More than half said using dirty words at work makes an employee appear less intelligent.

FORBES: Dirty Words Can Cost You a Promotion

Though clearly not to everyone's taste, the likes of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Derek and Clive sketches and George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words routine have influenced generations of humorists.

BBC: Should swearing be against the law?

He saw things he recognized but his brain, befuddled with chemicals released by fear, couldn't locate the words to describe them: the twin stacks spewing plumes of dirty white smoke, the abandoned custom's station with a faded red star painted above the door, the line of white-washed bee hives on a slope near a copse of stunted apple trees.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Legends'

In other words, unless you're willing to get your hands a bit dirty, the NUC isn't for you.

ENGADGET

McCain's future, in large measure, will depend on whether the voters in Michigan see his words through the prism of Theodore Roosevelt -- the heroic victim of dirty pool -- or through the prism of Bob Dole -- the snappish temper tantrum of a sore loser.

CNN: Jeff Greenfield: McCain's harsh words

As for the fact that we hear the words in public more than we used to, I suggest we bring our sense of "dirty" into line with the rest of our modern come-as-you-are American spirits.

CNN: Ban swearing? No way