whoa. I'd be tempted to quick right now Steve. Can it possibly get any funnier than this. I have skinny, decaf caramel latte coming out my nose.

Steve - One of the strengths of your blog is that it's an expression of an integrated personality. You really do see things in your work the same way you see them outside work. You're always the same Steve. It no longer surprises me - though I continue to observe it - that some people who are one way outside of work are a different way at work.

As an example, people who would think nothing of watching a movie with explicit sex scenes or use sexually explicit language outside of work,as I do, become this other person - this proper bluenose - at work.

As I wrote in a post to an earlier blog, that fear of intimacy creates the divided sensibility, which results in neurosis, and can show itself in sometimes harmful or destructive ways, to the individual and to others.

I think the example you cite from Cox is simply referred sexual inhibition, mis-directed or as marketing. And it can only be countenanced with the tacit consent of a power structure. My experience has been that misdirected power (the anti-thesis of service) can often show itself as misdirected sexuality (the anti-thesis of intimacy). You can cite your own corporate or political scandal here - we've seen powerful men at the highest levels involved in damaging sexual conduct in recent memory, in politics and business, and, no doubt, in personal life.

So I applaud you for making it public, Steve. Humor is the great resolver of conflict. The suckers aren't offensve to me, simply too obvious, like a fart joke in an adolescent cartoon, and therefore not funny; your writing about them, putting them within the context of humor, is funny - very funny. (Like the episode of "Seinfeld" where Jerry complains to the priest that his dentist's conversion to Judaism so he can tell jokes offends Jerry: not as a Jewish person, but as a comedian.)

This stuff can only go on behind a veil of secrecy, and I've always hoped, and often said, that simply stating private outgrages publicly will help to right our social compass. And nothing heals like humor.

Very courageous and well-written blog entry, Steve. Well done. Good journalism, too: an accurate and readable account with anlaysis of a public event. Keep it up (bishop and actress joke here).

Patrick

After reading that, you just sit here thinking I just know I've heard of some bad committee names or some promotion that can be a double entendre, but the mind is just blank. Nope, can't beat it. Think I'll call my friends at Cox, (insert punchline here.)

Kevin - It'll come to you.

Larry Ragan used to give this great writing workshop, and when he was showing people how to write good headlines, he'd throw in some humorous examples - like the ones on the back page of the Columbia Journalism Review. The one that always brought down the house was: "Sisters of Charity Open Doors to Lay Associates."

Couple weeks back, Steve's blog was about religion. Now, we on to sex. If we keep the humor going, we'll penetrate to this need for honest intimacy eventually.

What does it say about someone (me) when they appreciate the deep insight of Patrick Williams as much as they enjoy laughing out loud at the phrase "Cox suckers"? Hopefully, it means they have a well-balanced life.

Patrick, I think you're really on to something when you talk about the lack of -- and fear of -- intimacy among people in the workplace.

I don't have a blog, but tomorrow (Tuesday 8/8/06), my weekly column is about a related subject: how we're more connected than ever but also lonelier than ever. Check it out. The column is called "Communication at Work" and it's on www.richmond.com.

And now I'm going to laugh some more at "Cox suckers."

I'll check it out, Robert. I think many of these issues - humor, religion, sex, intimacy, informality in dress and language, diversity in life style - come under a general umbrella I call "workplace spirituality." I'd like to see Ragan get on board with a newsletter and conference, maybe some teleseminars and webinars.

What do you think?

Patrick

Well, if Kevin can't think of any bad committee names, I can. We have an Environmental Advisory Team and we also have a Safety and Health Advisory Team. I'll let you figure out the acronyms for those.

Greetings, Steve. It's Rebecca here, wife of Patrick. Given the Cox-related posts, I figure the time is right to tell about the promotion for a family reunion, my mother's side (last name: Dicks), in Minneapolis - oh - about 20 years ago.

A smart, well-intentioned cousin who took on all the reunion headaches sent the invitations with the following headline:

"Come to the Big Dicks Family Reunion"

- to which my ex-husband responded, "Geez, is it okay if I come, too?"

Rebecca

I am re-telling someone else's story here, but its a good one I think.

Tim Allen (of the famous "Men are Pigs" stand up act, and, of course, "Home Improvement") wrote a book some years back, where he mentions his real last name was, in fact, Dick.

This led to all manner of hilarity in High School of course, but his favorite was when he was asked "What is your sister's name - Anita?"

In line with Neruda's story (and Rebecca's) about the family name of Dicks - there is a family by that name in my hometown. The son's name was Nick and their daughter's name was Fonda.

Good one at the end of "Meet the Parents," too, where Robert DiNiro observes that if his daughter marries Greg, her name will be "Pam Martha Focker."

Here, one is led to an inevtiable question: Was it for this level of discourse that the founders of our profession - Larry Ragan, Roger D'Aprix, et al. - labored for decades to establish the modern practice?

Steve - just got the promo for your masters class in London in October. Best wishes.

I recall that when the actress Julie Andrews was on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show many years back, she observed that, in England, "Knock me up" means "Wake me up," as in "Knock me up at at nine."

Also: over there, a "banger" is a sausage.

FYI

And a fag is a cigarette.

Should we really be sending Steve over there all by his onesie?

Steve in a onesie. That's it, folks. That's the only visual image I was able to extract from that last Neruda post.

Thanks SN for that image-to-not-leave-my-head-all-day.

Now, now, that was just a movie reference - a line from the first Pirates movie that I love dearly. When Capt Jack is convincing Will to stay, he says he cant pull the ship into port "all by me onesie, savvy?"

Full apologies for any unintended imagery!

And, in the fall, Steve, to them, "football" will mean "soccer." "Soccer" is an un-American "sport" in which the "athletes" are not allowed to use their arms or hands. It's not really a sport at all; it's more of a recreational activity, like golf or cribbage.

Also: They call french fries "chips."

The logic of this is inpenetrable to me.

I believe, though I haven't researched this, that there's also a national "Church of England" headquartered in Canterbury, and a system of "government" with both a monarchy and a consitutional parliament. Not sure I've got my facts straight here.

Better look it up before you go - don't want to represent the U.S. and Chicago as a bunch of backwards cowboys. The current occupant's got that covered.

So... who's gonna knock Steve up in time for his morning banger and fag?

Steve - I had a FABULOUS time with you in San Diego. No fags...no bangers...just a very informative and insightful seminar - with your wonderful sense of humor! You and Jim did great all by your little onesies! :0)

Allen still can't believe I got paid to go be in your seminar. He thought I had way too much fun!

I just realized, talking about Steve's upcoming trip to London, that no one has mentioned Spotted Dick, an English favorite. You can even get Spotted Dick in a can. Actually, it's a pudding with dried fruit, usually currants. Spotted refers to the currants (which resemble spots), and Dick is a corruption of the word dough.

Steve is going to have so much fun in London just discussing the fine points of language.

Steve,
To prepare yourself for communicating in a foreign language, i.e., British English, check out this thread on one of my fav travel sites, Slow Travel.
http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/6466056284/m/4101007861.
It's a game the forum members are playing comparing British to American words and phrases.

It could keep you out of trouble, but given your history, more likely you will use it to make trouble. Bravo. I still remember the expression on my maiden aunt's face when I told her I love eating spotted dick.

Susan---your aunt isn't "maiden," she's "long-term relationship challenged."

IMHO of course. =)

Steve,
Regarding British English, one cautionary word, I found this out the hard way: What Americans call a fanny-pack is a verb not a noun in the UK and not something you discuss with your long-term relationship challenged aunt.

Back to the names for a moment...

I actually went to high school with a Mike Hunt. He got paged. A lot. It took the school secretary a full two years to start calling him Michael.

This line of conversation is neither professional nor funny.

Sincerely,

Dick Hertz

Steve: To position your comments: Shaw observed that America and England are two countries separated by a common language. Also: Cleland penned the classic "Fanny Hill."

With every good wish,

Phil McCracken

For Eileen...

http://community.webshots.com/photo/2988486190086533423ljFoPL

Just when I thought it was safe to go in the blogosphere again. I know it's you Neruda. "Mister Neruda, you are no 'Uncle Bob.'" I just got that image out of my mind and there Steve is in all his onesie glory...avert your eyes!

Eileen

The goggles - they do nothing!
Hell, ive seen uglier babies - it will take more than that to scare me away.

And for the record - not guilty!

Great story. By the way, in Australia at least, don't know about the rest of the Brit countries, "rooting" means having sex. Therefore when an American race car driver told the fans it was nice to have all those people in the stands rooting for him, it really got a laugh.

I think you all have been brainwshed. This is probably the smartest PR move in their history. Think about what you are writing!

Somebody evidentally is not very savvy in Public Relations her on this site!