Bolton News reader's letter: Times have changed with attitudes towards swearing

There is absolutely too much of it and it is unnecessary.

I was reminded of the first time I heard the 'F' word. I was about 10 years old in the early 1950s and I was walking in Ladybridge Lane near my childhood home.

A youth and his girlfriend came towards me from the opposite direction, they stopped in front of me, he swore — nothing else —and walked on.

My mum had seen them speak to me from the kitchen window of our farmhouse and asked me what they said.

I told her, in all innocence, not knowing its meaning or the fact that it was a swear word.

She duly phoned the police (!) who promptly turned up and questioned me about the incident.

How times have changed. Nowadays, the most astounding thing about the story is not the word itself, which is an everyday occurrence, but my mum's and the police's reaction to it.

Dorothy Syddall

Over Hulton