Watch where you curse, Nutter

IF MAYOR Nutter represented Middleborough, Mass., he'd curb his occasional use of profane language or risk paying for it.

Over the summer, the small town approved a ban on swearing in public and instituted a fine that could cost potty mouths $20.

The measure was intended to address boisterous, foul-mouth teenagers, not private conversations. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that, in most cases, profanity is protected by the 1st Amendment, but no one has yet filed a legal challenge to the law.

In California, the state Assembly approved a resolution in 2010 making the first week of March a "Cuss-free week," after they were inspired by McKay Hatch, a teenager in South Pasadena who launched a No Cussing Club at his junior high school.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour last year dismissed charges against a woman who said, "damn" in the midst of a confrontation with police. The judge said the state's 98-year-old ban on swearing in public within earshot of at least two people was too broad.