My grandmother, God rest her soul, used to make this cute face, where her eyes would flutter any time I said something the least bit off-color - and I don't even mean swearing, which I never did in front of her.

If I said something that was remotely close to a vulgarity, her eyes would flutter, which always made me smile - and, more importantly, got me to refrain from what I was saying.

Well, I hope she can't hear me now - cuz if she could, her eyes would be fluttering like crazy.

Lately, I've find myself swearing. Often. At various times.

I swear when I'm driving. I swear when I stub my toe. I swear when I forget something. I swear when I remember something. I swear when I'm frustrated. I swear when I'm angry. I swear when I'm happy. Man, I've been swearing way too much.

Now, granted, I do use precaution for the most part. I try my best not to swear in mixed company - that is, elders and children and certain co-workers. After all, I don't want to make anybody feel uncomfortable.

But around the guys? Around my buddies? Around certain other co-workers?

It turns into an all-out, no-holds-barred swearfest. It's not intended to be, but it winds up being the result.

I mean, to us (and I'm only lumping them along with me, 'cuz I'm not about to go out on the ledge by myself), nothing drives the point home better than the well-placed vulgarity. It can capture the emotion of what it is you're talking about.

In fact, it's dropped so easily that some people even use more vulgarities in a sentence than they do regular words.

One of my buddies, in pauses between sentences when he's telling stories, says one of the, um, really bad words. Instead of just saying "um" or "uh" - or, better yet, just silence between thoughts - he opts for the aforementioned really bad word.

Like, "Did you see that movie last night ... (expletive), uh ... Will Ferrell is hilarious. We were at the movie and ... (expletive), uh ... we just laughed our (expletive) off."

Or, a couple of months back, there was a guy at my work who got really upset.

This, (sort of) word for word, was his reaction: "That (expletive) (expletive) thinks he's going to get over on me, that (expletive) piece of (expletive). (Expletive) him. (Expletive) him. He's a (expletive) (expletive). (Expletive) him if he thinks he's (expletive) going to get away with it, that (expletive) (expletive)."

Jeesh. And I thoughtwas bad.

But, truth is, I am. There's really no need to swear as much as I do.

It's ugly. In many ways, it displays a lack of self control.

Granted, I sprinkle in some regular words with the swears, unlike people, but I do tend to drop way too many cuss words. I mean, my wife and I are hoping to have children soon, and I'd hate to set a bad example by swearing like a sailor on leave.

Of course, this is coming from the guy that swore about 10 seconds ago when accidentally deleting a whole paragraph by mistake.

Wow. I can't even make it through a column about swearing without, er, swearing.

Sorry, Grandma. I'll work on it.

ANDREW BRYCE is a part-time page designer and writer at The Sun Chronicle. He may be reached via email at brycedrew74@cox.net.