I Approve This Message

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Liz. I’m calling from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Well, hello, Liz. Welcome to the program.

Thank you. Well, I have noticed in this political season that every time I hear a political ad on television, at the end the candidate comes on and says, I approve this message.

And every time I hear it, it doesn’t sound right to me, but I can’t figure out why.

I think I want to hear them say, I have approved of the content of this message, or I approve of this message, but…

Or this message wasn’t so great.

Or this message is a big fat lie.

Now that’s what I want to see on this.

There you go.

And I, you know, talk this over with friends, and some of them have said, oh, no, that sounds right.

And then a lot say, no, it doesn’t sound right, but I don’t know why.

And we thought maybe you could help explain whether it’s right or wrong.

Now, Liz, are you saying that what grates on your ears is, in the present tense, I approve this message?

You know, tense may have something to do with it.

If they say it in the present tense, it sounds like, oh, I just heard that for the first time.

I approve that.

Exactly.

You know what I mean?

And maybe that’s what bothers me.

But I’m also trying to figure out is there some sort of grammatical rule that would explain why it doesn’t sound right.

I don’t know about a rule.

To me, I approved this message sounds less weird.

And I’ve been thinking about why that might be.

And I think one reason is that there are a couple of different meanings of approve.

There’s we approve of our daughter’s boyfriend, which is different.

It’s like you’re expressing heartfelt support and you say approve of.

But you would also say the city council approved the stadium.

They passed something that would allow the stadium to be built.

I think there’s a difference there.

And I miss that of in there.

Well, when I’m hearing it in the political ads, they are not saying approved with a D on the end.

No.

They’re just saying I approve.

Yeah, and I think that’s what’s so weird, and I think it’s partly because if you use that second sense of approve, that is, put your stamp on, then you’re not used to hearing that in the first person.

You’re used to hearing it, the council approved this, but you don’t usually hear I approve that.

But that’s not the sense they’re using necessarily, right?

Is it because it’s a combo of these two senses?

The politician’s approval is an ongoing event.

It is not a one-time event.

They continue to approve of the message or approve it.

Well, I would think that the person signed off on the message.

And so, to me, past tense would make more sense.

Do you know what I mean?

I agree because you wouldn’t say, I sign off this message.

Right, I signed off.

I signed off on this message.

Right, so maybe that’s not the sense that they’re meaning then.

Maybe they are meaning it in the sense of, I approve of a boyfriend.

But they aren’t putting the of in there.

Exactly. That’s what she’s saying, is that the of isn’t there.

Very interesting.

I approve of this message.

But it’s so directly tied to elections and has been for a number of election cycles that I don’t think we’re likely to escape it.

Well, you know, it occurred to me the other night that it could just be economics.

If they’re paying a million dollars for 60 seconds, they don’t have a time to say, I approve of the content of this message.

Yeah, that little preposition costs a lot, right?

But this came about because of legal requirements, right?

Having to acknowledge who the campaign itself was responsible for the ad and not some pack.

Right, right.

The Campaign Reform Act of 2002, I think.

But I think that it sounds more authoritative if you say I approve this message.

I think that’s more like the city council approved the stadium.

But approve of this message seems to me more heartfelt or something.

Interesting.

I wonder if we can find election ads where they have said approved, where somebody thought about this instead of just borrowing the message from somebody else.

Because that’s the thing.

They all sound the same.

I think there have been.

And I know when George Bush was running, his messages in Spanish were definitely past tense.

Aprobé.

Very interesting.

So I don’t know if it’s a conscious choice by the politicians or more likely their handlers or what.

But I agree with you.

It sounds weird to my ear, Liz.

Interesting.

Well, this is a great question, and I bet we hear more about this, so we approve of your bringing it to us, Liz.

Well, thanks so much, and I certainly enjoy talking with you about it, and we’ll love to hear other people’s ideas about it.

Me too. Thanks, Liz.

I bet we do.

All righty.

Thank you.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

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