Have you ever listened to a song like, say, Puddle of Mudd's She Hates Me and wondered why there's this gap in the lyrics every time they sing the chorus — like "she (pause) hates me"?

Or have you watched a film in which the audio becomes weird every time the baddie gets mad and starts to yell? Or seen a football match on television and wondered what the players could be saying every time they mouth the same words when a decision is made against them?

With McKay Hatch's No Cussing Club, no obscenities, including the finger, are allowed.

Probably not.

The thing is, you know darn well that Puddle of Mudd says "she *****ng hates me" (as much as you know who Katy Perry kissed) in the song; that the censored audio in the film was cause by the baddie's foul-mouthed tirade; and that every footballer (British ones at least) tells the referee to "**** off".

You probably even know exactly which combination of the 26 letters in the alphabet to fill in the blanks.

Foul language is becoming such a common fixture in the English language these days that censorship really leaves nothing to the imagination. In fact, you might as well just spell or spit it out.

However, that still hasn't stopped 15-year-old McKay Hatch from California from starting a campaign to get people to stop cussing.

His No Cussing Club (NCC) has grown into a worldwide phenomenon of over 20,000 members in all 50 states of the US and across the world; complete with NCC merchandise, a website, a No Cussing rap number (and accompanying music video), and an officially recognised ''No Cussing Week'' (March 3-7) in Los Angeles.

While his intentions are undoubtedly good, the question most of his rather vocal and, of course, foul-mouthed critics would ask is this: We're all so exposed to (supposedly) foul language these days, and we know exactly what word you really want to say when you kick your toe against a durian anyway, so what's the point of censorship, or in this case, self-censorship?

The No Cussing Club website, nocussing.com.

The words of our youth

We don't need to prove to anyone that young people are getting more exposed to cussing these days — it's all over movies, songs, TV shows and so on.

And it seems our kids are pretty fast learners.

According to Ahmad Mubaraq Mohd Haniff, almost everyone curses these days.

"I study fashion, so there are a lot of girls in the course, and they don't really curse that much. But all my high school friends curse — in English and Bahasa Malaysia!

"I'd say it's pretty normal for college kids to curse, they have no qualms about using such words. I think even older people these days are starting to realise that young people curse," said the 20-year-old Limkokwing University of Creative Technology student.

A student from SEGi University College who declined to be named, even told us that his family uses swear words when they argue.

"I started swearing since I was 15 or 16, and now it's just a habit. Even my parents are used to it. These days I'm learning to control myself, but sometimes when my parents and I argue, the F-word will just pop out, and my dad will swear back at me too," said the 20-year-old guy.

But the engineering student insists that it shouldn't be seen as a reflection of one's character.

"My friends from a previous college I studied at would swear, drink, smoke... every college will have groups like that. But even though they were into all that, I must say they are some of the best friends I've ever had."

As a girl who describes her use of expletives as "rather rampant", Amanda Ang believes she gets judged more harshly compared to guys who swear.

"People tend to be more taken aback when they hear me do it, and they'll perceive me differently. But it's nothing major. It's becoming more common among college girls anyway," said the 23-year-old student from Taylor's University College, who sees nothing wrong with her choice of words.

"They're just words. Most of the time, they're not meant to be harsh anyway. Sometimes it's just to emphasise a point, like as an adjective, or to show frustration," she added.

Amanda says college girls are cussing more than ever, and that includes herself.

"I use it in front of my parents as well. In fact, I think I got it from my father! We both use it at home, and my poor mum will be like 'why do you two keep using F-word?'"

The origins of bad language

To understand the point behind censoring language and to get to the bottom of this whole debate, we have to first understand the history behind these unspeakable words.

According to Universiti Malaya Department of English Language head and expert in sociolinguistics Professor Dr Faridah Noor Mohd Noor, censorship actually has its roots in church.

"Foul language would have been around since humans could talk. But in terms of censorship, in the English language it can be traced back to the 1530s during the English Reformation. It was used to avoid heresy against the Church of England," she said.

Theologian and president-elect of the Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, Reverend Yee Tham Wan, said: "But while Christianity might have influenced propriety in the use of English and other languages of Western cultures, I think it is not so much of a matter of religion today than simply propriety and etiquette."

Of course, Christianity's laws on blasphemy and heresy remain the same, but Rev Yee believes that the concept of profanity has evolved to a different thing altogether.

"Today, cursing as in expletives and not religious incantations is more a matter of social mores while blasphemy is a purely religious matter," he added.

What is profane

Even then, it seems that creatively manipulated blasphemous terms are still used today as cuss words (think "holy something").

But instead of being the great unspeakable terms they once were, they are now just part of a bigger pool of terms that has evolved to carry such negative connotations that they require censorship in various social situations.

These days, the commonly accepted expletives don't just derive from blasphemy, but sexual acts, body parts, excretions, animals and possibly even more, depending on one's creativity.

In terms of words we've commonly accepted as expletives, Dr Faridah believes it is society's perspectives on propriety that comes out tops.

"Religions will always teach us to be polite and not to harm, even verbally. But in terms of what language is acceptable, ultimately, society will be the judge.

Dr Faridah believes whether a word is considered obscene or profane depends on the cultural setting it's used in.

"Whether a word is considered profane differs from one place to another and one time to another, as it depends on the culture within which it is spoken. Even within that culture, a lot of it depends on the setting, your age group, your social status and even your gender," she added.

Justifying profanity

This might be music to the ears of all "pro-cussers", but Dr Faridah also says that the time period determines the severity of a particular word.

"Language is always evolving. Words will fall in and out of popular use, so the severity of certain cuss words will also change in time.

"For example, the word 'bloody' would make most people cringe uncomfortably when used in open conversation a few decades ago. But now it's used quite regularly," she said.

But before you potty mouths get ahead of yourself thinking that your foul language is simply an example of the beautiful evolution of language, Dr Faridah adds that it doesn't quite work that way.

"The severity of a profanity might change, but it will always be a word that's in a taboo category. So, though a word might not be as severe as it was in a different time period, but it will continue to be impolite and inappropriate for general conversation.

"People who curse might think it's cool, but after a while they will realise that people judge others based on firstly appearance, and secondly language; and I'd say language gives a better reflection of a person.

"In that sense, politeness will always be a virtue."

Find out more about the R.AGE No Cussing Challenge, where IAN YEE and some college students go a weekend without cussing, at our blog here