Imagine you have a friend who often uses vulgarities and like they say has a bad mouth. You want to give them advice and ask them not to use vulgar language as a friend who wants the best for him/her. Also you dislike his/her mannerism, but for some reasons you can not put an end to this friendship (you want to maintain that relationship.)
Once, when he/she is talking to you about a serious matter, he/she starts cussing and mixing their words with some of his personal catchwords which everyone would consider them indecent.
I need to know whether the sentence bellow sounds natural to you and if not, what is the natural way to say:
- Don’t be a foul-mouthed person.
Best Answer
The expression thatt you suggested does not sound natural. It would be slightly better as
The following expressions are widely used: the appropriate expression would depend on how well you know the person.
watch your mouth - this quite aggressive, and would be used with somebody that you don't know... this could get you into trouble if you said it to somebody that is bigger than you.
don't be vulgar - this is firm but not aggressive. You could say it to somebody whether or not you know them.
mind your language - this expresses mild disapproval: you might use this to somebody that you do know
not in front of the children- if a friend lets slip an inappropriate word: this can be used even if no children are present.
wash your mouth out with soap - a parent could say this to a child, or you could say it to a friend to make a good-humoured criticism.