If you’ve got the mouth of a sailor, you’ll want to steer clear of a town in Massachusetts. Middelborough’s town council overwhelmingly voted in favor of a measure allowing police to ticket anyone who swears with a twenty-dollar fine.
Supporters claim that it’s simply a move to crack down on loud profanity in downtown areas and public parks, although critics claim it’s an issue of free-speech.
"A lot of kids are kind of afraid to go downtown because they don't want to get slapped with a twenty dollar fine. They don't know like what the gray area is."
The town has had a bylaw against public profanity for more than 40 years, but it had rarely been enforced.