While it's widely acknowledged that Tiger Woods is a class act and a good guy, there is one criticism that comes up from time to time, his mouth. No, not the stuttering he overcame as a child - I mean the curse words. The potty talk. The foul language.

A great deal of this criticism, I suspect, is just from devoted fans of other pros who feel, if not for Tiger, their guy would rule the links right now, that "their" Lefty or Ernie or Vijay would be the most famous golfer in the world. Those fans need to latch on to anything, so they home in on the fact that Tiger lets a few coarse words slip from time to time. These Tiger haters also latch on to his caddie's rep as something of a goon. But mostly they say they wish Woods would cut out the cursing.

Now, I too have been known to use some choice words when I get angry - just ask my wife, who's always after me to cut it out. With two young kids, she rightly says, it's important to cut out the R-rated language before they start picking it up. I agree and I'm doing my best.

It was with that in mind that I just read an AP story about cursing that asks: "Are we living in an Age of Profanity?" Some 74 percent of Americans said they encounter profanity in public frequently or occasionally, the story reported. Three quarters of the women surveyed said they were bothered by profanity at least some of the time, while 60 percent of men agreed.

In other words, the majority of Americans are bothered by the swearing they hear in their day-to-day lives. The story was a real eye opener. I've long felt it's a shame we have become such a casual society, that we no longer value decency, decorum and dignity, that we put up with this sort of behavior.

I know Tiger's critics are hoping he reads the story too and will commit to cleaning up his act.

On the other hand, it'd be fu---ng hilarious to see that son of a b--ch snatch another green jacket next week and then tell all those prissy muth-----kers to "kiss my sweet a--!"

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