This may offend some, though I am not sure whom, but I can guess

I am back. I would like to tell more of my in law stories but something else came to mind. My wife bought some Irish Spring soap and I got to contemplating on that. I know how weird that sounds. Actually, it is more pathetic but then again it really isn't. It is about awareness and how unaware we normally are about many things. I mean who would spend any time thinking about soap? And better yet why?

Here is why. You never know when the most obsequious of commodities may harbour funny ideas. By way of strange example, back in 1986, I actually took a course, while at university, on the basis of joke potential. It was an art history (Modern Art 1876-present) course taught by a Dutch professor. He started by showing slides of the Palace of Versailles, barouque and rococco works. As we were seeing the oppulence of Louis XVI (or was it the XIV, does it really matter?) I was taken by the use of red velour. To me it was not Louis XVI but Louis the Pimp (remember this was a time when pimping was not as easy, but it was good to be the king, unless your head was on the chopping block). See the jokes just flowed from there. The best joke was that this professor would wear the same damn sweater, pilling and all, for a month on end. Every month had a different sweater. January was a black and white stripped thing and February was reddish burgundy, in honor of Valentine's Day, no doubt. March was January again, which was a nice sense of deja vu. Perhaps he only had two sweaters or these were his "Tuesday" sweaters, I do not know. But that is what I mean by finding the funny in a situation.

Back to the soap, as I was lathering up in the shower, I really took a look at the soap. I also remembered the commercials back in the 70s where they would slice into the soap with a pen knife showing the strips of green and white. I was suddenly struck by the fact that it looked like Colgate Palmolive, marketers of Irish Spring, since P&G and I assume CP have outsourced their manufacture of soaps to concentrate on the marketing (value add), had come across a way of fusing those small, worn out pieces of soap (we all have had them) into a "new" bar. I thought that was brilliant.

Do you recall the tag line "Manly yes, but I like it too." That was some good writing. I mean soap for men and women. Strong enough to get rid of man stink but gentle enough for delicate woman stink. Speaking of which, I guess I should bring a bar with me to Mayfair to give to Stinky. You will be happy to know that I have not seen Stinky there for a week. I hope he is okay. I would find it ironic if he should succumb to his own stink.

Anyway, back to Irish Spring. Think about it, the name--IRISH SPRING and it is a deodorant soap. Now, here is where I could offend, but I have to say it. That is something that the Irish are known for, their good hygiene and body odor. I saw "Waking Ned Devine" and the aftermath of St. Patrick's Day and cleanliness and good smelling is far from the first things that pop into my mind when thinking Irish and Irish Spring. That is just me. Ciao.