"'Kicking ass' is acceptable vulgarity, " says Michael Adams, professor of English language at Indiana University-Bloomington and author of Slang: The People's Poetry.

BBC: Kentucky 'kicks ass': Taking pride in plain speaking

Meanwhile, Keith Clay, of Indiana University in Bloomington, is studying the idea that periodical-cicada broods are getting bigger over the decades.

ECONOMIST: The 17-year cicadas are about to emerge in force