IT is a truism that anyone who resorts to bad language shows a poverty of expression. However, any language usage may be well suited according to the circumstances, which encourage it. We are all, I am afraid, subject or influenced by such circumstances. In my preteen years I cussed a lot, especially at school. I even got belt by the teacher because he said I cussed while I could not remember having done so. I admit it, I used to cuss "under water." I really do not recall when or where I learned how to cuss. My parents did not cuss in my presence. If fact, the first time I heard my father do it was when he used the "f" word in his tailor shop against someone, to put it euphemistically, he was annoyed with. This shocked me that such language should cross his lips. Could it be that in those days I heard language from US soldiers, based at Chaguaramas, who moved about in Woodbrook and environs, sharing their more colourful expressions? They used to pass by my father's tailor shop on Gatacre Street and throw in coins, in which we children partook. Hearing swear words from a child's mouth can be more upsetting. Often parents lose sight of their own foul language and some of this is being engendered at home. Imagine your own, sweet, innocent child lacing his/her conversation with a few select swear words. But as we know, children are like sponges, picking up all sorts of phrases if they hear them. Still later at the Trinidad Publishing Company, under the influence of good writers and good reading, I tried my hand at writing and found that my articles or stories were at least appreciated. In terms of speech, I was greatly influenced by Radio Guardian's Larry Heywood and Peter Pitts in my short stay there. So I knew how to express myself in a refined manner. But, make no mistake; I do still have some weak moments. We laugh when kids try to use language and perhaps this would encourage them to further efforts at attention. So gone are the days of punishment or washing a child's mouth out with soap. Instead your best insurance is to model good language on the home front, and to be clear about how you feel about inappropriate language. Of course young children parroting a parent or adult is one thing. But older children who use foul language are well aware of the meaning of the words and the impact they have. Let us say I later got out of that phase. I learned to read some serious works like The Fall of the Roman Empire, History of the World by HG Wells, Charles Darwin's Descent of Man and some psychology books, my inclination to cuss turned towards a more refined language. My responses were long and distended. I got bright and my dissertations on any subject soon had people avoiding me. I was, in fact, in writing and speech prone to vain repetitions and distended locutions. I was, though, never keen on hyperbolical utterances. Politics did not interest me in any serious way. The political language on the hustings as the General Election looms descends to a mixture of vulgarisms and double speak. Part and parcel of this is the dirty tricks employed to nasty the names of opponents. It all sounds to me puerile-trivial, childish and immature. Foul language is used on television to convey many different messages. It can portray class or the severity of what is being said. It doesn't matter what the reasons for it are -- kids have been watching too much television and believe it is socially acceptable in all cases. Foul language crosses the line between the freedom of speech of one and the freedom of expression of another. We might cross the line by using these obscenities around other people, but that does not mean anyone should be restricted from what they want to say. Even though there are rules against obscenity, many words still are allowed in public media. Most are in good taste; however, ideas of sex and deeper plots with more vulgar words usually are reserved for late-night television. Here are some of situations that make some people prone to colourful responses: Not getting salary on payday; Hearing a T&T radio-TV announcer say: "re-approachment" for re-approchement; Someone stepping on your toe as you line up to cash; Hearing the same callers into those radio talk shows every morning ... saying virtually the same things; On a talk show: Percy Cezair saying voting is based on race, Ramesar "I don't know", and Eddison Carr "O boy!"; A senior citizen in the middle of a line at the bank and getting the urge to go to the washroom only to discover the bank's washrooms are not available to the public; People smoking in an enclosed area; People flatulating in an enclosed area; People knocking their plate as they eat; Taxi drivers playing stupid and inappropriate music late at night when you are heading home after a hard day's work; Going to the washroom at some fast food outlets only to be turned away by a "Not working" sign; Your boss walking into the office without a word and not noticing you are there; A "vagrant" begs for something, with titled head and sad eyes and after getting it runs off laughing at you; A dog in heat grabs onto your leg and "jooks" away; The garbage truck on Chin Chin Road picks up garbage on one side of the street only ... it seems on the left is one regional corporation and the right another; A neighbour eats snacks and throws the wrappers over by you; You are drowning and someone throws you a book on how to swim; and When you wake up at night to go to the toilet and it is too late. Sufficiently aggravated animals will eat you, humans will not ... they will just cuss yuh arse. Do you, dear readers, have some cuss words? Keep them to yourselves, I really do not want to know or hear them.