Watch Your Mouth at This Baltimore Bar

Customers and employees docked for off-color language

The proprietors of the Mount Royal Tavern are trying to raise the civility level in their establishment: they recently installed a “Cuss Bucket” for anyone who uses off-color language in the barroom.

 “It's a bar, and I don't mind a 'hell' or a 'damn' — they're allowed to use them — but when people start yelling the other profanities, that's it," Ron Carback, the bar's proprieter, told the Baltimore Sun.  He's owned the bar with partner Chris Kozak since 1985.

The tavern is popular with residents of Bolton Hill, Reservoir Hill and students at the nearby Maryland Institute College of Art.

Customers who get a little too blue – or creative – with their language are forced to pay a quarter per word. Bartenders pay a dollar per profanity. All the money goes into a large plastic jar that used to house pretzels but has been re-christened  the “Mount Royal Tavern Cuss Bucket.”

The money goes to charity.  "We collected $110 in three weeks, which we donated to the SPCA," Carback told the Sun. "My thought was: 'Be an animal, then help the animals.'

John Corun, the bar's manager, added that he’s been one of the chief contributors. "I've almost used up a whole paycheck," he told the Sun  with a laugh.

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