Just wondering how y'all feel about profanity.

I read Amazon reviews before I download a book to my Kindle. Many of the reviews mention substantive things like plot, sentence structure, character creation, setting--the stuff your English teacher talked about.

But so many of the one-star reviews (the lowest possible) are written because the reader is offended by crude language and/or profanity.

Excuse me, but what world do they live in? I have been known to swear on occasion, particularly when nothing else will express my frustration or pain, and the Anglo-Saxon words are what I need at that moment. They say it best. The Norman words (ultimately from Latin) like "excrement" and "fornication" or "copulation" just don't have the same punch.

I know people whose conversation is laced with those early English non-Norman words. Every other word it seems is a four-letter one. It gets boring. I used to tell the students in my class, "Don't bother me with those old, stale cuss words. If you come across something new, inventive, imaginative in the way of swearing, then let me know about it." That request cut way down on the cursing, to be thought of as boring was (is) anathema.

Yes, every now and then one of them would come up with one he or she thought might be new and interesting. We'd talk about it a bit; I'd review the etymology of it (love the history of word development), and we'd move on.

My point is that a book should not be rated as below average just because the characters use bad language. Like everything else in the world of letters, the review should reflect the quality of the entire work.

How do you feel about profanity in books? In real life? In journals like this one? Should we have a special language to express frustration, pain, anger, fear? Or are everyday words good enough.