Town to vote on $20 fines for cursing in public

[Hum]

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass.?Mimi Duphily was hanging baskets of pink geraniums on antique street lamps downtown for the Middleborough Beautification and Activities Group when she noticed something else that needed cleaning up?citizens' mouths.

"The cursing has gotten very, very bad. I find it appalling and I won't tolerate it," said Ms. Duphily, a civic leader in the otherwise quiet New England community, which calls itself the Cranberry Capital of the World. "No person should be allowed to talk in that manner."

Soon, Middleborough residents who do could risk a $20 fine.

Ms. Duphily, 63 years old, tried scolding the cursers?whom she describes as young people shouting the "F word" back and forth?with a stern, "Hey kids, that's enough!" Then she conferred with the Beautification and Activities Group, which informed the Middleborough Business Coalition, which then called a summit with Middleborough Police Chief Bruce Gates, who now, in his sworn role, is trying to stomp out swears.

He is asking citizens to vote at the annual Town Meeting on Monday to flush potty mouths by granting police the power to issue $20 civil tickets to anyone who publicly "accosts" another person verbally with profanity.

He isn't targeting ordinary swears, like an understandable expletive uttered after a Red Sox loss. He said he is aiming at offenses like "profane language at some attractive female walking through town." His officers patrol on bikes and can already give tickets for public drinking, rubbish thrown in streets and more. Cursing is another "quality of life" issue, he said.

After all, who wants to go downtown and "listen to that baloney?" he said.

Regardless of the coming vote, some in Middleborough concede they are never likely to get locals to entirely swear off swears. Ms. Duphily, the local civic leader who supports the darn crackdown, keeps her pet parrot "Baby" in her family's business, Willy's Auto Supply.

Yes, she said with a sigh, as the parrot squawked nearby, Baby?from a previous owner?learned to curse.

"In the morning, he says 'Hello. Hello. Hello,' " she explained. "If you don't answer, he'll say 'you a?'."

It may be tough to get locals to shut their beaks, she concedes. But when Baby bleeps, she tosses a quilt over his cage. "I don't let him get away with it," she said.

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[Noir Angel]

...Seriously?

[Kelxin]

**** that.... Freedom of speech outlaws this kind of behavior.

[ahhell]

****ing old-bag busy-bodies.

Although, the citations might come in handy if you don't know how to use the 3 seashells.

[max22]

I like this law.

[Hum]

Tom will go broke.

[remixedcat]

what a ****ing bitch that wants to control everyone. who gives a **** if you cuss it's just ****ing words anyways... don't like it... plug your ****ing ears... LOLOLOLOLOL.

[Hum]

Residents in Middleborough voted Monday night to make the foul-mouthed pay fines for swearing in public.

[CactuzJak]

Residents in Middleborough voted Monday night to make the foul-mouthed pay fines for swearing in public.

well ****ing ****

[Marshall Veteran]

Remember the movie "Demolition Man?" There were microphones planted in every public place and when you cursed you got a fine.

****ing Ridiculous.

[x-scratch]

--- this --- are these people -------- serious come on. stupid old ------- laws

[Japlabot]

Maybe they can get around the constitution by calling it a "Fee" instead of a "Fine", As in "You are free to swear in our town, except if you do, there will be a $20 fee per instance to exercise your right to swear". No such thing as unconstitutional fees is there?

[Edrick Smith]

Problem is people can't regulate them selves. So we need government to do so, just like banning large drinks.

It may just be words but there's really no need to use them in every day conversation in public, it usually shows just how low your IQ is if you can't find a way to converse without using swear words left and right.

[Hum]

^ Amen

[Marshall Veteran]

Problem is people can't regulate them selves. So we need government to do so, just like banning large drinks.

It may just be words but there's really no need to use them in every day conversation in public, it usually shows just how low your IQ is if you can't find a way to converse without using swear words left and right.

Your logic doesn't add up. If they're "just words" then why not have the freedom to use them in everyday public conversation.

How much a person swears or if they do has nothing to do with I.Q. Do you need an example? George Carlin

[Hum]

^ George Carlin does it to make money.

The smarter people that I know are not cussing, every other word.

[Edrick Smith]

Your logic doesn't add up. If they're "just words" then why not have the freedom to use them in everyday public conversation.

How much a person swears or if they do has nothing to do with I.Q. Do you need an example? George Carlin

Maybe we should review what logic means, I love when people want to sound like they have a point and use the term "logic". Being that I said nothing about I believe there should be a fine, or anything about me being offended there was no "logic" to make sense of. I simply stated people are not able to regulate them selves hence the reason for government interaction in this case.

In which sense does adding curse words to your sentence add any substance to what you're saying? That's the problem here is these terms regardless of if you're offended by them were derived from an offensive meaning. Wether or not you find them offensive does not mean the majority of others don't. Curse words add no substance, no expansion or any clarification in 99% of the applications people apply them to and although using a blanket statement such as the amount of curse words you use in every day conversation equates to your IQ isn't an actual method of determining ones IQ more often than not it does apply. That's not to say intelligent persons or higher class persons don't use curse words. But you don't see them walking down the city street talking with their friend / business partner / acquaintance cussing up a storm.

The problem isn't that we should change with the times and become accepting of using curse words in every day vocabulary as some other younger folks might insist especially in other countries like Amsterdam, the problem is that we believe it's ok to do so. There are certain things which we should be progressive in such as human rights wether it be Bi/Gay/Lesbian rights and there are certain things that no matter how you cut is are just a further degradation of our society.

Then again if you're insistant that swearing is no problem in every day language, then I suppose we could say tht tlking lke dis is rly no prob n' should be accepted n2 every day language. You can still understand what I'm saying, that method of speaking is in no way offensive or vulgar and it's just a change with the times ammirte?

Wasn't a news article recently just posted on here about how the kids in that graduating class were nothing special? It's reasons like that we run into this "Who the f cares how the f I fin talk."

[Growled Member]

Well, there goes any one of our freedoms.