A blue streak

According to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll, Americans are cussing more than ever.
I think that's a crying shame. Actually, I think it's a different kind of shame entirely, but I don't want to resort to that sort of language.

Really, you don't want to swear too much. It devalues the currency. You need to be judicious in your use of profanity if it is to have its proper effects. I think it was Mark Twain who said something like, "Swearing can offer a kind of peace that not even prayer affords.'' Anyone who has ever stubbed his or her toe in the dark must surely agree.

Some folks know how to swear. The late Richard Pryor for one, and the writers of HBO's "Deadwood" for another. We ought to leave prodigious cussing to the professionals, I say.

There's nothing more crude than somebody dropping what we euphemistically refer to as "The F-Bomb'' every few seconds. As Winston Churchill remarked in another context entirely, "After a certain point, more bombs only make the rubble bounce.''

So the next time you're about to unload an amateurish array of potty talk why don't you do this instead: Shut the heck up!