I'm careful to not swear around any other person. I don't curse in front of friends, family, random people, etc. I have let a few things slip out occasionally, like when one of my friends dented my trombone beyond repair or when my car was filled with half-empty water bottles because I kept the windows cracked. I cursed a little there. Most of the time I'm pretty good about it, though.

My mom freaks out any time she hears anything even remotely like a cuss word, so I'm very careful around her. My dad, on the other hand, swears quite often, and when he's around his brother they swear like sailors. Things are a little more laid-back around my dad, but I still don't like to curse unless it's in the context of a joke (like a pun on the word itself, beaver dams and the Hoover Dam and a certain hilarious line from the Red Green Show about Hoover-brand vacuums and sewage, for example) or a strong emotion.

Around my friends, we've developed our own brand of "not-quite swearing, but in the same context and with words that sound remarkably similar to the original", which was inspired by this hilarious column by Dave Barry: Editorials & Opinion | My Night At The Opera: The Corpse Had An Itch | Seattle Times Newspaper We call each other "gas poles" and "sock pluckers" and say "duck shoe" and "son of a ditch". We also take the name of one of our friends "in vain". We'll say "Jon you" or "good Jon" or "go to Jon, you Jonhole." We also "Jon people off" - instead of using our middle fingers, we use our pinkies. I realize this might not be the best habit to be getting in to, but it makes us laugh, and none of my friends really use the actual words and most of them wouldn't think of doing it around other people, so I think we're safe in our toeing the line. It leads to confusion and dirty looks when in a crowd, though, because those terms can easily be misunderstood or heard wrong, and people who aren't "in on the joke" don't appreciate it very much (Jon himself thinks it's brilliant that we take his name in vain, though. He takes his own name in vain more than we do, in fact).

When I'm alone, however, it's a completely different story. When I play video games or hurt myself (like stub my toe), I cuss profusely. I also cuss my head off in the car. I cuss at people going too slow. I cuss at people going too fast. I cuss at people on their cell phones. I cuss at people doing stupid things on the road. They don't hear me; I have the windows rolled up, but it makes me feel better. I realize that this is not a good habit to be getting into, because one of these days I'll slip in a situation where it really would be wiser to keep my mouth shut, and I've been trying to cut back. Taking Jon's name in vain and stuff like that has helped out with that, though, and I'm not nearly as bad as I used to be.