I don't particularly like to hear profanity. Am I religious? Yes. Am I a prude? No.

I spent many years in the military and can cuss like the proverbial "trooper" when I hit my finger with a hammer or in a situation where a good swear word is needed to lessen tension -- sort of like a safety valve mechanism. But more often than not in today's world, people (especially on TV and in the movies) use profanity just for its "supposed" shock value.

That is counter productive. More often than not, it's more disgusting than shocking. Of course, Hollywood thinks it sells movies. Hollywood thinks a lot of weird things. After you hear a swear word used 20 or 30 times, it becomes nothing more than a "sound wave."

I try not to use swear words that are "religious" in nature, though. A good "Damn!" or "S---!" used expressively can do wonders to "relieve one's tensions." And if someone deliberately uses the "god-damns" just to offend me, my response would have to be, "You know something? You're frigging A--hole!" 'Nough said.

Mark Twain noted that "Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." and I agree. But it seems that today it's become too pervasive. I get tired of hearing rap "music" blasting form passing cars driven by young people, played at a volume that would shake the foundations of a large stadium. It seems that the f-word or some other obscenity makes up at least 25% of the lyrics. I usually get to hear a large portion of the "song" because it can be heard from time the car is two blocks away until it's two blocks past.

I remember a time when even "hell" and "damn" were avoided in television shows. Now it seems like every show after 9 PM has to slip in some coarse language just because they can now get away with it.

I'm not particularly offended, but it seems to me that communication suffers when it sinks to that level so often.