Labels stick. That's true for the stickers on sale items, and true for the names people call each other. Give a dog a good name, the saying goes, and he'll be a good dog. Sadly, the opposite is also the case.

For such reasons we applaud Utah's first lady, Mary Kaye Huntsman, and her campaign to call off the name calling. One first blush, the program looks like the "feel good" causes that first ladies often embrace, but on reflection it becomes a strong reminder that, as individuals, one of the few things people can truly control in the modern world are their tongues. Civil discourse leads to civil behavior. And today, with immigrants flowing into the state and so many groups vying for credibility, watching one's vocabulary can translate into watching one's temper.

The tongue is small, but its boasts are great. Such a small thing kindles great fires.

That thought might have been voiced yesterday by an ethics professor. But it wasn't. It was said 2,000 years by James in the Bible.

Dealing with language that is out of line has a long and storied history.

As Mrs. Huntsman's push emphasizes, harsh words and name calling can have a devastating effect on children. Adults, in fact, would be chagrined to learn how often things they've said in passing and have completely forgotten have left lasting impressions in the lives of youngsters.

For a similar campaign, singers Peter, Paul and Mary put the Brad Paisley song "Don't Laugh at Me" to work for them.

It begins:

Don't laugh at me, don't call me names.

Don't get your pleasure from my pain.

And ends with the poignant thought:

I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm short, I'm tall

I'm deaf, I'm blind, hey, aren't we all?

We wish the first lady the best with her billboard campaign. At a time when racial epithets have replaced many other words as the true profanity in language, finding a way to stamp out their usage will take time and patience. But helping people realize how much the words injure others, especially children, is a good place to begin. When people paste labels on others, society must paste one on them: "Wrong headed."

In the end, the old saying about sticks and stones breaking bones had it wrong. Words do hurt. In fact, when it comes to the human spirit, they can do more damage than hurled rocks.