Curses

No, this isn't about how I've felt like 2012 was cursed (see last post).  This is about Cussing.

You don't cuss around children. Especially when they are other people's children.  We, as a society, have decided that certain words are offensive and since children are bound to repeat curse words you don't want the neighbors to know that you use those sorts of words (although we all do).

Yesterday I was at a Big Box Home Improvement Store (buying plexiglass, of course) and walked past a guy trying to load long lengths of molding into an SUV.  He was having some difficulty and as I walked past I heard him go "Frak!"

That's right.  Frak.  A made up curse word from a science fiction TV show.

I wanted to turn around and give him a thumbs up.

When I was young my father used made up curse words around us kids.  One of my favorites was Ratselfratz (Rats, ul, frats).  As I grew old and past the age where cussing is cool I started to use made up curse words, too.  I used Ratselfratz and Frak (at the time it was a word from an "obscure 70's bad science fiction show that aired for maybe one whole season" now it's a popular 2000s science fiction show and more people have heard the term.  It's just not as cool now.) but I also used (personal fav) Duck.  

Yes, that's right.  Duck is a cuss word in my lexicon.

If you've ever had to clean up after a dozen half grown ducklings in a too-small enclosure you'd understand why.

Unfortunately lately I've slipped out of using my personal cuss words and started using "The F Word."

I blame the Historians. 

I'm not sure what it is but when I go to lunch with my friends in the history department they use the F Word like it's the best descriptive they have.  I'm picking up bad habits from them.  Which I then use in front of the young neighborhood children by accident.

Which means their parents hear that I've been using the F word and the parents think I'm some kind of low person (cause they never use words like that) and they don't want me around their children anymore and I become the neighborhood pariah.

Ratselfratz.