Given the nature of my travel schedule, one thing is pretty certain: If it’s Monday, odds are I need to make tracks to the nearest airport.  That’s exactly what I did this past Monday for an easy flight from NYC’s LaGuardia to Boston Logan.  Having pre-printed my boarding pass, I headed straight to the security check line, removed my shoes, filled up a bin with my three ounce liquids and laptop, and stood in line like dozens of others to pass through a metal detector.

 

While waiting, a young woman approached the same line.  She was in the process of leaving a rather heated voice-mail message, and clearly she was upset.  As far as I could hear, every other word that slipped from her mouth was the “F-Bomb.”  It was definitely unattractive.  And in fact, I found myself embarrassed that some other travelers, far older than I, had to be exposed to this language.

 

Unfortunately, use of the “F-Bomb” seems to be passing into the realm of acceptability.  A word that was once used to shock, now seemingly trills off people’s lips.  Upon overhearing the word, few bother to raise an eye brow.  In fact, a close friend shared with me that when she summoned the courage to tell some co-workers that she found the “F-Bomb” particularly offensive, they responded with shrugged shoulders and a general attitude of, “Better get used to it.  That’s just the way we talk around here.”

 

Maybe the Millennials can take this as one of their challenges.  They are already comfortable with the strange abbreviations and spellings connected to text messaging.  Surely they can develop some other unique word to express surprise, amazement, disgust, etc. and let the “F- Bomb” blow away.