DON'T SWEAR IN RUSSIA

If you've got a foul mouth, avoid Belgorod:

Police in Russia's western Belgorod region are imposing fines on people who swear in public - and local officials say the campaign is very popular.
The officials say young people have been minding their language since the ban was introduced in July.

Any person caught uttering profanities in public can face fines of up to $50.

The authorities have launched anti-swearing poster competitions, TV ads and comics in their campaign to clean up the Russian language.

"We want Russian to remain as pure as in the great classics," said Valentina Trunova, deputy head of Belgorod's department of youth affairs....

"We're mainly targeting young people," she said. "We will continue the campaign for a long time - we've had a very positive response."...

Almost 2,500 people - mostly under 30 - have been fined and about $50,000 has been collected, Belgorod officials say.

But according to Russia's Gazeta newspaper, some youths object to the crackdown.

"The cops have gone crazy," said one young man. "They are listening to our every word. We must constantly restrain ourselves."

Okay, I'm not real big on the police listening to one's every word, but I'd say it's not a bad thing that a bunch of ne'er do well youth learned to restrain themselves every now and then.