That said, my wife and I both agreed the other night that The Carol Burnett Show was one of the funniest shows ever put out there, and no profanity was used whatsoever.

Cheers — and welcome back!

The point was that it made you stop and think twice about what was being said, whereas using the commonplace, cliched vernacular usually does not.

Rather crude and disrespectful in either form, if you ask me. But stating the cliche in another form may put an image in people’s minds to get them to think about what they are saying instead of just letting it roll off the tongue as simple street lingo.

In a Monty Python sketch years ago one of the characters said “Intercourse the penguin!” Silly and ridiculous, but it got past the BBC censors whereas the vernacular would not have. (Just as my term yesterday got past the censors and the vernacular would not.) The use of the more “acceptable” term in the Python sketch also made me stop and think about what is actually being said when one uses the more cliched and supposedly profane term. Two different words for the same sexual act. One generally acceptable, the other usually not. We are very peculiar animals indeed. But I do believe that those who say words don’t matter haven’t thought that through as well as they could. I say that as someone who used to feel that same way but who does not any longer.

The childhood doggerel “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” contains only half of the truth, IMHO.

I also enjoyed reading what you had to say. You and I are not so far apart in age, I think. Even though another poster yesterday accused me of being a twelve-year-old, I was six when “Star Trek” premiered on NBC. We come from a different era. I still remember my grandfather slamming off the TV set at the end of “City on the Edge of Forever,” saying that I would never be allowed to watch the show again because Captain Kirk said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Times have changed. A show like “Get Smart” could be hilarious without a hint of profanity or innuendo. But the kind of humor on a show like that is now foreign territory to many as these later developments have become so prevalent in our culture.

I have also been tempted to stop posting here because it seems that some of my comments have “ruffled” others or been unwelcome or been deemed unimportant. But I am learning that we ALL have a right to express our opinions. The difficult part lies in doing it in ways that are respectful of others, and it is harder still to remain respectful even when others may not be respectful of us. That was my shortcoming yesterday, and what I need to work on, learn from and grow from today.

So please don’t feel that you need to be silenced. I believe that if you too grew up with Trek for over forty years and still love it, that you have a lot of ideas and insights that are worth paying attention to, at least as far as I am concerned. I don’t think that shutting up is the answer. But I believe that speaking and listening respectfully just might be. You have a pleasant week, sir.