A grew up watching / suffering through Andy Rooney’s “A Few Minutes With . . .” on 60 Minutes so . . . have you ever noticed that some public relations people (usually in the UK) use “PR” as a verb or a gerund?

“Let’s PR this,” they’ll say, or, “That was a good job of PRing that issue.”

Hearing that makes me uncomfortable, and here’s why. Using PR as a verb is like using the word “spin.” It suggests something that’s somehow different from reality or even the truth.

Call me old school, but I stand by the notion that public relations people provide truthful information. “PRing” something suggests something deceitful, and I would never want to be accused of that – nor ever have I been.

Similarly, when someone says something is “just PR,” I take exception. Our industry should continue to be built on telling the truth and acting ethically. If people on the outside of the profession refer to PR that way, it’s troubling. But when PR professionals denigrate what they do by talking about “PRing” something, we only bolster the stereotype.

I think that most advertising is acceptable fiction. We know and accept that the depiction of how white my shirts can be is a fabrication, as it were. Advertising pays actors to play customers. Culturally, this is acceptable. No ethical PR agency would ever trot out actors to pretend that they’re real customers. It’s unacceptible.

And that is the big difference – I hope – between advertising and public relations. Ethical public relations is always truthful and honest: real customers, real differences, real news. Advertising is, for the most part, unreal everything.

That’s why I cringe when I hear “PR” used in such ways.