It seems not a day goes by – particularly during the summer months and in the hour after school lets out the rest of the year – that The Evening Sun newsroom is not beset by troublesome youths roaming Lackawanna Avenue and using some of the more ... colorful ... language at their disposal. And if you’ve listened closely to this up-and-coming generation of miscreants, probably a larger population than you might expect, you know exactly what I’m talking about, whether they’re gathered outside one of the local supermarkets or convenience stores, or simply wandering the streets.

It’s certainly not inspiring ... and that’s putting it mildly. Besides, who wants to hang out at a convenience store for hours on end anyway?

And don’t get me started on their shenanigans when it comes to crossing the street; that’s a column for another day.

Which is not to say I didn’t dabble in a little linguistic debauchery myself as a teenager and pre-teen (and to this day), yet there’s an obvious difference between our behavior back then – not to mention the frequency with which we were exposed to such roguish discourse – and these foul mouthed youngsters.