"She Isn't Paying Attention..."

So we were at a family members house the other day.  She started to tell a story using profanity and racial epithets... (OK REALLY?!) 
First of all, the racial thing is just wrong.  Everyone is a valuable human being, no matter what their culture or lineage.  But I digress...
That attitude toward others is NOT something I want my child learning or repeating, or anything!  I also don't need my little one wandering around the house, or worse, out in public, to start experimenting with her new "vocabulary" that she heard being used a few days ago. 
So when I gave my signature "Not in front of Lela!" dirty look, the response I got was an aloof, "She's not paying attention to me anyways!"
Oh really... We've discovered that if she is even in the room, even though she seems to be in her own little world, she is absorbing EVERYTHING!  And I mean everything!  She will mention the most obscure things that she heard or saw from weeks ago!  And while I might be completely lost, she knows exactly what she means, and will try her darnedest to get us to understand! 
So we've had to resort not only to spelling a lot of things around her, but also to speak cryptically around the spelling, because otherwise she picks up the spelled word out of context!!
So when you don't understand where your child came up with "that idea," or "that language," etc.  remember that they were paying more attention to what YOU were doing than you thought.  Children learn through observation and imitation.  The only way that you can control what they are observing from you, is to curb what you are doing to begin with.  Give them the example you want them to learn.  "Do as I say and not as I do" will NOT work in your favor!  I guarantee it!