Just yesterday:

• I read where the CEO of the grocery chain A&P plans to "deleverage" the company's Canadian operation. That's right: sell it.

• I read in an employee publication of a new buzzword that appears to be making the rounds in at least one workplace: "fierce conversation." It's a good thing, according to the publication: "to communicate directly and candidly."

• And I heard a Chicago alderman quote another Chicago alderman on why one scandal after another is erupting in the City That Works despite the best efforts of our well-paid Inspector General's Office. The alderman said the alderman said of the inspector himself, "I don't know whether his job is to clean up or cover up. But in either case, he's not doing his job."

I sometimes wonder what people who don't think about words all the time do think about.