Eating: Refried beans with chopped jalepeno peppers wrapped in a warm corn tortilla; and if there is any food more disgusting to look at than canned refried beans, I don't want to know about it. But I love the way they taste. Besides, refried beans are high in fiber and low in fat. I've learned not to look too closely at them while I'm eating.

Weather: Finally, a break in the humidity. Though the temperatures are still supposed to be in the low 90s, it feels much more comfortable outside. I even opened the windows to air out the house.

Freedom of Speech and the S-Word

Are you saying I'm stupid? Do I look stupid to you?

--Hopper (voiced by Kevin Spacey),
the villain in Disney's A Bug's Life

I don't use profanity. Perhaps because that is how I was raised. My parents never swore. I remember feeling shocked when I heard my father in anger use the word "crap." Perhaps it is because I associate profanity with a certain lack of breeding or education. At the very least, the habitual use of profanity implies to me a limited vocabulary.

Whatever the reason, I almost never swear. I've only used profanity in extreme anger, and whenever I have resorted (stooped?) to an obscene word or expression, it packs a shock value it would not have had if I used such words all the time.

My mother-in-law has an amusingly inconsistent attitude toward profanity. She hates the word "fuck" with a passion. She never watches modern movies because it offends her to hear that word. Yet I don't know a single person who uses the words "shit" or "son-of-a-bitch" more than Stephanie. We've had to ask her several times to watch her language in front of the boys, who are like little parrots. It mystifies me why she is almost phobic about "fuck" but not about the vulgarities she uses with abandon. To my mind they are all equally offensive.

But I'm pragmatic enough to realize that most people don't share my view. It doesn't upset me to hear to hear profanity in movies if such language is in keeping with the characters and the situations. And I am a First Amendment fanatic who may not like your views or the language you use to express those views but who will defend vigorously your right to do so.

Unless you are my son, of course. One of the interesting things about being a parent is that I've realized the Bill of Rights does not really apply to my children.

Our house, our rules.

Several years ago Daniel came home from a visit with Stephanie repeating a few of her choice expressions, and we had to talk to him about the concept of "good" and "bad" words. I've extended the definition of good and bad words beyond traditional obscenity. One of the words I find most demeaning is "stupid," so I've discouraged the boys from using it.

Today I overheard Daniel talking to Stephen and quoting Hopper's line from A Bug's Life. He said:

"Are you saying I'm s-word? Do I look s-word to you?"

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