Hey! Watch Your #!*?@! Mouth
Most parents have fought the battle Jim O'Connor has taken on, and they've lost, CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.
"You hear swearing all the time. I got tired of hearing the f-word [in movies] and I got tired of hearing kids saying it in the shopping malls," O'Connor says.
O'Connor is a very gentle man who uses very tough words in front of high school kids in suburban Chicago.
"The s--- list. I'm gonna review with you and I'm gonna tell you about alternatives to this," the teacher tells his class.
Cursing comes naturally to most people. O'Connor is trying to teach kids how and when not to curse.
However, O'Connor may well be cursed with bad timing. While he is trying to teach these kids to watch their language, another educator, Professor Timothy Jay, is finding that more people than ever are swearing. He's written about it and has some surprising news.
"Women are swearing more in public. Children are swearing more at school. They are saying worse things than they've ever said before. And they are swearing earlier than they ever have," Jay said.
O'Connor tries to get his classes to substitute different words for dirty words, like the s-word.
Instead of getting into deep s---, O'Connor advises his students to try getting into deep trouble. And students are told to shoot the breeze and not shoot the s---.
It's easy for kids to laugh at all this, but in Indiana, one principal started the school year by announcing a ban on all swearing. He threatened to suspend students who cursed. It worked. The students cleaned up their language. The school is a lot quieter now.
And Timothy Boomer learned adults that have to watch their language as well, at least in Central Michigan.
"We were just up north on a canoe trip that my friends planned," Boomer recalled.
When the canoe tipped over, Boomer had a few choice words for his friends, and that's how he met Deputy Sheriff Ken Socia.
Socia said Boomer was using the f-word and calling the girls the b-word.
Socia gave Boomer a ticket for violating a state law outlawing the use of obscene language in the presence of women or children. It's a 101-year-old law, but the local prosecutor is hell-bent on pushing this case.
"If everybody knew that by doing it they are committing a crime and they might be prosecuted, maybe they won't do it," says prosecutor Richard Vollbach.
Boomer could get a $100 fine or 90 days in jail.
"Do we want a slap on the wrist? I think we want a little bit more than a slap on the wrist. What would be fair? That's up to the judge," Vollbach says.
Boomer has already been before the judge. He's hoping to get his case dismissed. This time though, he let his lawyers do the talking.
Reported By Richard Schlesinger.
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