I need to buy some Dial soap.

The reason?

I need to wash out my mouth.

On Thursday, I was talking with a relatively new acquaintance when I caught myself punctuating the conversation ever so often with profane words.

I was embarrassed after realizing what I had done.

It wasn’t a rant.

Nor was I trying to show how edgy I was a la Sam Kinison.

I’d use a rapper analogy, but they’ve gotten to the point using vulgarities is as routine as their breathing.

It was just a garbage word here and there that was soiling the points I was stressing.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t classy.

It wasn’t necessary.

And it was rude of me.

It devalued my words and it certainly wasn’t showing the respect the person I was talking with deserves.

To be clear, I know how to swear.

It’s not something I’m proud of but it can be a challenge not to do so.

No, I’m not blaming it on movies, podcasts, political exchanges and TV shows where profanity creep is approaching epidemic proportions.

I’m the one in control of what comes out of my mouth.

And while I clearly don’t swear like the proverbial sailors of yesteryear who would likely turn scarlet red to hear how some of us talk today, I do it a bit too much.

No, I’m not going to blame it in old age, although that line has been used over the years by more than a few people to justify their coarseness.

I do get that times change.

Cussing and such probably doesn’t bother a lot of those who are younger.

It does, though, at worst tarnish the words we use and at the least adds unnecessary junk words of little value.

And the shock value of using such words today is miniscule.

They’re being tossed around way too much for people to be astonished or taken aback by their use.

The seven dirty words comedian George Carlin famously said back in a 1972 monologue that you can’t say on TV are now just a sliver of the vulgarity that gets tossed about on social media, podcasts, and more.

It is to the point it is background noise to a large degree as garbage words are bellowed over and over again. Vulgarity has become static.

That said, shame on me, or anyone else who believes words matter.

I’m likely not going to ever go cold turkey but I can do much better.

If it was drummed into my DNA that cursing in a conversation constitutes disrespect then it’s on me to dial it back.

Vulgarities have been a part of language likely from the dawn of civilization.

The phrase “Jiminy Christmas” is a minced oath that gained traction in 19th century America as part of “polite society” when someone felt the urge to cuss.

It made its way into print in the late 1880s.

“Jiminy Christmas” was all the rage at one time to express astonishment, surprise of anger without veering into blasphemy.

Call it vulgarity lite.

The words “Jiminy Christmas” were used regularly by the late Dale Pence in the 1970s and 1980s when the Lincoln High School coach was expressing his displeasure with an official’s call or non-call.

He got away with using it for years.

Then one game an official slapped a technical foul on him for using it.

When he asked what the technical was for, Pence was told it was for swearing.

Pence protested he wasn’t swearing.

The official, obviously well-versed in minced oaths, disagreed telling Pence he knew what he meant.

Dropping the f-bomb and other such words might strike you as not being a big deal.

But they are the “gateway” words that helped hasten the apparent acceptance of speech that is demeaning and loaded with hate.

It isn’t a long road from spewing out vulgarities to personal attacks oozing with venom.

This is not a modern malady.

Political speech in the early days of the republic and well into the 1880s was almost on par with  what passes as an exchange today in the proverbial public square.

The printed word in terms of mass media — it was called newspapers — 150 years ago wasn’t much better.

In the amplified world created by the Internet and social media plus the fact we are living today instead of in 1820, makes us believe verbal decorum has dropped to new lows.

It might simply be cyclical or maybe we have too much time on our  hands now that we no longer have to worry about literally surviving day-to-day.

Either way, we spend too much time using potty mouth speech and ripping into strangers we have never met face-to-face while hiding anonymously behind keyboards.

I’m obviously will be uttering more cuss words as the years go by.

But that doesn’t mean I should do so, especially when I’m interacting with people as opposed to slamming my bunion onto a rock or in anger at myself for failing to make a direct hit on a nail.

It would be 50 percent better on such occasions, especially if there are people around, that I follow Coach Pence’s lead.

“Jiminy Christmas” as a minced oath is something between being cordial and blasphemy.

It’s antiquated, for sure.

Perhaps only those who know who the Andrew Sisters are or that S.I. Hayakawa was once a US Senator from California sandwiched between John Tunney and Pete Wilson have ever heard of “Jiminy Christmas.”

As for everyone else, if they were listening and heard that phrase they might stop and ask themselves what it means, or better yet, ask me.

It would give me a chance to explain its a polite way of expressing anger or frustration.

It might even open the door to have a discussion about why more civil speech is more effective than that laced with poisonous belittling, and ridiculing

And, what the heck, it might just work.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com