AM on August 28, 2002

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.
posted by freakystyley at 7:39 AM on August 28, 2002

Does grinding your teeth count?
posted by websavvy at 7:47 AM on August 28, 2002

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...
posted by jennak at 7:58 AM on August 28, 2002

Burb: It's where you live!
posted by kindall at 9:33 AM on August 28, 2002