If you're driving down the road and you happen to get cut off, you might let a few choice words fly. Spend an afternoon at a PG-rated movie, you're likely to hear some dirty words. Drop something on your toe and you might drop the F-bomb as well.

But why do we do it? And does the current state of the world prompt us to do it more often and with more vigor?

A 2006 survey conducted by The Associated Press found that 74 percent of Americans acknowledged they encountered profanity in public frequently or occasionally and 66 percent agreed that, as a rule, people curse more today than 20 years ago.

"I'm a self-professed potty mouth and delightfully unperturbed about cursing in general," proclaimed Liz Hupp, 30, of Marietta. "I grew up with not only a Marine for a father, but George Carlin as a mentor. His '7 Dirty Words' skit, I know it by heart.

"I know some people might find that sad or impolite but, frankly, I'm not sure there's any real harm in words," she said. "Didn't our mothers teach us that sticks and stones may break our bones, but words would never hurt us?"

Recently, some celebrities and political figures have been called out and reprimanded for their expletive-laced tirades - Rod Blagojevich, Joe Scarborough and Christian Bale, for example.

But the F-, S-, B-, A-, C-words and their derivatives have been seeping into mainstream media for some time.

The mother of all dirty words became the subject of Congressional debate in 2003, after NBC broadcast the Golden Globe Awards. Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, was accepting a prize on behalf of the group and in his euphoria exclaimed, "This is really, really, f - ing brilliant" on the air.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is charged with monitoring the nation's airwaves for indecency, decided, somewhat surprisingly, not to sanction the network for failing to bleep out the word. Explaining its decision, the FCC noted that its guidelines define "indecency" as "material that describes or depicts sexual or excretory organs or activities" and Bono had used the word as "an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation."

The occasion prompted the FCC's "fleeting expletives" policy which has been batted back and forth between the agency and the Supreme Court.

The first-ever use of the S-word on network TV was a 1999 episode of "Chicago Hope" by Mark Harmon's character, Dr. Jack McNeil. In 2001, the adult cartoon "South Park" on Comedy Central devoted one whole episode entitled, "It Hits the Fan," to the S-word, using it 162 times.

The use of expletives might be on the rise in our daily lives as well as we try to cope with a tanking economy, job layoffs, terrorist plots, child abductions, drug crimes and an overall feeling of dread and woe.

Or it could be for no particular reason at all.

"Recently, I noticed that I was dropping the F-bomb fairly often," said Delores Holiday, 39, of Beverly. "Once I noticed I was doing it, I made a point to stop. It had nothing to do with the economy though. I'm not really sure why I started."

Cursing is a way to let off steam but there is a time and place.

Darla Miller is the employment manager with Marietta College's Human Resources Department, and she says that in 11 years of interviewing prospective employees, a sloppy dresser is probably the worst that she has experienced.

"I've never had anyone curse," she said. "It would definitely give a fast negative impression."

The college handbook has policies against sexual harassment that include the use of vulgar or offensive language, according to Miller, but there is a fine line between offensive and acceptable depending on the person.

"The person who finds it offensive should say so and then it should stop. Fortunately, we don't hear a lot about (bad language being used in the workplace). It would have to be pretty pervasive to get to Human Resources," she said.

Hupp agrees that there are certain times when you should probably hold your tongue.

"I usually try to avoid saying anything (bad) when I'm trying to be professional," she said. "Cursing doesn't make you come across as too intelligent. And you definitely don't want to curse in church."

But she doesn't agree that the state of things is the main reason for frequent slips of the tongue.

"As for the recession and cursing, I think people just cuss when they're p--d and maybe the recession has made them angrier or since so many are laid off, we're just around to hear it more," she said.