Editorial: Poll numbers to curse about

Saturday, April 1, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.

A new poll confirms what many of us have known for years: Foul language has become inescapable. Not only has profanity become omnipresent in pop culture - music, movies, television and magazines are littered with profanity - but an Associated Press-Ipsos poll also shows that foul language is commonplace in our daily dealings with co-workers, friends and family members.

The poll said that nearly three-quarters of Americans said they encountered profanity in public either frequently or occasionally. Nearly two-thirds acknowledge using the F-word. (We suspect that number would actually be higher if respondents were hooked up to a lie detector.) Another two-thirds of the poll's respondents believe that people swear more than they did 20 years ago.

It's not as if profanity arose overnight. What is different now is that adults are more open about using profanities, even when children are nearby. There are children who don't mind swearing, either, even when adults are present. (Just where is that bar of soap when you need it?)

We hope that American society can reverse what seems like a downward spiral when it comes to displaying class and civility. If there is any consolation, it is that 67 percent of those polled last week said that it bothered them either a lot or some when they heard others use swear words or profanity.

One of the poll's respondents, 31-year-old Steve Price of New York, says he gets mad at himself when he uses profanity, regretting that things have changed since he was a child.

"As I get older, the more things change," he says. "And I kind of wish they had stayed the same."

We couldn't agree more.