Q: (Reader)

I’ve been seeing a commercial for AT&T Wireless, which is part of a series that shows people and their doubles. The person is clueless because he or she doesn’t have AT&T Wireless and the double tells us what the person is missing out on because of missed calls.

Anyway, the commercial I am interested in shows a fan of the band Motörhead who is missing out on concert tickets because his friends can’t get through to him. The double calls the guy a “dill weed,” which surprised me because it sounds a lot like a similar term that starts with a different word — one of those words you can’t say on television, or prime-time network television, anyhow.

Was this done on purpose, in the same way that you hear characters on TV shows call each other “asshat”? I remember that Sipowicz on “NYPD Blue” used to have a repertoire of words he used that sounded very much like dirty words but weren’t.

A: (Stuart Elliott)

The commercials for AT&T Wireless are created by BBDO Worldwide, part of the Omnicom Group, so I sought a response to your question, dear reader, from Susan Credle, who is the executive creative director at BBDO New York.

The word “dill weed” is “an example of the classic W. C. Fields ‘Godfrey Daniel’ comedy technique that has been used for decades,” Ms. Credle writes in an e-mail message, in that “words used in a different context take on a new meaning.”

“ ‘Dill weed’ has been used in the past to this effect,” Ms. Credle says. “The name of a green leafy herb shouted toward a person suddenly becomes an insult and yet by definition remains innocent (dill weed: n. any of several plants of the carrot family; especially: a European herb (Anethum graveolens) with aromatic foliage and seeds both of which are used in flavoring foods and especially pickles).”

“Rosemary, sage and thyme, while also herbs, when shouted toward a person are not funny,” she adds.

There is a term for this word play, which I found while noodling around on Wikipedia: minced oath, meaning an expression based on a profanity that has been changed to reduce its potential offensiveness. Examples include gosh, darn and “Godfrey Daniel,” the W. C. Fields coinage, as well as blimey, which was a minced oath for “May God blind me,” and dork, which seems to be a substitute for the same word that “dill” substitutes for in “dill weed.”

The mincing of oaths in the mainstream media has even inspired the creation of a word, bleep, which can be a noun or a verb or even an adjective. I recently wrote an article for The New York Times about the use of the bleep in commercials, which pays tribute to its increasing use in the programs that the commercials interrupt.

Q: (Reader)

This is re the new Hästens ad campaign you wrote about in the June 2 newsletter. I liked this ad the first time I saw it, when a high-heeled-clad Sophie Dahl sprawled naked for (God bless his soul) Yves St. Laurent’s Opium perfume.

The ad caused quite a stir and was pulled from a number of prominent publications. Tom Ford, creative director for the ad, told Women’s Wear Daily at the time, “I wanted someone who looks like she’s had too much of everything: too much food, too much sex, too much love ... a woman who doesn’t deny herself anything.”

So are we to assume that the Hästens muse is getting too much sleep?

So many questions.

So little clothing.

And even less originality.

A: (Stuart Elliott)

Thanks, dear reader, for your observations. I took a look online at the ads for Opium and would have to agree there is some resemblance between them and the Hästens ads.

Ms. Dahl, however, appears to be wearing even less clothing than the Hästens muse. And Ms. Dahl seems to be on the ground while her Hästens counterpart is floating in mid-air.

So is it a case of copycatting? Or just that certain themes recur again and again in advertising? We may not know the answer until someone tries to sell beds that, when you lie down on them, emit the scent of perfume.

Webdenda

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Carnival Cruise Lines, Miami, named two agencies owned by Havas to handle its account, with spending estimated at $70 million to $80 million. Arnold Worldwide, Boston, will handle the creative duties as well as direct marketing, design and digital assignments. The Boston office of MPG will handle the media planning and buying duties. Cooper DDB, Coral Gables, Fla., part of the DDB Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group, had handled the bulk of the account.

Cenergy Communications, East Aurora, N.Y., reorganized into four divisions and eliminated its client services department, assigning those duties to the account directors of the new divisions. They are: Kate Boehn, cable and entertainment; Matt Goldman, retail; and Amy Pecoraro, packaged goods. An account director for the fourth division, sports and life style, is being sought; John Cimperman, principal, is temporarily leading it until someone is hired.

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