I’m late to this party. What party? The party that is the book Shtuff My Dad Says. (No, that’s not the title. Yes, we all know the real title. Yes, we know the title uses some of the letters of shtuff and an appropriately placed asterisk. No, I’m not going to go there.) How late? Well, the book was published last year, the blog posts started well before that, and the situation comedy of the same name premiered (and disappeared) in the 2010 fall season.

If you have trouble with certain words that people use (words that require multiple asterisks), you will have problems with this book. And that is a shame, because this is a very funny and, surprisingly, thought-provoking book.

Monday I posted a blog about auditors’ seeming inability to say what they mean. Well, here is an excellent example of a man who doesn’t worry about what others think — laying it out for all to see.

That is the first lesson this book has for all us auditors out there.

But the phrases themselves are the real lessons, whether in context or (for purposes of our discussion) out of context. And, if you think about it, they actually apply to internal audit. Following are some (cleaned up) examples:

Let me end with this thought. My original intent was to give deep insights on each of these – how they might apply to internal audit and to professionalism. In fact, an original draft included such explanations. But I think it’s better to take a look and make your own conclusions. In fact, I’d be interested in your thoughts on how these might apply. Feel free to use the comments below.