One mostly finished bathroom renovation later, some lingering thoughts ...

The subject of inappropriate speech made news in recent months when Gordon Gee became The President Demeritus of The Ohio State University and (former?) cooking celebrity Paula Deen scared away some supporters, both having disconnected their mouths from their brains.

Gee and Dean may have misspoken, but some communicators know exactly what they're doing when they resort to offensive speech to make their audience sit up and take notice. As I've noted before, the danger is that listeners may focus less on what one says than on how one says it.

For advertisers, of course, any impression they can make on their target audience is valuable, even if it's a bad impression -- which is why they also are incorporating off-color material into their messages. Even if we disapprove of the message we may still remember the product. That's all the marketeers really care about.

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I certainly take notice when WCPN urges me to support the NPR affiliate with a Planned Gift -- "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"