Profound, profane

Hey, if it’s not too freakin’ late to do so, I’d like to weigh in with my thanks for clarifying the whys and hows of the many uses these days of F-word euphemisms in advertising and entertainment [“Such Interesting Times, Euphemistically Speaking,” by Lynn Smith, April 19].

I had no idea it all springs from pop-culture trends, a need for “safe cursing” or “a climate where people are calling cursing into question and want to use this kind of substitute.” Heck, I didn’t even realize it was the subject and study of “cursing” experts, authors or psychology professors.

I was just under the impression that it was still more evidence of bad parenting, lazy thinking, cultural stagnation and so-called writers and other creative types camouflaging their mediocrity with pee-pee words -- and then pointing to the resulting pile of sentences as evidence of wit, skill and social progress.

Jim McKairnes

Manhattan Beach