Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Age of Profanity?

Heh. This one is too easy to make a snarky remark about.
You probably hear these words often, and more than ever before. But even though we can't print them -– we do have our standards -– we can certainly ask: Are we living in an Age of Profanity? Nearly three-quarters of Americans questioned last week -– 74 percent -– said they encounter profanity in public frequently or occasionally, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. Two-thirds said they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. And as for, well, the gold standard of foul words, a healthy 64 percent said they use the F-word -– ranging from several times a day (8 percent) to a few times a year (15 percent).
I don't hear that much profanity in public. But, then I don't spend a lot of time in public.


1 comment:

Granted said...

I, for one, curse much less frequently than I did, say in the Navy. You actually had to use curses to be understood. If you said "I'm going forward to close the main steam stop" people would look at you like you were suddenly spewing Mandarin. If you reprased it to "I'm f-ing going f-ing forward to close the f-ing main steam stop, f" no one even blinked.