# Keep Fucking That Chicken

By now you have seen Ernie Anastos' on air blooper: [Keep Fucking That Chicken](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdnXYWSa56w). An instant classic. That one brilliant moment in television more than makes up for all the stupid banter between newscasters in the past and for the future. 'KFTC' is sure to be on the list of new phrases for 2009 that will not go away. I, for one, am all for it.

Anastos' joke is well crafted, well executed, but the blunder just hits it out of the ballpark. It leads to a whole scene to makes it one of the top memorable videos. Oh sure he swore on air, not hilarious in itself, but that it slipped as he was trying to finish his joke, his anchorman delivery, the appearance that he did not realize the slip, and the reaction by both the anchorwoman and the weatherman just fit together like a perfect jigsaw puzzle. You can't make this up with such details ([Will Ferrell tried admirably](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoKAcVL_phI)).

> It takes a tough man to make a tender forecast, Nick

First of all, he is making a play on Frank Perdue's [classic advertising slogan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Perdue#Advertising), "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." Plus one for the reference.

> Keep fucking that chicken.

It would seem his punch line was meant to be, "keep plucking that chicken." My understanding is that this means to "keep up the good work". Maybe people are more familiar with, "keep on pluckin'" or "keep on chuggin' away"? It's a good follow up to his Perdue reference. _Fucking_ changes the context but not the meaning in the best way possible. If you treat someone tenderly, you take care of them gently.

> Okay, I'll do that

Nick's response is a nice recovery, tho it appears he may be familiar with making up for [Ernie's gaffs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU6Ji-OOkyM). His "WTF!?!" hand waving is awesome too.

Finally the anchorwoman's face at 8 seconds is just the icing on the cake. You can't ask someone to act out utter surprise and horror like that.

So to everyone out there doing good work, _KFTC!_