The problem with being the best for so long is that you stop trying. Such is why Rome fell and it's the affliction that currently taints The New York Times almost weekly.

Only a few days ago the Gray Lady dissected the decline of the "chick flick," today she blithely lays up a two-page look at — no shit — whether or not TV cooks like Gordon Ramsay swear too much. Here's an actual, real, unimagined quote from the piece, from chef Marco Pierre White: "I have sworn, yes, in the early days, going back 20 years … It was just growing up." Scintillating! Amazing how a story attempting to purify language can make us so desirous to curse.