Splish Splash, I was not taking a bath

For years, until I had cataract surgery, I couldn't see much without my glasses, which mainly meant that I was grateful for the glasses.  But now that I can see at distance well enough to pass the driver's test and see the alarm clock from across the bedroom, I have plenty of time to see things more clearly.

I realize that most of you have never seen me take a shower, and that's been good for all of you. But it's quite a procedure. True to my OCD, the same bits get washed in the same manner in the same order every time. Then the thorough rinse, and I'm ready for another day as soon as I dry everything in the same order.

But not having to remember what to wash, and how and when, means I have plenty of time to think random thoughts, and just the other morning I was reliving the happy moment in May when ABC's "Good Morning America" dropped a major F-bomb.  We talked about it already and it just became another moment in the cavalcade of laughable Howard Stern events.

But this one could not be blamed on Stern. Unlike golf matches or other broadcasts that need to be livened up somehow, or newscasts that offer the chances for non-real spokespeople to speak up to people, this was just a case of ABC taking comments made by Howard and actress Gwyneth Paltrow (she likes to be identified as as "Oscar winner") about this loathsome Weinstein creature, and Howard said the nasty word, and ABC played it as part of their story, and Robin Roberts looked like it was the worst thing she had ever heard.

Well, the usual happened. The recriminations, the apologies, the reporter who did the story (Eva Pilgrim) is all of a sudden transferred to the London Bureau (don't know if that's a punishment or what) and you may be certain that memos were issued, oh yes, and manuals were updated and retraining was held and promises were extracted. Everyone who works for ABC - including the people who run the floor buffers at night - has now been told that THAT WORD is not to be said out loud.

Baba Booey! Baba Booey!

And here's the ah-hah moment that came to me as I lathered and slathered in the shower. The chances are that the technicians and editors who worked on that story, cutting the Stern clips to be used as part of the "package," are probably young, in their 20s or so.

And do you spend much time with people in their teens and 20s? Do you notice that they pepper their billingsgate with salty language like that all day and all night? Do you understand that they use that word with each other, in front of their parents, their co-workers, with literally everyone?  They're so used to saying it with impunity, without feeling like it's any worse than saying "the heck with it," that it's in the daily lexicon of younger people, and that's why I figure when these video editors got hollered at for not cutting it out, they sort of shrugged and looked at each other like, "What's the #(!@ing problem, dude?"

Either that, or an entire group of people went deaf at the same instant.