Yeah, Kathy, exactly.

OK, this is impressive

That'll do, Pig. That'll do.

My parents swear a lot.

But they aren't American, I guess.

That said, they were still in Canada when my sister shocked someone by saying, "That bastard!" as a toddler. When asked what they were going to do regarding her language, my father is said to have responded, "Nothing, just as long as she's using it correctly."

I swear when its appropriate and sometimes just for fun, most colorfully in the car and sometimes in front of my parents. I was suprised that I found the swearing in Deadwood so off putting but I found the show unwatchable because of it.

When my nephew picked up the word "Goddamnit" everyone in the family started saying, "we don't say that, we say gosh darn it" to him. I said it often enough that it stuck and now I find that when I'm really frustrated and I bust out the, "gosh darn it!" people are so suprised that it gets more attention than if I had sworn.

My mom started calling "fanny packs" "bum bags" a while ago. I remember teasing her about it but I never asked her where she picked it up.

"Nothing, just as long as she's using it correctly."

Bwah!

People ALWAYS think I'm kidding when I say I was effectively raised by wolves.

And yet? I'm really, really not.

But they were wolves with linguistic standards. You can be proud of that.

But they were wolves with linguistic standards. You can be proud of that.

This is true. Apparently, my spoken English (now sloppy as heck) used to be WAY overly formal and stilted, per people I dated. Only they said it in nice ways, but I know what they were thinking. Yesssssss.

AWEsome letter, Aims! Impressively polite and professional. You go with the no swear words and no biting.

Suzi, you've coined a perfectly cromulent new word. Most teenagers are, indeed, mon-stars!

...what, me? Swear? Surely you jest. No seriously, not aloud anymore, since my husband and son started visibly flinching in ordinary, unheated conversation. From using profanity like salt or the occasional hot pepper to season, I apparently was serving up a meal of condiments all the time. So, I'm working on mastering the plain rice diet of absent swear words, and using my vocabulary. And then I will add in judicious spikes and jots of profanity, at appropriate moments.

I'm not being graded on this, right?

using my vocabulary

Amazing what largeish words said in a calm, cold voice can do to the linguistically unarmed.