# "I approve this message." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 7, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909 "2008-10-07T21:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/41 "2008-10-19T06:17:54Z")
> [@monster](#): > > I didn’t know this was required by law, but I still hate the commercials where the candidate just talks straight to the camera about his policies, and then ends with, “I’m so and so and I approve this message” Really? No shit? You approve the words that just came out of your mouth? > > This type of message should be excepted simply because it gets on my nerves! 😛 I think you’ve got a point there; I agree with “Authorised by…” messages where the candidate themselves isn’t actually in the ad (Think the “_You don’t change horses in mid-stream_” ads from _Wag The Dog_), but it seems a bit daft to have Senator Noteworthy doing a spiel on how, if elected El Presidente, he will give everyone a free kitten or puppy, and then finish with a statement to the effect that he- the person who’s been on the front page of every paper in the country for months and appears on CNN every time he opens a bottle of soft drink- is Senator Noteworthy and he approves the message he’s just spoken. Here in Australia all Government ads have an “Authorised By (State/Commonwealth) Government, (Capital City)” thing at the end, along with the names of anyone who actually spoke in the ad. I like the accountability aspect of it but I really don’t see how having “Spoken by F. Bloggs and J. Smith” adds any useful information to the proceeedings. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/42 "2008-10-20T01:58:55Z")
> [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](#): > > Thank you for sayin’ it right, t’least. 🙂 Yeah, I was gonna say. Unless the candidate is from Pittsburgh, where the dishes need done and the dog needs walked, it should be “I approve OF this message.” But go figure, my bad, anymore people talk like this and I could care less. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/43 "2008-10-20T02:06:16Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Yeah, I was gonna say. Unless the candidate is from Pittsburgh, where the dishes need done and the dog needs walked, it should be “I approve OF this message.” > > But go figure, my bad, anymore people talk like this and I could care less. Uh, no, ‘approve’ can be a transitive verb. You can approve something or approve of it. And now ‘approve’ does not look or sound like a word. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909/44 "2008-10-20T06:35:16Z")
That’s silly, **Rilchiam**. To “approve” something means to vet it and declare it acceptable. To “approve of” something means to have some vague good feeling about it. Like most prescriptivist claims, this one is wide off the mark. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-approve-this-message/466909.md?page=2)