Reading Vibe in case I want to write more for them after they took my Jesse Jackson piece last month, I picked up some nice new language that I can use in my own life, like Lil Mama's remark about why people hate on her so much: "I'm too 'hood for the good and too good for the 'hood." (Not to mention Yung Berg's explanation of why he produces his own music: "I've got to ride my own dick.")

Now I've contracted with Roadracing World to cover a vintage motorcycle race in Birmingham, Ala. in October. I'm leafing through a sample issue of that fine magazine to get a sense of the style.

The news items are … on the grisly side:

"Surgery to reconstruct racer Lee Acree's left lower leg and restore blood supply using an artery and tissue transplanted from his abdomen was successfully completed June 21 …. John Hokins underwent successful surgery July 7 to repair damage ot his fractured ankle, leg and knee  …. The family of the late teen racer Connor La France is planning a memorial 5K Run/Walk …. La France, 14, died after a crash at Barber Motorsports Park ….."

… in Birmingham, Ala.

I'm starting to question the wisdom of my "trackside" campsite.

Shel Holtz is blogging lately about his new book, Tactical Transparency, due out in November.

Along the way, he discusses a marketer who blathers to the effect that it's not "transparent" to sell products one is not "passionate" about.

Passionate. Marketers throw this term around a lot. What, when we're talking about fiber-optic networks or re-insurance or even all-natural fruit juice, does "passionate" really mean?

I remember when I was trying to get an employee communication consultancy off the ground, hawking $30,000 communication audits door to door. The agency's principal always told our prospects that the difference between us and our competitors, aside from the fact that we charged $70,000 less, was that we were truly "passionate" about employee communication, implying that the others were simply out to make a buck.

I hope I didn't actually use the P word myself, but I know I nodded in agreement when the principal told how passionate we were about employee communication. And had a client asked me why I was so hot and moist about employee communication, I would have been prepared to answer in 15 seconds, 30 seconds, two minutes or five minutes.

What would be much more true is that I'm "interested" in employee communication, and appreciate its potential to make organizations better places to work and easier operations to manage. I have also fitted my interest in employee communication into my political and personal philosophies (and vice versa). To me, employee communication is an agreeable field of study.

But to say I'm "passionate" about employee communication? I can't do it with a straight face, and I guess I don't quite trust anyone who can.

Marketers see it this way, business consultants show CEOs this kind of stuff and HR and training goons think it amounts to this.

Can anybody explain why internal communication is so badly misunderstood?