Curses! Town declares itself a cuss-free zone

? What the $%? This community on the edge of Los Angeles has become a cuss-free zone.

So if you’re headed to South Pasadena this week, be sure to turn down the volume on that Snoop Dogg CD, and, if the little old lady from Pasadena cuts you off in traffic, don’t even think about flipping her the bird.

Not that police will slap cuffs on you and haul your sorry, er, butt off to jail in light of the proclamation passed Wednesday by the City Council. But you could be shamed into better behavior by the unsettling glares of residents who take their reputation for civility seriously.

The proclamation will be in effect until Friday, and then the first week of every March hereafter.

South Pasadena isn’t the first to try to rein in potty mouths. Earlier this year, the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles, Mo., proposed banning swearing in bars.

But what’s different about the latest push is that it was proposed by a 14-year-old boy.

“My mom and dad always taught me good morals, good values, and not cussing was one of them,” said McKay Hatch, the founder of South Pasadena High School’s No Cussing Club.