No Cussing in L.A.

$#$%##! LA County tries for cuss-free week
By JOHN ROGERS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

LOS ANGELES -- Pay no attention to that eerie silence in the nation's most populous county this week; it will simply be the sound of 10 million people not cussing.

At least that's the result McKay Hatch is hoping for once his campaign to clear the air is recognized by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

On Tuesday, the board is scheduled to issue a proclamation by Supervisor Michael Antonovich making the first week in March No Cussing Week.

That would mean no blue language from the Mojave desert, where it gets hot as $&# in the summer, to the Pacific Ocean, where on a winter's day it can get colder and nastier than %$#!

Not that 15-year-old Hatch expects complete compliance. When his No Cussing Club meets at South Pasadena High School on Wednesdays it's not unusual for a nonmember to throw open the door and fire off a torrent of four-letter words. He's also been the target of organized harassment by pro-cussers.

And Antonovich's county motion carries no penalties.

"But it's a good reminder for all of us, not just young people but everybody, to be respectful to one another and watch the words we use," said the supervisor's spokesman, Tony Bell.

The county isn't the first entity to try to put the lid on swearing. Hatch's hometown of South Pasadena declared itself a cuss-free zone for a week last March, and two years ago a high school in Canada threatened to suspend repeat cussers.

Hatch has lofty goals.

"Next year I want to try to get California to have a cuss-free week. And then, who knows, maybe worldwide," said the 10th grader, who believes if people treat each other with more civility they can better work together to solve bigger problems.

He said his campaign began to form about the time he hit seventh grade when he noticed his friends beginning to swear, something his family didn't allow.

He formed the No Cussing Club and invited others to join. Soon the group had a Web site, bright orange T-shirts, a hip hop theme song and inquiries from all over from people interested in joining. He estimates 20,000 people have formed similar clubs.

"It's not about forcing anyone to stop, just to bring awareness," he says of the movement. "If you can do a week without cussing, maybe you can do two weeks. And then maybe a month."

Swearing in the Sopranos: 27 Minutes!

From the Las Vegas Weekly:

In an act of seemingly pointless but ultimately revelatory genius, Victor Solomon, a movie director from San Francisco, has meticulously mined all 86 episodes of The Sopranos and compiled a montage of nearly 5,000 curse words screamed, spat and muttered on the show. No wonder nobody has time simply to watch TV anymore. (Read more)

The entire montage of curses takes 27 minutes. Enjoy the show!


the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

In News That Does Not Surprise Us One Bit

The Hartford Courant reports that inmates sometimes bring their potty-mouths to school visits:

WATERBURY: Inmates Allegedly Used Profanity In School Visit
February 25, 2009
Waterbury officials are reviewing a program involving inmates who speak to public school students after complaints about the use of foul language.

City officials say some inmates allegedly used foul language in front of Wallace Middle School students two weeks ago.

Prison inmates are occasionally brought to city schools as part of the police department's Project Safe Neighborhoods program.

The program has police officers, medical experts and inmates speak with children about gangs, peer pressure, drugs and other problems.

A woman complained that her child and grandchild had heard foul and racially charged language from prisoners.

ZOMG! What if they also had tattoos and angry eyebrows? Will the children survive? All the teachers really had to do was keep those inmates in from recess. That would show the kids that swearing's bad stuff.

2009 Oscars Profanity Reel

Every Curse Uttered on "The Sopranos"

If you were to listen to them all, it would take twenty-seven minutes of your life.

$#*@.

Real-Time Curse Tracking

What are all the dirty birds tweeting about?

You can find out here.

Don't Lift a Finger

Not if it's *that* one, anyway...

Middle finger gesture results in arrest

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- A Portsmouth, N.H., man has been jailed on a felony charge of violating a protective order after he allegedly showed his middle finger to the person who filed it. The two were dining separately at a restaurant on Jan. 24 when police said a 42-year-old man made the gesture.

A police affidavit said the man eventually left "with some assistance from restaurant staff."

Police Sgt. Kuffer Kaltenborn said violation of protective order charges can be brought as felonies when the allegations are second offenses. However, he said, the city prosecution office is expected to dismiss the felony against the man on Monday, leaving a misdemeanor count of stalking.

We just have to comment on the name "Kuffer." Anyone with a little imagination can make a hilarious-sounding anagram that would no doubt cause the fine officer to slap the kuffs on.