A colleague told me how much she enjoyed listening to Rancho Cucamonga reporter Wendy Leung (who has since left for breezier pastures in Ventura County) and me volley back and forth from our desks. With that in mind, I scribbled down a recent exchange that will give you an idea of the kind of warped minds at work in a newsroom.

It began when I overheard an editor asking the status of a “Huff piece,” a story on Bob Huff, the state senator. I remarked to Wendy that “Huff piece” sounds a lot like “puff piece,” a derogatory expression for a needlessly flattering story.

Me: “Can one write a puff piece on Huff?”

Her: “Any piece on marijuana is a puff piece.”

Me: “What about a piece on ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’?”

Her: “That’s a puff Puff piece.”

Me: “A piece on a certain school in the Harry Potter series could be a Hufflepuff piece.”

Her: “Only if Hilary Duff is in it.”

It ended there, thankfully for the English language, before we could debate the merits of puff pieces on puff pastry or H.R. Pufnstuf.