[rond]

Throughout my younger years I never heard even one of the men in our neighborhood use the language now routinely heard in movies and on TV. To do so would have got them blackballed from association from other men of stature in the community. How old are you?

I'm 41, and there were plenty of men in my L.A. neighborhood who knew how to cuss, in English and in Spanish.

[RLK]

I'm 41, and there were plenty of men in my L.A. neighborhood who knew how to cuss, in English and in Spanish.

--------------------

That's not nearly old enough to know anything about the condition of this country in 1952, about which you are making statements. Apparently, it's not old enough to have learned much else including how to stay with a point.

As far as language and other patterns among members of the lower classes in California during the 60s, 70s, and 80s, your apparent membership in such equips you to make statements about the area with far more authority than I.