Mike,

>>Personally, the way I see it is that if someone is so limited in their use of the English language that they need to use profanity to communicate - why bother with them.
>
>Every one needs profainity to comunnicate, otherwise you're just kidding yourself.

Really? Is that the current state of education here in the US? I stongly disagree. This sounds more like lowering the standards than anything else. I think of all the great classical literature that was tremendously communicative without having to resort to the gutter level.

I guess if our culture has gotten to the level where it thinks entertainment is smacking someone on the head with a folding chair you may be correct if only in actual reality rather than so-called 'outdated' standards. <g> The triumph of the ignoble.

>A word is an expression of feeling, its not a weapon.

Heh.. Then all I can say is that you've never been the beneficiary of gossip, slander and innuendo of sufficient strength to cause you actual damage. I remember being in 1st grade where my teacher held up my messy handwriting and ridiculed me in front of the class. That was 42 years ago and I still deal with it at a certain level.

Think about this for a minute - if what you said is true then we can toss out all laws concerning slander, so-called 'hate speech', and so forth. right? And, we can let people yell "fire!" in a crowded theatre as well.

So, I don't think your assertion is correct or well thought out. Words mean things and, sadly enough, you and I can most certainly hurt others by our words.

> If you are told not to use certain words, it is equal to saying "don't express those feelings". What a load of crap that is.

Well, I can tell you this, if someone started swearing like a sailor in front of my wife, relatives or children I would ask them to stop, out of respect.

Personally I am not of the opinion that I need to know everyone's "feelings". There are times I'd like them to show a little restraint and keep them to themselves. Now, understand that I also make a difference between "feelings" and "thoughts". I think a lot of folks confuse the two.

One interesting 'test' of this is dto do the following: When you watch the news do the reporters use the word 'think' or 'feel'. For example: "How do you 'feel' about the results of all this snow?", as opposed to, "What do you 'think' about all this snow?"

Being able to keep one's feelings to one's self without stupid and hurtful outbursts is IMO a sign of great maturity. I must also say that when I encounter an individual who seems to need to use profanity to communicate I must say I'm not too impressed with their ability to think nor their level of education.