Tim Blair

dammit, the celebrity knew a word i didn't. thank goodness for dictionary.com...

LMAO!

(I'd like to add a witty comment here, but Ben's statement really needs to stand on its own for maximum effect, so I'll just continue laughing my head off for a few minutes here.)

Pardon my stupidity I didn't know what enervate meant so I checked it out.
Enervate-to deprive of nerve,force or strength,destroy the vigour of,weaken.I thought Ben was a Democrat.
With friends like that......

A bit of charity, guys. "Enervate" is one of those odd words that sounds like it should mean the opposite of what it actually does.

Anyone who caught Ben's performance in "Gigli" ( I think that there are about nine of you) would realise that English is not his first language. At least, I hope it's not.

Ben Affleck.
My family and I jired the "Gigli"video as soon as it was available. The reviews sold it us- "the worse movie during last 10 years". It didn't disappoint. Affleck is a loser. He hasn't had a good movie since "Good Will Hunting". The guy is a one hit wonder and everything else have been duds. He is a dud..

Enervate, energize...hey he was close. Started out strong but stumbled in the second half of the word. Or, considering that it was Kerry he was talking about, perhaps he was making a very astute observation.

Off-Topic but interesting:

Moore vs. O'Reilly (The O'Reilly Factor)

I enjoy watching the O'Reilly factor not for the intellectual stimulation, rather just to see Bill give it to the left whingers.

Here is a transcript of the Mike Moore and Bill O'Reilly interview from last week. Moore comes off looking fairly ordinary in my opinion.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127236,00.html

Randal Robinson: Or, considering that it was Kerry he was talking about, perhaps he was making a very astute observation.

As Ben Affleck would say - that's the most truthful statement I've ever hearned.

Maybe Margo and Ben should get together. With her grammar and his vocabulary -who knows what might come out?

Yes, enervate is a particularly odd word. I guess if one wants to sound edumacated one should take care to select the most cromulant words.

[The obscene content has been removed and the user banned -- The Management.]

Vitiate that enervation with hebetude.

Enervate - energize, it's all good.

Often these celebrity types use the work "behoove" completely incorrectly (or say "irregardless") and no one bats an eye. I mean, they're celebrities.

My fave was an interview of the Rhyming Rev JJ Jackson when he was asked about his peripatetic lifestyle. Old JJ looked like someone called him a Republican. Man was he pissed: "What you mean by calling me peripotato?". Dope.

Well, this isn't about Ben, but did ya'll see this part in Steyn's piece?

Last year, I was at a Kerry campaign stop in New Hampshire chatting with two old coots in plaid. The Senator approached and stopped in front of us. The etiquette in primary season is that the candidate defers to the cranky Granite Stater's churlish indifference to status and initiates the conversation: "Hi, I'm John Kerry. Good to see ya. Cold enough for ya?" Etc. But Kerry just stood there nose to nose, staring at us with a semi-glare on his face. After an eternity, an aide stepped out from behind him and said, "The Senator needs you to move."

Sheesh. I'm surprised the aid didn't physically pick them up and move them too. What an assbag.

hello Andrea,

could I respectfully request that W's grossout post be deleted? Thank you for considering, Byron

This reminds me of the legendary story of Spessard Holland, who was reported to have told a rural Florida panhandle audience, "When Mr. Pepper, my opponent, went to the University of Florida, he matriculated with the coeds there; as a bachelor, he practiced celibacy, and when his wife lived in New York, it was well known that she was a thespian."

(BTW, the story is probably not true, even though it's been around for years in various versions.)

Ernie- It was made up by a NYT reporter, but it is a funny story.

And yet I heard Ben use the word "scatological" correctly in an interview with O'Reilly.

It's possible he heard it in a movie review of "Gigli."

Ben was trying to hold back the drool while saying this...give the guy a break. It takes a lot to keep his knuckles from dragging on the floor as well.

The only movie I've seen Affleck in is "Shakespeare in Love". Alas, his object failure to afflect an English accent enervated his performance. So did his resemblitude to an American surfer dude generally.

No, wait-- I saw him in "Armageddon", too. That was enervatingly bad (though Liv Tyler's belly was pretty). So my knowledge of Affleck's work is comprised of those two movies. His genius is self-evidentiary.

He needs to stick to poker.

*sigh*

Clearly more evidence that celebrities should be looked at but not listened to.

Sounds like Ben is a perfect addition to Kerry's cadre of intelligentsia advisors. He can offer guidance on acting and vocabulary.

Byron: uh, yeah, that's gross. It will be gone.

Sounds like Ben's angling for a cabinet job in the Kerry administration. Specifically, Secretary of Defenestration.

He was decent in Paycheck, and would have been in Sum Of All Fears, if they'd have stuck to the book.(neo-nazis? WTF? PC hacks.....)

Ben should heed what it says on one of my T-shirts: "ESCHEW OBFUSCATION"

I remember my sister coming home from college and saying that she had met the comedian Jay Mohr and gotten his autograph. I looked at it, and it said, "Hey (sister's name here)! Your really hot! Jay Mohr." Without missing a beat, I said, "It should be your 'y-o-u-apostrophe-r-e'," and handed back the autograph. Kinda mean of me, but it's always fun to push a pin into a celebrity, so-to-speak.

...he went on to say that dating Jennifer Lopez was an emasculating experience.

Dictionary dot com defines - en·er·vate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nr-vt)
tr.v. en·er·vat·ed, en·er·vat·ing, en·er·vates
To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of: “the luxury which enervates and destroys nations” (Henry David Thoreau).

Ah, cmon, I thought W's post was a vulgar-but-witty take on how the Hollywood Left is fellating John Kerry.

Get off Ben's ass! He survived J-Lo, Gigli, and just escaped his latest borderline psychotic squeeze, the one with 2 shoplifting convictions and a restraining order against her ex.

I think Affleck is on to something. The rabid base is turning off moderate and undecided voters. If it were to ratchet down its anti-Bush loathing and far leftist surreality, Kerry might stand a chance this November.

Here's hoping that base stays energized and foaming at the mouth.

Disingenuous mountebanks with their subliminal chicanery! Will my hunger know no satiety?!

You know what other word always screws people up? "Fecund". Because it sounds like "fecal" or "fetid", and because of that ugly-harsh second syllable, people use it to mean "rotting" or "decaying." See it all the time.

(BTW, it means "fertile.")

Hmmmmmm.....it appears to be acceptable to pronounce a word correctly while using it incorrectly (i.e., "enervate") than to pronounce a word differently (not necessarily wrong) while using it correctly (i.e., "nuclear").

Huh? What's wrong here? Oh, wait! A left leaning celebrity made the mistake, not President Bush. Well, that explains everything! Silly me.

A year or two ago, a teacher in Georgia was reprimanded for using the word "niggardly"!

Yes, you are silly Jeffs,

You see, there are now at least two versions of grammer mistakes by the President called "Bushisms". Yet you decide that because we pimp Ben Affleck for using a word incorrectly once, we are bad ones.

Thinking BEFORE writing is often a useful trick.

Samkit,

dammit, the celebrity knew a word i didn't. thank goodness for dictionary.com...

He knew the word but not its meaning.

a couple years ago, i was working at the university of virginia bookstore. ethan hawke had for some reason written a novel, and he was touring colleges to promote it and do readings. local news did an interview with him at my bookstore, during which he described writing a novel as "a very trepidacious experience". me, i had no idea writing was such a terrifying task.

i went to his book reading later and it sucked.

guess it goes to show you should never listen to celebrities, ever.

Hey Darren,

It's "grammar" not "grammer."

I guess that's a Darrenism.

Not only is it "grammar", Darren, we aren't pimping Ben. From dictionary.com:

"Pimp: One who finds customers for a prostitute; a procurer."

God forbid that I would be pimping Ben Affleck. Not only is that illegal, he's an actor, not a gigilo (the two need not always be the same).

Let me also point out that my example was based the extreme ridicule Bush received for his colloquial pronunciations, nothing else. A minor offense by Bush, at most, but certainly run into the ground by the "I HATE BUSH!" (TM) crowd.

Some advice, Darren: "Thinking BEFORE writing is often a useful trick."

And while I am thinking about it, Darren, knock off the hypocrisy. The left makes a big deal of knocking down Bush because of his speech, mannerism, college grades, etc.

So if one of Kerry's sychophants, excuse me, advisors, really pulls a verifiable boner, in public and on record, I hope you'll understand why the non-leftoids go to such pains to mock said camp follower, oops!, advisor.

"[The obscene content has been removed and the user banned -- The Management.]

Posted by: W at August 2, 2004 at 08:25 PM"

Aw man, and I missed it! I hear it was "gross".

Whoops, I made me a mistake!

I said "Not only is it "grammar", Darren, we aren't pimping Ben.....".

What I should have said was:

"Not only is it "grammar", Darren, you aren't pimping Ben. From dictionary.com:

"Pimp: One who finds customers for a prostitute; a procurer."

"God forbid that you would be pimping Ben Affleck. Not only is that illegal, he's an actor, not a gigolo (the two need not always be the same).

Said advice stated above applies to me as well, but not in the sense that Darren noted.

And I spelled "gigolo" wrong, which confirms this was not a Freudian slip.

Before this goes any further, someone explain one thing to me. Does this make Kerry or Ben Affleck the "Enervator Bunny?" (I.e. does Kerry get to keep the bunny suit, or does he have to give it to Ben?)

Darren:

The problem with your argument is that Afleck chose a word based on what he thought it meant, and was completely wrong. What makes this especially amusing (and post-worthy, IMO) is that the word he picked can capably describe Kerry and his campaign -- more so than any word he may have meant to use.

JORG! LOL!

OK, I've stopped laughing....

How about "Enervator Benny"?

"Enervator Benny" -- I love it! He keeps on droning, and droning, and droning...

BTW, the pronunciation of "nuclear" as "nucular" isn't a Bushism -- it's a Southernism. Jimmy Carter, who actually has a degree in "nucular" physics, pronounced it that way all the time. But did the press ever say anything? Of course not!

Ken Summers: yeah, it was gross, and totally pointless, but worst of all -- it wasn't funny.

Mary in LA:

What, the media and the left would ride Jimmah Cartah, Former President of the Yew-nited States of American, and Savior of Western Civilization, for his speech patterns? Why, for heavens sake?

[/sarcasm off]

Mary--

Carter does not, in fact, have a degree in nucular anything. He doesn't rush to correct that misconception, however, any more than John Kerry was eager to correct references to his being Irish...

Time for a pedantic moment: Carter was a "boomer" (a submarine officer), and worked on the designs of the first nuclear submarines under Admiral Rickover. He doesn't have a degree in nuclear physics, but he certainly studied for the equivalent of one.

Source: Naval Historical Center.

Otter - not sure what his specific degree was but, Carter did graduate with an engineering degree from Annapolis and served on board nuclear submarines. He also did some graduate work in nuclear physics. Not that I want to be carrying water for the worst president of the latter half of the 21st century but, you can't take everything away from the man.

All - on Affleck, I hesitate to join in the fun. The times I've seen Affleck speak, he has been polite and earnest. He may not be the brightest bulb in the drawer but, I haven't heard him making the kind of mean-spirited remarks of most of our Hollywood intellectualoids. I can't stand those a-holes and, I'm not going to stoop to their level unless it's deserved. Has anyone out there actually seen Affleck being a turd?

'scuse me - latter half of the 20th century.

Reid, it's not as much of Affleck being a turd (I actually liked a couple of his movies), but this "celebrity stamp of approval" that Kerry is digging for.

While everyone is entitled to an opinion (and many celebrities offer opeinons, whether we want them or not), success in profession "A" does not necessarily mean expertise in subject "B".

People who use their celebrity status to further the cause of a political objective are (IMHO) suspect. Two extreme examples are Vanessa Redgrave and Al Franken. Kerry is going whole hog on this, as the star studded attendance of the DNC demonstrated.

If Affleck is going to use his celebrity status for this cause, the least he can do is to act intelligent. He is an actor, after all!

And while it's not morally or ethically wrong for Ben Affleck to support Kerry, Affleck certainly has put his butt up there on the flagpole, making him subject to praise and ridicule in equal amounts.....like any other celebrity.

Well, Jeff, to each his own. But, I'm going to save my venom for true cretins like Babs and Linda Ronstadt and Alec Baldwin, etc...

Point taken, Reid. Affleck isn't as looney as others. But given the company Affleck is keeping, one has to wonder how far he is willing to go.

Jeez JeffS: Now you've put pictures in my head. I'm seeing Alec Baldwin, Barbra Streisand, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, P Diddy all dressed up in pink bunny pajamas like those godawful one in the great movie "A Christmes Story" (from the Playboy story by Jean Shepherd)-- the ones with footies and a hood with big floppy ears- droning and droning and droning. I may not be able to sleep tonite.

God forbid that I would be pimping Ben Affleck. Not only is that illegal, he's an actor, not a gigilo (the two need not always be the same).

hey Hey HEY! RJ. We already have one gigilo in this election, an' Ben ain't it!

Jorg, how about a bunch of Oompa Loompa's prancing around the Chocolate Factory? Will that image help you sleep?

Celebrities.. We all need them, cos without 'em there'd be no one to laugh at. Having said that, that comment is pretty funny.

Actually, Affleck and Kerry are using each other, in a true symbiosis. Kerry wants to use Affleck's celebrity glitter to give his campaign some shine, and Affleck wants to use Kerry as his "in" into politics. He has, after all, commented that he might follow Arnold Schwarzenegger's example and run for office someday soon. So, if Affleck a full-blown turd? No. That's for later, when he's a full-blown politician.

Rebecca, do you mean to say that Kerry and Affleck are political parasites? Don't worry, no one here will scoff at the notion.

Just don't go into any sort of Kerry/Affleck "hive mind" or "mass mind", please. My lunch hour is coming up.

I agree with the poster above, he comports himself with some class and restraint. He's a likable guy. But he's still a himbo. And his choice of women up to now screams "drama", "chaos" and "alcoholic."

Still, he will be John Kerry's son-in-law within one year.

Dave S:

"...And his choice of women up to now screams "drama", "chaos" and "alcoholic."

Still, he will be John Kerry's son-in-law within one year."

In spite of Ben's taste in women, or because of it?

It's possible that our good friend Ben might be saying, "innervate?" Not exactly right on, but closer than "enervate."

Innervate - To stimulate (a nerve, muscle, or body part) to action.

Yo: no, it's not. Please remember who we are discussing here.

Max the envelope.

Sorry to ruin the party, but enervate and innervate are two words that sound the same, but have opposite meanings. They should be written not spoken because of the risk of confusion, but if he knew scatological, I suspect Ben meant innervate.

How could the wordmeister Steyn miss that one?

Still, there's no logical explanation for Kerry's "Help is on the whey" slogan.

Ben might have meant "innervate", but the published version is "enervate". Check out the Boston Herald.

If he wants to be political, Ben needs to realize the price of being up there on the flag pole.

Party on!

Don't y'all know ya shouldn't use a big word when a picayunish one will do as well?

While i am as willing as the next guy to give Ben a pass, he has been pretty nasty in the past.

While touring with Ms Fat Cankles (Hillary) in her bid for the NY Senate seat, Ben said of her opponent, Rick (Lazy) Lazio: He's the type of guy who wd say - No Irish allowed. Of course Rick is a first generation Italian American and he married a comely lass from Ireland. However Ben was on a roll..as it were.