My mother’s all time worst word in the English language was the word suck. She could not tolerate this word and utterance of it meant sure punishment for my sister and I growing up.

I’ll never forget one day in my teenage years when I was so angry with my mom that I told her she “sucked.” As soon as the word was out of my mouth, I was totally horrified with myself. I ran out of the house before I could find out what she would do, and didn’t return until after they were in bed. I couldn’t sleep that night I was so filled with remorse. I could not believe I had used my mother’s all time worst word against her.

Flash forward 28 years. I’m now 43, have four kids of my own and I’m still sensitive to the word. It still makes me cringe more than any cuss word in the English language. So imagine my horror when I was driving in my car the other day, listening to a popular radio station and suddenly heard the word repeated over and over again. It was a commercial for a gum or patch to help smokers quit. They talked about how much it sucked to give up smoking, how much it sucked to have a drink without a cigarette blah blah blah. They must have said the word 10 times in a 30-second spot. My jaw dropped, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. When did that word enter the mainstream? When did it become so acceptable that it was ok to broadcast it across the airwaves — at 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning, no less?

My only consolation was that my kids were not in the car with me. Or my mother.