<HTML>In a message dated 12/6/2000 3:45:47 AM Mid-Atlantic Standard Time, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">professionalism, this talk is nothing that doesn't commonly occur in the hallways at PTG conventions. I don't know that this forum should be all that different than a convention hallway. I'm also not sure that it is the place of Americans in general, or anyone in particular on this list to dictate linguistic moral standards. This list seems both professional and casual to me (just right). Nothing Maria or anyone else has written seems worth getting upset about (well, at least to me). </BLOCKQUOTE> HI  Terry: Would you be upset if you encountered a Professional- a Doctor, let's say, and he had a propensity toward using the "s" word without moderation.  Would you think less of him as a professional?  Would you use this language in a customer's home?  Would you feel it was ok for your own children to adopt this kind of language when communicating at your dinner table?  Who should be responsible for uplifting and upholding  high standards of conduct and -language - if it isn't the profession itself-you and me.  How far should you let it "slip" before it starts to bother you.  Why shouldn't this list contribute toward the uplifting of our status as Professionals-or aren't these things of any importance? Just some musings..... Bob Bergantino, RPT Willoughby Hills, Ohio </HTML>