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No one expects a 3-year-old who loves to dress like a princess to swear like a sailor.

But early exposure is not so uncommon. Who’s to blame? Well, there’s a pretty apt quote from a 1970 Pogo cartoon: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

The “us” are parents. A few weeks ago, I put a question out to hundreds of mothers on a local list-serv asking for anecdotes about the first time they heard their children use inappropriate words.

Many responses were similar to mom Julia Gordon of Silver Spring, Md. She was in her car, in a hurry and trying to park.

“The parking lot was crazy,” says Gordon, a lawyer and mother of a four-year-old daughter. When someone sped into a parking space she had been waiting for, Gordon said under her breath, “He totally screwed me.”

And a few minutes later, she heard her daughter parrot back the same phrase.

“I have to admit I did laugh at first,” says Gordon. “Then I immediately stopped and told her, ‘We don’t say that word!’”

The Worst Swear Word of All

Psychologists say it’s no surprise that children mimic words and phrases.

“That’s just language learning. These words have no special status as taboo words,” says Paul Bloom, Ph.D., of Yale University. “Learning they’re taboo words is a later step.”

Bloom explains that children are using words to communicate instinctively. They don’t yet have the judgment to take a step back and think about whether a word is appropriate for a given situation.

Bloom remembers one day when his son Max, then 6, came home from school.

Max asked in a hushed voice: “Dad, do you know what the worst swear word of all is?”

His son then went on to explain that “damn” must be the worst. When Bloom asked why, his son said, “I listen to my babysitter talk on the phone, and she uses the ‘f’ word, and the ’s’ word, but she never says ‘damn!’”

A study by the Parents Television Council found that about once an hour children watching popular children’s networks will hear mild curse words such as “stupid,” “loser” and “butt.” The scope and frequency can rise immeasurably with exposure to adult programs and popular music.

Lessons from the Playground

As an experiment with his children, Bloom and his wife tried their hand at creating their own family curse words.

“So one of them was ‘flep,’” says Bloom. Whenever someone would bang their foot or hurt their toe, they’d scream “flep” as if it were an obscenity.

The experiment was very short-lived.

“It was a total failure,” says Bloom. “The children looked at us as if we were crazy.”

The story gives one of Bloom’s mentors, Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, a chuckle.

“Children are far more influenced by peers,” says Pinker. “That’s why kids of immigrants end up with the accent of their peer group rather than their parents.”

Particularly once they’ve entered elementary school.

When it comes to choosing words, our society has a bent toward novelty. Pinker explains we’re forever coming up with new ways to express that things are “good” or “bad.” He says there’s always a little “semantic inflation” going on.

For instance, if members of Generation X hear a song they like, they may say, “It’s awesome.” A teen of today may say, “It’s bitchin’.” If the song is lousy, they may say, “It sucks.”

“When I was a kid and you said something sucks,” says Pinker, “it was pretty clear what sexual act they were referring back to.” But today kids have no idea. The term is just part of their common language.

Perception Is Everything

Frequent use, over time, has stripped away the original connotation. Pinker says the evolution of “sucks” is similar to that of “jerk” or “sucker.”

“There is an assumption that ’sucks’ was a reference to oral sex,” explains Jesse Sheidlower, editor-at-large of the Oxford English Dictionary. Some scholars debate this, but Sheidlower says perception is what matters.

“Suck” may sound edgy or obnoxious to middle-aged ears, but parents may be at a loss to explain why it’s a bad word, especially to an 8- or 9-year-old. “It brings up a conversation you might not want to have right now,” says Sheidlower.

Not everyone’s on the same page about what constitutes offensive language. The boundaries of what’s acceptable vary from community to community and family to family.

Setting Boundaries

Some moms listen for attitude and intention in their children’s words. Chevy Chase, Md., resident Sarah Pekkanen is the mother of two boys, ages 6 and 8, and she has found her dividing line.

“I would be much quicker to jump on my kid for saying an unkind thing,” says Pekkanen, “even if he used perfect language to do so.”

Pekkanen says a borderline phrase like, “it sucks,” isn’t as offensive if it’s not intended to insult anyone.

A clear message about respect may be more fruitful than trying to police every word. By the time kids enter the teen world, swearing is almost a rite-of-passage.

“It’s hard sometimes,” says pediatrician Monika Walters. “As parents, you worry that they’re going to grow up and be vagrants or a menace to society.”

When parents like this come to see her or pull her aside after an office appointment, worried about vulgar words they spotted in their teens’ text messages, she asks them to remember how they talked when they were 15.

Walters says if offensive language is part of a pattern of aggressive behavior, there’s a problem. But in most cases, it’s just the way teens salt their language.

“Obscenity is a sure ticket to adulthood,” says Paul Bloom.

Or at least a way for teenagers to perceive that they sound older.

Bloom says he doesn’t want to control the words his children choose to use with their friends. “That’s part of growing up,” he says.

Another part of growing up is knowing how to speak with adults and in formal situations. “So we’d like our children to grow up knowing when it’s appropriate to use these words,” Bloom says.

As most parents come to recognize, teaching good judgment is not a one-time event; it’s a process.

No matter what style of gaming you’re into, there’s something new this week to interest you. We’ve got it all: bargain bundles like Turbo Combo and the Metal Gear Solid Essential Collection, downloadable extravaganzas like Family Restaurant and Cate West: The Vanishing Files, and brand-new episodes in family-friendly series like Guitar Hero and Diner Dash. And if you prefer men running about with guns to doggies running about with perms, this week sees the launch of the latest in the smash hit Rainbow Six shooter series on PS3 and Xbox 360. Check out the full list!

Top Three:

Family Restaurant

Check Out Family Restaurant

You can get anything you want at the Family Restaurant, as long as what you want happens to be taking the helm of the kitchen in your father’s eatery. Can you meet the challenge of creating tasteful and imaginative recipes for his customers? Can you achieve that elusive five-star rating? Can you get that Arlo Guthrie song out of your head? Find out in Family Restaurant, new on Yahoo! Games this week.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Not content with tearing up Sin City in their first outing back in 2006, the Rainbow Six team is heading back for another visit. This time, they’re packing souped-up co-operative multiplayer, new character development features and a riveting new storyline. What happens in Vegas stays over on the Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 Premier Page.

Guitar Hero: On Tour

If there’s one thing we’ve always resented about the smash hit Guitar Hero series, it’s that the whole thing is so hard to carry. Have you ever tried lugging a great big plastic guitar on the bus? It’s not a pretty sight. Thanks to Activision, though, your portable strumming worries are at an end, and Yahoo! Games is very, very excited to exclusively unveil the newest Guitar Hero game coming soon to the Nintendo DS. Get the latest.

Xbox 360 hardware failures aren’t exactly unusual, but when Halo fan Nathaniel sent his Xbox 360 to Microsoft’s warranty repair center, he got back a little less than he was expecting.

Although Nathaniel’s Xbox began life as just a regular, launch-edition console, he’d customized the case with original artwork from noted Halo fan artist Luke McKay, signatures from Halo development team members, and other unique scribblings. In other words, it was a one-of-a-kind — so when it broke, he was understandably nervous. But after being assured by Microsoft support staff that his precious artwork would be safe, he sent the broken console in for repair.

When it came back, to Nathaniel’s horror, it had been scrubbed clean. His collectors’ item had become just another garden variety console.

Gamer hits the jackpot!
One week later, Nathaniel’s story took a turn for the awesome. Halo’s creator Bungie spotted blog postings about his sad story and set about seeing what they could do to make it up to this loyal fan. So while Nathaniel still doesn’t have his unique Xbox 360, he does have a huge grab bag of hard-to-find Halo memorabilia — including a model Master Chief helmet signed by the studio staff and a copy of the game’s soundtrack autographed by its composer, Martin O’Donnell — to make up for his loss.

“Bungie has far surpassed any response I could have anticipated,” said an overjoyed Nathaniel in a public statement.

Is your Xbox 360 still working? You must be one of the lucky ones.

Over 18 million Xbox 360s have sold through since the console’s launch in November 2005, but just how many of those are still working? Squaretrade, a company that specializes in providing warranty support to purchasers of electronic goods from various manufacturers, claims 16% of Xbox 360s experience a hardware failure within six to ten months after a warranty purchase. Three out of every five failures were for the infamous “Red Ring of Death” general hardware failure error, a problem often linked to overheating.

16 Percent of Xbox 360s Are Likely to Break, Report Claims

The Xbox’s figures compare poorly to competing consoles, which have a failure rate of around 3% — and if anything, the Squaretrade figure underestimates the scale of the Xbox 360’s reliability issues. It’s a good bet that some buyers of Squaretrade warranties went straight to Microsoft after experiencing hardware issues and don’t factor into the 16% number. On its company blog, Squaretrade pointed out that failure rates are “certain to go up” as the machines in their study group grow older.

Microsoft is cagey about coughing up official failure rate figures, which has lead some commentators to speculate about the actual severity of the problem. Luke Plunkett, a blogger on respected games news site Kotaku, said in a recent post that if the real failure rate wasn’t in the 30-40% range, he’d “wolf down humble pie until his sides split.”

Plunkett’s sides are likely safe. Stories of 360 owners making their way through eight or nine consoles aren’t hard to find, but to its credit, Microsoft has been working with the affected individual in at least one of those cases to lessen the impact of the constant failures.

16 Percent of Xbox 360s Are Likely to Break, Report Claims
Even so, there’s a surprise lurking for consumers who return their 360s for repair. When you purchase content — arcade games, extra tracks, etc. — over Xbox Live, it’s playable by any user on the console you used to make the transaction. If you go to a different console and sign in with your gamertag, you can download the content and play it only for as long as you’re signed in. Once you move back to your main machine, it will no longer be playable. Sounds like a handy system to let you take the content you own from place to place, right?

But the trick with this system is that once a broken machine returns from its little vacation, it generally has sufficient internal changes to make it look, to Xbox Live, like a different console. So all your downloaded content — which, if you’re a heavy user, could amount to hundreds of dollars worth of purchases — are only accessible to one gamertag, and only when the console has a live internet connection.

Getting this situation resolved can be difficult. Affected users have reported having to make repeated calls to the Xbox support line, often to no avail. Some fortunate individuals were able to eventually convince the MS reps to refund all the points they’d spent so they could repurchase all the affected content, although they had to do it using a different gamertag.

How to Avoid Hardware Problems
Air it out. Many failures are attributed to the inadequate cooling system of early-model 360s, so anything you can do to give it an easier time will pay off. Make sure you put the console in a place with cool, steady airflow.
Move it and lose it. Don’t change the orientation of the console when it’s running. The DVD drive’s running gear isn’t as well secured as it could be, so knocking over a vertically-standing console can cause the machinery to collide with the disc surface. Characteristic circular scratches are the result and are generally fatal for the game.
Think new. Thanks to a well-publicized cooling system redesign, newer machines are less likely to suffer problems. Any console bought in the last six months or so should have much better chances of surviving.
Red Ring of Death: What to do
Is it a “real” red ring of death? Somewhat confusingly, the true red ring error only has three of the four quarters of the ring illuminated. If all four are lit up, you have a much simpler problem: your A/V cable is loose!

Enterprising 360 owners have discovered a homebrewed way to fix the problem, although it only works for a short period of time. It involves turning on your console, wrapping it tightly in a towel, and leaving it on for 20-25 minutes. This might void your warranty from Microsoft, so consider yourself warned.

If all else fails, hit up the Xbox web site to request a warranty repair. They’ll send you a cardboard “coffin” for you to return your console and send back a fixed machine in a few weeks. The official warranty was extended to three years for this specific problem, so even launch-day 360s are technically still covered.

1. Actually, there are over 40 reasons you want it
Link. Zelda. Snake. Mario. Samus. Sonic. Pikachu. Bowser. Kirby. Peach. Wario. Smash Bros. Brawl features a huge list of characters from classic Nintendo games — and for the first time, favorites from non-Nintendo hits like Sonic the Hedgehog and Metal Gear join the party. Each comes with special attacks, props, sound effects and signature moves. Snake has even brought along his all-important cardboard box: no Special Forces agent leaves home without it.

2. Smash yourself
Smash Bros. games usually opt for multiplayer madness over single-player content. Not so with Brawl, which includes a solo Adventure Mode called “Subspace Emissary.” Written by a designer culled from the Final Fantasy games, it’s the perfect way to hone your skills before humiliating your friends, and if you get too lonely, you can even team up with a friend to take on the evil Subspace Army cooperatively.

3. Play with the world
That’s not to say that Brawl doesn’t have plenty of multiplayer content. In fact, it has more than any other Super Smash Bros. game to date. Not only can you enjoy four-player matches on one console you can also use the Wii’s wireless networking to take on players from your Wii friends list or the world at large. You can even capture replay footage of your victories and mail it to your rivals in the ultimate of trash-talking hijinks.

4. Choose your weapon
Smash Bros. Brawl supports either the Wii remote (and optional connected Nunchuk) or a GameCube controller. Which is better? Depends on who you talk to. Feedback from our office multiplayer sessions indicate some players prefer the classic feel of the older GameCube pad, but others opt for the more precise digital controls of the Wiimote. Thankfully, there’s none of this new-fangled waving, shaking, or pointing of the controller either: it’s buttons all the way.

5. It’s already a million-seller
After going on sale in Japan on Jan 31 and being awarded a perfect score from respected gaming magazine Famitsu, Super Smash Bros. has already made its way into the homes of over one million consumers. Can it repeat that success when it launches in the U.S. on March 9? Considering the buzz this title’s already receiving, you’d be a fool to bet against it.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Dwight Howard — super slam dunk champion.

A red cape trailing behind him, Orlando’s man of steel made like Superman and won perhaps the best dunk contest, definitely the most creative, in NBA history to close a memorable All-Star Saturday.

Using a variety of props as well as teammate Jameer Nelson, Howard scored perfect 50s from judges on his first two dunks before the contest was turned over to fan voting for the first time in the final round.

Fans, too, picked the 6-foot-11 Howard, who dispelled an old dunking myth: Big men can fly high.

“It’s really for the big men,” Howard said. “Everybody always says, big men can’t jump and big men don’t look good dunking. I just tried to add a little bit of my personality. With me being so tall, I knew it was going to be tough. I tried to play to the crowd and have fun.”

In any other year, Minnesota’s Gerald Green would have easily walked away with his second straight dunking crown, but he was upstaged by the amazingly athletic Howard, whose performance has to rank up there with anything Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter or even tiny Spud Webb ever did above the basket.

The dunk contest, bland for so many years as the game’s high risers seemed to run out of ideas, was freshened up by some of the most creative aerial assaults in memory.

Howard, Green, Toronto’s Jamario Moon and Memphis’ Rudy Gay all used tape, ladders, teammates and even a tasty dessert to show their stuff.

“I think the dunk contest is back,” said Howard, who was disappointed when he failed to make it out of the first round last year. “I don’t think people want to see the same old dunks. They want to see something else, see some spice.”

Howard started things off with a dunk he has been practicing for two years. Standing on the baseline, he tossed the ball off the reverse side of the backboard, caught it with both hands, and after peering through the glass at the rim, dunked left-handed.

The crowd roared and a celebrity panel of judges including Magic Johnson, Karl Malone as well as Dominique Wilkins, Julius Erving and Darryl Dawkins — three of the game’s most famed dunkers — all gave him perfect 10s.

Not to be outdone, Green tried to blow the field away. Literally.

After Timberwolves teammate Rashad McCants climbed up and placed a cupcake with a single candle in it on the back of the rim, Green soared in and puffed out the flame before throwing down a nasty left-hander.

“At first I thought he was going to take the cupcake, eat it and then dunk it,” Howard said. “I thought he would have won with that.”

In the second round, McCants sat on the top step of the ladder and handed the ball off to a rising Green, who crushed another dunk.

That’s when Howard stripped off his blue Magic jersey to reveal an “S” on his chest. As the crowd stood, he tied the cape around his massive shoulders.

“I didn’t have time to get the telephone booth,” he quipped.

Nelson placed a piece of tape to mark Howard’s take-off spot, and after a running start from near mid-court, the Magic’s main man took off just inside the free-throw line and fired down the ball with authority.

In the final round, Green performed two acrobatic dunks, one in only green socks after removing his sneakers. But neither of those could top Howard’s last two efforts.

First, Howard bounced the ball off the floor, tapped it left-handed off the backboard and dunked with his right hand. For Howard’s finale, Nelson affixed a miniature Orlando backboard next to the rim and balanced a ball on it.

Howard flew in from the right side, picked the ball off cleanly and slammed it in. He then only had to wait for fans to text message a result that seemed to be a no-brainer. Howard won in a landslide, receiving 78 percent of the vote.

Earlier, Jason Kapono showed nobody’s close to him from long distance.

The NBA’s best 3-point shooter this season, the Toronto forward with the silky touch won his second straight 3-point Shootout, tying a 22-year-old record with a final round of 25.

Kapono missed his first two shots in the last round before dropping 10 straight. By the time he approached the last rack of balls, Kapono had already clinched the win and didn’t have to fire up another shot.

But he knocked down a few more anyway, matching three-time winner Craig Hodges’ mark of 25 set in 1986. When his final shot swished through, Kapono, who made all five money balls — worth two points apiece — and went 20-for-25 in the last round, slapped high-fives with other All-Stars and hugged Raptors teammate Chris Bosh.

Kapono wasn’t sure what he’ll do with his second shiny trophy.

“I’m thinking in the bathroom or something,” he said. “Maybe every time I take a shower or I go in and brush my teeth I’ll start my day out staring at this beautiful trophy.”

Cleveland’s Daniel Gibson, who made 11 3-pointers in Friday night’s rookie challenge finished second. He scored 17 points in the final round, finishing three points ahead of Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, who replaced the injured Bryant.

Kapono almost didn’t get out of the first round. He was in danger of elimination as he approached the last rack but came through in the clutch by sinking five straight shots to advance.

In the Skills Challenge, Utah’s Deron Williams was flawless and fast.

With a nearly perfect run through an obstacle course of dribbling, passing and shooting, the Jazz point guard defeated New Orleans playmaker Chris Paul in the final round.

Williams blazed up, down and around the floor of the New Orleans Arena in 25.5 seconds, a new record for the six-year-old event. Cheered on by his home crowd, Paul, who completed the circuit in 29.9 seconds in the first round, finished in 31.2 seconds for second place.

In the night’s first event, San Antonio’s Becky Hammon, David Robinson and Tim Duncan won the Shooting Stars competition. It featured three-person teams consisting of an NBA player, a WNBA player and a former NBA great from the same city. Contestants had to make six shots with the final one a heave from mid-court.

Episode 28
Japanese Title: “Love is a Windy Ride Over a Plateau”
English Title: “Love Serving Love”

Summary: Summer is in full swing, so the girls decide to get their vacation time in by going to Reanne’s summer house. Unexpected visitors accompany them, and a classmate they don’t like is also there. Will the girls get any relaxation?

New episodes will premiere every Tuesday on 4kids.tv, so be on the lookout and discuss the action, comedy, and music here.

You’ve known it was coming, but tonight is finally the night in which you can kick back, relax and enjoy hours upon hours of your favorite extreme winter sports in glorious high-definition. In a move made far too late (but we’re thankful nonetheless), ESPN has finally decided to cover this year’s events from Aspen, Colorado in HD, marking the first time in Winter X history in which the entire four-day event will be broadcast in 720p across the ESPN family of networks. Ready to cancel a few plans and check out Sal Masekela (among other things) in HD? Hit the read link for the full schedule — the first snowflake flies tonight at 9:00PM EST on ESPN HD.

Starting today, Jan. 24, the X Games 12 take over Aspen. Through Jan. 27, be prepared to watch some serious shredding on the slopes. Not only do boarders trick out on the half pipe, but men and women attack the half pipe on skis, too. There will be big air, 1080s in the men’s half pipe (that’s three turns in one jump), and slopestyle on skis (crazy tricks on skis on a good old-fashioned ski slope).

Keep an eye out for Gretchen Bleiler. She is a 26-year-old boarder who took the silver in the ‘06 Olympics and has a couple of gold medals from previous X Games too. Not only was she the first woman to land the move known as The Crippler, but she also designs her own line of outerwear, which will be available in the Fall of 2008.

Here’s the broadcast schedule for ESPN so you can program your DVR as to not miss a marvel.

ASPEN, Colo. Jan. 24, 2008 - As temperatures drop, the excitement heats up in Aspen, which is hosting the Winter X Games for the seventh consecutive year. Most of the action will take place over the next four days - and the invited rider list reads like a who’s who of winter sports. This year’s Games should prove to be a showcase for the progress female action sports athletes have made in the genre.

Highlights of WX12 will include snowboarder Torah Bright and freeskier Sarah Burke who are both returning to Aspen  in a bid to reclaim gold. You’ll also see a lot of halfpipe queen Gretchen Bleiler, Winter X gold medal winner in 2003 and 2005 and a silver medalist on the 2006 Olympic pipe.

In boardercross, 22-year-old Lindsey Jacobellis is considered royalty with three Winter X boardercross gold medals, two World Championship titles and an Olympic silver medal in her trophy case.

Last year, Jamie Anderson became the youngest X Game gold winner when she won the women’s snowboard slopestyle, while older sister Joanie took first place in snocross so keep an eye on the Anderson girls once again.

Also not to be overlooked is Kelly Clark, 24, who is competing in her eighth Winter X Games. She’s earned four medals - two gold, two silver - all in the superpipe. Her last gold finish was in 2006.

As one of the most x-treme winter sports events in the world, Winter X attracts an international array of gravity-defying athletes. Money (record purses this year), medals and worldwide fame are all up for grabs as athletes compete in skiing, snowboard and snocross so catch all the action today through Sunday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Sunday’s NFC championship game at Green Bay isn’t likely to be the coldest ever in the NFL, although temperatures are expected to be near zero at kickoff.

The coldest game in NFL history was the 1981 AFC championship game, played Jan. 10, 1982, at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. The temperature was minus-9, and the wind chill plunged the readings to minus-59 as the Bengals beat San Diego 27-7.

Next was the Ice Bowl on Dec. 31, 1967 for the NFL title at Lambeau Field. The Packers beat Dallas 21-17 on Bart Starr’s quarterback sneak in the final seconds. It was minus-13 that day and the wind-chill factor was estimated at minus-48.

Projections for Sunday are temperatures reaching a high of 3 degrees, and with kickoff set for 5:30 p.m., the thermometer almost certainly will register below zero during what amounts to a night game. But the wind is not expected to be significant.

In Sunday’s early game between San Diego and New England at Foxborough, Mass, a 24-degree temperature is forecast for the 3 p.m. EST kickoff, with a wind-chill of 13. Hardly frigid compared to Green Bay.

The coldest game ever at Gillette Stadium was on Jan. 10, 2004, when the Patriots beat the Tennessee Titans in 4 degree temperatures.

A lot of talk has been around comparing todays Packers-Giants game to the coldest NFL game on record. It won’t break the records, but by the end of the game, temperatures will drop below zero, and I’m not sure how many athletes can’t be effected by the cold. Even with intense movement, the body temperatures will have a tough time keeping at a good level without extra layers.

As for the coldest game every, it was at Lambeau field on Dec. 31, 1967 with a game time temperature of -13. This will not be even close. There was an interesting report on Cincinnati claiming their game as the coldest, not because of the temperature (it was -9, 4 degrees lower), but because of the wind chill. This is a lot of nonsense as using the wind chill is not a good comparison. Those of you who watch me and know me know that I have often talked about the flaws of the wind chill. It’s not a true feels like temperature. If I put you in a room that is -20 and then push you outside with a wind chill of -20, you would not feel the same.  In fact, if you are not properly dressed you will be banging on the door begging to come back inside to the warm room. The wind chill really is a measure of energy lost via the wind and is based on exposed flesh. Wear layers and cover the arms and face, you take away the wind chill.

Now back to the wind chill for those past games. In 1967 there was a wind chill listed as -48 degrees and it was said to “feel like” -48. Well, we changed the equations of the wind chill in the year 2001 and now what was told to feel like -48 would be claimed in today’s standards to feel like -36.  I’m not sure how our feelings changed, do you? The -36 is still impressive, and you won’t find me wanting to stand outside for a long period of time without proper gear. However, given the new equations, it would be hard to break the old records with the wind chills. But the true measure of temperature will always stand the test of time.