One of the best moments in one of the best holiday movies of all time is when Ralphie is helping his dad change a tire in “A Christmas Story.”

When the hubcap he is holding is jostled, sending the nuts flying, the 9-year-old’s world slows down as he says a long, drawn-out “Oh, fuuuuudge.”

“Only I didn’t say fudge. I said the word. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words. The f-dash-dash-dash word,” the grown-up narrator tells us.

It is a defining moment in young Ralphie’s life. He said something unforgivable and he said it in front of his dad. It’s something he later blames on his best friend, resulting in some rather loud corporal punishment at the Schwartz house while Ralphie himself has his mouth washed out with soap.

It feels like we could use a few bars of soap in today’s political arena. Everyone has gotten incredibly comfortable using four-letter words in the public square.

Some may point to President Donald Trump as offender-in-chief when he does things like describing majority Black nations as “s—-hole countries” in private meetings and onstage at a Pennsylvania rally. His vice president, JD Vance, also favors the S-word, which he has used on a podcast and in speaking to troops.

Democrats are no better, although they do seem to go less for offense than for emphasis with their profanity. However everyone from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris to newly announced Senate candidate Rep. Jasmine Crockett has thrown the f-word out there. Don’t let Ralphie’s mom hear you, guys!

The words can be jarring. “They don’t know what the f—-they’re doing,” as Trump told reporters about Israel and Iran in June, doesn’t exactly have the same ring as Ronald Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

The words can be damaging. Haiti and African countries have been tagged with Trump’s “s—-hole” comments across both of his terms now. Belittling and insulting other nations is not a good look for an office often referred to by the lofty title “the leader of the free world.” No one leads by degradation. That’s bullying.

But should we be prudish about it? I’m going to be genuine here. My tendency to swear was acquired in Catholic school and polished in a newsroom. It’s second nature for me to use f—- as an adverb — and to expect Sister Francesca to appear with a ruler to administer swift and immediate discipline. That tendency never — well, rarely — shows up in print.

There’s an honesty about swearing that can make politicians relatable. We all do it, whether out of frustration or habit. Knowing our leaders feel and act the same way might make them seem more real and less like something untouchable and distant.

But while we need real people to do the work and feel the pain, we still need the job to remain in that lofty space.

Politics isn’t just who you want to join for a beer. It’s not which guy do you want to tell you a joke after work or who quips the best salty messages online.

Politics should be thinking before you speak — or act. It is diplomacy. It is strategy. It is deliberation. That may sometimes include a little pointed profanity, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. If you can’t control your f-bombs, how can you control the real bombs?

Unchecked vulgarity speaks of disrespect and disdain, both for the subject and for the audience. That’s a contempt that shouldn’t be allowed to fester.

Our leaders don’t have to be holier-than-thou caricatures. They can be candid without being crass.

And it’s nothing a bar of soap can’t cure. Just ask Ralphie.

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