*#$*@^_*^*%**%$

******************************************************************* I found this cartoon and it reminded me of when I was a kid. Dad never cussed. The worst thing that I ever heard him say, and I knew he was REALLY perturbed if he said it was.... dumb bunny!

That is the extent of Dad's bad language! No *&^%!@$**&^ for my dad, just 'dumb bunny'!

We had a bulletin board in the kitchen where Mom kept track of our language. Every time we uttered, "dumb, stupid, idiot, butt" we got a mark by our name. There were many times that Dad had more marks than us kids! The cuss words that are so common and frequently heard these days were never spoken in our household back then. I don't event think that I heard any real cuss words until I entered 5th or 6th grade. (I led a very sheltered life, thanks to Mom and Dad!)

Once when Mike and his Dad were roofing our house, Dad stopped by to help them. Before they knew it, Dad had hit the hammer on top of his thumb.... Mike and his Dad were shocked when Dad uttered this four letter word! O U C H !

When my kids were little, (in about 2nd or 4th grade) they came home from school telling me about all the bad language they heard at school. "Why, I bet there is a cuss word for every letter of the alphabet" they replied.

Wanting to know what words they knew, I asked them to tell me, without saying the words, if they knew a word for the letter A... Yes! they replied... B... Yes! C... Yes! D... Yes! E... Yes....????

Mike and I couldn't think of one word for the letter E, so we asked them what word they were thinking about! Ryan said, "Idiot!.... Mom says it all the time while she is driving!" We were laughing so hard, I don't even think we finished the alphabet!

But then, I got that habit from Dad. If someone didn't know how to drive, they were either an idiot or a joker! I use both of those words to this day, mostly aimed at inept drivers.

Also, when we went to Allenspark Colorado for our family reunion in 1995, the kids were so pleased with themselves when we stopped at the Dam Store. They entered the cabin telling Grandma and Grandpa that they had been to the Dam Store and bought Dam candy and got their dam pictures taken.... They liked saying a word that they were not allowed to say otherwise. I think they went a litte overboard trying to think of dam things to say!