Residents of a small Massachusetts town will have to start choosing their words more carefully.

Town leaders in Middleborough overwhelmingly passed an ordinance that calls for a fine if you get caught using bad language.

The ordinance makes loud, aggressive, and public cursing a civil violation. Anyone caught doing so will have to pay a $20 ticket, the same fine charged for littering or public drinking.

Residents have had mixed reactions to the new law.

"This is not freedom of speech. We're talking when it's now verbally assaulting everybody else who is out there," resident Mimi Duphily said.

"A lot of kids are kind of afraid to go downtown because they don't want to get slapped with a $20 fine," senior class president Timothy Trocchio said. "They don't know, like, what the gray area is."

Police officers are called on to use their best judgment to determine what language is profane.