Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says a "talking-to" by his wife has convinced him he should have used cleaner language Saturday night after he employed a word his father once famously used in the House of Commons.

The coarse language, which Trudeau used as an adverb rather than the verb his father chose, led the Prime Minister's Office to question Trudeau's judgment.

But Trudeau, speaking to reporters Monday in Ajax, Ont., said he regretted dropping the f-bomb after getting scolded by his wife, Sophie.

"If you had seen the scolding that Sophie gave me, you would have wished you'd used a different adjective as well," he said following a speech to the Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade.

Trudeau used the salty language at a charity boxing event Saturday night in Gatineau, Que., the same one at which he pummelled then Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in 2012 .

Speaking from the ring, Trudeau said it pained him to be standing there and not suited up to take on an opponent.

"I will tell you, there is no experience like stepping into this ring and measuring yourself. All that — your name, your fortune, your intelligence, your beauty — none of that f--king matters," Trudeau can be heard saying in a video of the event posted to YouTube.

The line was met with huge cheers from the fight night crowd.

'Lack of judgment'

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper wasn't as enthusiastic.

"This is yet another example of Justin Trudeau's lack of judgment," Harper's spokesman said in an email to CBC News.

On Monday, Trudeau admitted he wished he'd used a different word.

"Listen, it was fight night at the casino on Saturday night, and I found myself again in a boxing ring, and I guess I let my emotions run a little hot. But rest assured I got an awful lot of a talking-to at home from Sophie and nothing anyone else can add will be worse than that," Trudeau said.

Trudeau pointed to a number of failed Harper appointments, including last fall's nomination of Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court, and said it was interesting the Prime Minister's Office would criticize him. The court ruled Nadon's appointment was void, meaning Harper must find another person to appoint to Canada's highest court.

In 1971, his father Pierre, then the prime minister, was accused of mouthing a profane phrase in the House of Commons to Progressive Conservative MPs John Lundrigan and Lincoln Alexander. Asked about it later, Pierre Trudeau referred to the term as "fuddle duddle." He also accused the MPs of being sensitive and going "crying to mama."

It's 'better not said'

The younger Trudeau has been known to use coarse language in the past. In 2011, he called then environment minister Peter Kent a "piece of shit" in the House of Commons.

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier said it's not the first time Trudeau has made that kind of error, but focused on Trudeau's economic policy.

Asked whether he's ever used the f-word as Trudeau did, Bernier said, "Not publicly, maybe."

Liberal MP Wayne Easter said the Conservatives will use any line to try to argue that Trudeau has bad judgment. He pointed to some of the appointments Harper has made, including those of Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin to the Senate.

"It would have been better not said," Easter remarked. "However, I think you have to look at, he was doing a charity event, he was doing good work, and I think it was kind of meant to be in a joking style, but as a leader, you can't lay out those kind of jokes."

Warning: This video contains graphic language that may be offensive