I do apologize to anyone who was offended by my expletives undeleted in the post about fireworks the other day. I have to remember that most people have not worked in a newsroom for 30 years.

That's not an excuse, I know. But newsrooms are - or were - places where salty language was common. So there wasn't much motivation to clean up my potty mouth, which tends to run like bad toilet when I'm angry.

Upon reflection, it wasn't smart, sensitive or courteous of me of me to use language that might offend in a column about people who lack courtesy.

My bad.