Now, I tend to talk like a trucker when I'm at home and in the company of friends (or here online.) But when in public or in the presence of people of a previous generation, I really tone it down. If I do swear, I pitch my voice low enough that only the people I am speaking to can hear it, and I just generally try not to swear as much. I was once quite mortified when I let the f-bomb slip in front of my mother-in-law, but considering I had just dropped a piece of nearly impossible to replace heirloom china, the cause was sufficient and she really wasn't all that disturbed by it.
However, I tend to notice that people--especially younger people--don't exercise my brand of restraint over their language in public, and every once in a while, I find it gets to me. Last week, while entertaining a houseguest, we took the MAX lightrail into downtown Portland to visit Powell's Used Books Store. In one of the easy access seats is a little old lady with a cane. In one of the seats a few feet away from her are a couple teenage girls. And every other word out of these girls mouths--which were loud enough that the entire train car could hear them--was an f-bomb.
Meanwhile, I'm just squirming. My own ears aren't offended, but I keep imagining that this poor little old woman has to be desperately uncomfortable with being barraged by this sort of language, and it's lucky the girls got off the train when they did, because I was really close to putting my ***** hat on and having a word or two with the
So what about you guys? Do you use asylum-speech anywhere and everywhere, or do you exercise some restraint?
Edited, Jun 27th 2006 at 10:14pm EDT by Ambrya
