Swearing Provides Pain Relief, Say Scientists 230
Hugh Pickens writes "Scientific American reports that although cursing is notoriously decried in the public debate, scientists have discovered that swearing may serve an important function in relieving pain. 'Swearing is such a common response to pain that there has to be an underlying reason why we do it,' says Richard Stephens of Keele University in England. A study measured how long college students could keep their hands immersed in cold water. During the chilly exercise, they could repeat an expletive of their choice or chant a neutral word. When swearing, the 67 student volunteers reported less pain and on average endured about 40 seconds longer. How swearing achieves its physical effects is unclear, but the researchers speculate that brain circuitry linked to emotion is involved. Earlier studies have shown that unlike normal language, which relies on the outer few millimeters in the left hemisphere of the brain, expletives hinge on evolutionarily ancient structures buried deep inside the right half like the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight-or-flight response in which our heart rate climbs and we become less sensitive to pain."
I call bullshit... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I call bullshit... (Score:5, Interesting)
I call bullshit...
Yes, yes, it does sound like a steaming pile. But reading the article they compared people yelling profanities with other people "chanting neutral words". Both subjects had their hands immersed in cold water. It sounds like have an outlet to relieve stress has a lot more to do with the outcome then whatever they said.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
But are they sure the swearing is the cause of that activity in the brain, or is that activity caused by the successful removal of stress which swearing just happens to make easier to achieve. Chanting "neutral" words might in fact have the opposite effect of relieving stress, since you're forcably trying to ignore the fact that YOUR HAND IS HURTING. I didn't RTFA like a true slashdotter, but if they didn't have one, they should have included an extra group of people where were forced to keep their traps sh
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Since the TFA doesn't go into the study design I can't be sure how controlled this study was. It sounds like the subjects could choose whether to swear or to chant a neutral word. So, perhaps all they've proven is that the type of personality that makes one endure pain better also makes you more prone to swearing. If they picked 100 people at random, and then randomly assigned each one to the swearing vs neutral groups this would be less of an issue. Then again, it probably wouldn't hurt to do it both w
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Both subjects had their hands immersed in cold water.
Why is this still the basis for pain threshold tests? I did this in high school. If you keep your hand in the water long enough, you become accustomed to the cold and can keep it in indefinitely.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Have you tried doing this with a bowl full of really salty water and crushed ice?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
It's not that, if you fill the bowl with loosely packed crushed ice and then pour water into it you'll get a solid block of ice. Doing it with really salty water lowers the freezing point enough that you can at least get your hand in.
If you're REALLY serious about trying to torture yourself with a bowl of something cold just use alcohol instead.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Another possibility is that the "swearing" group got to do what came naturally, so they could concentrate on staying in the game. While the "neutral word" group had to focus on some unfamiliar word ("doppelganger", for instance) while simultaneously getting their mitts frozen. Doppelganger, doppelganger, that's way harsh. Or....
Damn you FUCKING SACK of PHD SHIT!!!
Re:I call bullshit... (Score:4, Insightful)
It might also partially explain why people going through (say) cigarette withdraw symptoms are rude motherfuckers. They need a quick and immediate release channel for what they used to relieve via smoking. Then they have to re-learn how to be emotionally pleasant without the drugs.
Correlation or causation? (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe this simply demonstrates that the type of people who would choose a neutral word to say are likely to have a lower tolerance for pain?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is entirely the wrong thing to be comparing with. Everyone has heard people say that swearing makes them feel better, and anyone with some insight into their own minds can tell that's probably true, without a study.
What they SHOULD be comparing with is other things that people say make them feel better -- meditation, and a massage, for instance. If they're all equally effective, then you can say that it's all in the
Re:I call bullshit... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
SLOW FUCKING JAVASCRIPT (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Because Rob Malda and his web monkeys couldn't code their ways out of a wet paper sack.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe it's to prevent idiots from posting too many comments.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:SLOW FUCKING JAVASCRIPT (Score:5, Funny)
+1 Motherfucking Truth
Re: (Score:2)
I don't have a lot of delays, but my graphics card clocks up to full speed when scrolling Slashdot in Firefox, and that's saying something :D...
Oh, and have I mentioned the momentary Firefox lock-ups when loading Slashdot articles with 200+ comments? Boo Slashdot. Bring on multithreaded Firefox!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah--Slashdot is the only text-based Web site that makes the fans on my laptop run fast enough to be audible. Usually the only online activity that does that is watching long videos on YouTube.
Effectiveness for emotional stress? (Score:5, Funny)
Physical pain is easily overcome through the use of drugs. It is also controllable through meditation and other mind-tricks which move the focus of the mind and body from the pain to something else.
But what about emotional pain? Should I keep calling her and swearing at her until I feel better? I don't feel better so far.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Effectiveness for emotional stress? (Score:5, Interesting)
I beg to differ on your first point. I have CRPS, and as a result know a bit about physical pain. Over the years I have been on prescription Tramadol, Morphine, Oxycontin, Fentanyl, Gabapentin, Lyrica and Ketamine. I also get periodic blocks, which are injections of Lignocaine to ganglia. And thats not counting injections of Phenol to destroy nerves, Botox and steroids.
Only the anaesthetics actually stop pain (Ketamine and Lignocaine), and have other sides effects. Nerve destruction doesnt last. The AEDs reduce pain by reducing the firing of every nerve in the body, including the CNS, so there are no orgasms and your memory suffers.
Narcotics don't actually stop or reduce the pain. What they do is you don't have to care about it any more. And they have their own side effects, not the least being that you no longer care about the things you should care about. Even if smacked off my gourd on Fentanyl (which is a horrible drug), if I focus on my pain it's still there, but I just don't care about it. Narcotics reduce or eliminate the affect, not the effect.
Pain is not "easily" overcome chemically. There is a price to be paid. Mind tricks only work to a partial extent, and you can't keep your attention fixed on something else all the time without tripping over things and having accidents.
I find it interesting that swearing is shown to be efficacious, as it shows that the emotional release works. I have to wonder if swearing releases encephalins.
Selection Bias? (Score:3, Insightful)
So they are letting people self-select themselves into the experimental and control groups... doesn't this bias the experimental results pretty badly? Wouldn't it have been more effective to ask a group specifically to cuss their head off and ask a group specifically to refrain from swearing?
Re:Selection Bias? (Score:4, Informative)
I was wondering that myself -- obviously if they were self-selecting, the results are worthless. (Or rather, they tell us something interesting, but that something isn't what the article claims.) So I read the journal article, and speaking as a biostatistician, I'm pretty happy with the study design. They did in fact randomize into experimental and control groups, and did a repeated measures design, i.e., all participants were in both swearing and non-swearing groups but the order was randomized, so one subject might be in the swearing group first and then the non-swearing group, while another might be in non-swearing and then swearing. If you happen to be a student or faculty at a school with a library with access to the journal, it's worth reading; it's a nice, almost textbook example of how to report this kind of work.
It's not complicated. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's like whenever I hear the phrase "no new taxes on anyone making under $250k." I just curse loudly enough to make my dogs leave the room, and I feel 1% better.
Re: (Score:2)
SIt's like whenever I hear the phrase "no new taxes on anyone making under $250k." I just curse loudly enough to make my dogs leave the room, and I feel 1% better.
Now you have me cursing... Thanks for that.
Pain vocalization (Score:5, Interesting)
How do you explain swearing to yourself? I spent many nights during the past month pacing around my apartment with worsening cancer pain. Sometimes it got bad enough to elicit yelps and curses. There was nobody else around to give me an adrenaline rush from risky social behavior. It hurt, I swore, I felt a little better.
I also discovered that singing to myself helps with tolerating pain. I was laid out still on a hard radiation table for an hour. The first ten minutes were easy but the pain got worse and worse as I stayed in that one position. Since I couldn't move, I tried moaning to myself - which helped a little. On the third session I tried humming and singing along with my iPod, and found that was even more effective at helping me endure the pain to get the treatment.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I once had a nasty inflammation in my guts after a caecum surgery. The doctor managed to burst it when it was still inside. I was released from the hospital next morning and the stomach pain started some hours after. And it hurt like hell! I've never felt anything like that. But what I discovered was that joking helps. When I got other people to laugh I (almost) forgot my stomach pain.
And then the sweet, sweet painkillers when I finally got back to the hospital (had to drive 10 km there, ambulance refused t
Re: (Score:2)
Swearing out loud in front of other people can carry some baggage and consequence. It's risky social behavior. Any risk taking can generate some adrenaline. The adrenaline makes it easier to tolerate the pain.
I disagree with your hypothesis. Swearing when you're alone helps alleviate pain as well. It may well be linked to adrenaline, but probably has nothing to do with the chance of being overheard. I further disbelieve your premise because I swear in public constantly and think nothing of it. That may make me lowbrow, but I STILL find that swearing helps alleviate pain.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Swearing when you're alone is only swearing because... you think of it as swearing. Which means that the part of your brain that's choosing and using those words is doing it in that context: knowing that they're words set aside for a specific sort of expression.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Much of the point of the article is that in fact you are NOT thinking of it as swearing... it's not thinking in the same way that choosing your words and speaking is, because it comes from a different part of the brain. One of that part's functions (or side effects) seems to be the imperative to cuss and swear. Sometimes I make incoherent noises instead of actually swearing, I wonder if they come from the same part of the brain? (You know, the Tazmanian Devil razzle frazzle dialect...)
Re:It's not complicated. (Score:5, Funny)
Swearing out loud in front of other people can carry some baggage and consequence. It's risky social behavior.
Only if you dick around fucking prudes.
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
Dear Useful Idiot:
You're missing the point (of course). People who make under $250k are absolutely going to be paying more taxes. A LOT more taxes. Have fun with that.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just the ruling party's discussions, this very past week, about now being open to taxing health care benefits (except for union members, of course, since we all know who they vote for), and the "cap-and-trade" legislation which is a tax on everyone and everything in the economy.
To say nothing of the very real tax that is future interest on trillions of dollars in new deficit spending - an amount that dwarfs the combined deficit spending of the last
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Taxing your employee health care benefits? Let's call that a
Taxing carbon use? Let's see... sure, let's call that a tax increase, too. What with it being, you know, a tax and whatnot.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I make way more than that and yet I use just as much road, public libraries, etc as anyone else. It's fucked up that just because I got a break that I have to give away a third of my income. I paid $140,000 in taxes. That's money I just gave away and I will never see again. I still don't have health insurance either. Just because I'm successful now doesn't mean my problems have all gone away. At any moment I could be on my ass with no income. Yet the government taxes me like it's a sure thing. That's fucke
Re: (Score:2)
I make way more than that and yet I use just as much road, public libraries, etc as anyone else. It's fucked up that just because I got a break that I have to give away a third of my income. I paid $140,000 in taxes. That's money I just gave away and I will never see again. I still don't have health insurance either. Just because I'm successful now doesn't mean my problems have all gone away. At any moment I could be on my ass with no income. Yet the government taxes me like it's a sure thing. That's fucked up and something you will never understand until you get where I'm at.
Here's what I hear : "I'm rich whaaaa whaaa I could become poor again at any time so don't take more money in proportion to what I earn I need every last cent of what I earn cause what do you know maybe one day I won't earn anything whaaaa you shouldn't have to pay more than just what you use in taxes if you're a whiny ass egoistical cocksucker like me"
If you paid $140,000 in taxes that means that you earn enough to get yourself a nice 1960s Cadillac and fill it with first choice hookers. Quit whining, do that and shut the fuck up. Fagget.
That kind of overt jealousy and overall childishness that you just displayed is actually one of the stronger arguments against your position.
Don't pretend to know what I believe because I say that, either. That would be the easy way, the low-hanging fruit, the coward's way out. What I just told you is true whether or not I think progressive taxation is a good idea. What I think about that matter and the reasoning with which I would support my view is unfortunately wasted on this sort of vitriol.
Re: (Score:2)
That kind of overt jealousy and overall childishness that you just displayed is actually one of the stronger arguments against your position.
Someone poorly arguing a position is an argument against the position? A very solid logic. Moron.
Don't pretend to know what I believe because I say that, either. That would be the easy way, the low-hanging fruit, the coward's way out. What I just told you is true whether or not I think progressive taxation is a good idea. What I think about that matter and the re
Re: (Score:2)
Not really any need for any arguments, countries need money to run, rich people have more money plus can be safely relieved of more of it without it to become a real problem to them, therefore more is taken there. Simple as that. And no one cares about the whiners or what they have to whine about. To them society says "suck my collective dick, either pay your taxes, gfto the country or go to jail".
Besides, income taxation in the USA currently ranges from 10% to 35%, that's hardly a huge difference, wherea
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't matter. It's a habit. We're wired to do some communications-related things like that with such speed that it sure doesn't feel like we're thinking about it at all. But you can't choose, form, and utter a word without some higher functions kicking in.
See? It really IS okay if I curse my computer... (Score:2)
... when it misbehaves! I'm reducing the pain of the experience.
Vindication! (Score:2)
I'm sure this must be a relief to George Carlin .. he must be the happiest man on ...
what?
Dead you say?
Well, at least his legacy lives on.
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, CockSucker, MotherFucker, and Tits
I feel better already.
Re: (Score:2)
Fart, Turd and Twat.
There, fixed that for ya.
Swearing is good for us, eh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Okay, I guess I'd best get my daily dose:
Slashdot, fucking fix your fucking broken site, or fire the fucking incompetent fool doing the coding.
Re: (Score:2)
Amygdala (Score:2)
the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight-or-flight response in which our heart rate climbs and we become less sensitive to pain
It also happens to look like something out of Dragonball [wikipedia.org]
Aphasia (Score:5, Interesting)
I've heard of people who are left unable to speak (due to a stroke or other brain trauma) still being able to curse and swear like sailors. This does seem to indicate that swearing is linked to something more than just the speech center.
Re:Aphasia (Score:5, Interesting)
My sister has an opposite reaction. When she encounters something swearworthy (such as hammering her thumb), she puffs up like she's about to explode, and can't get a word out. I'll come up and say "Shit fuck damn hell sonuvabitch" and it's like someone let the air out of my sister -- and she feels better even tho she didn't do the swearing!!
So... apparently swearing via proxy also works.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, if you've been doin' the swearing for her... she just hasn't developed any backbone. Time to let her grow up a bit and take on the responsibility of swearing on her own when she needs it. ;)
Seriously... little kids tend to cry or not cry when hurt or surprised, depending on what they believe their parents *expect* them to do. By now it's a little late to control which reaction she's habituated to, and she may be using it for attention without realizing it, or simply doing what she thinks you expect, a
Re: (Score:2)
When my grandfather was dying of Parkinson's Disease he gradually lost all his speech facilities. At the very end, the only words he was able to speak were obscenities. Full disclosure: he was a sailor, on one of the last American flagged square riggers operating commercially on the west coast.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There's a catch (Score:3, Informative)
There is a catch, though: The more we swear, the less emotionally potent the words become, Stephens cautions. And without emotion, all that is left of a swearword is the word itself, unlikely to soothe anyone's pain.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why we've got creativity; new swear-words can be added. And of course, your mind gets dirtier in the process. Those same words should work just fine (just like "darn" works for some Christians, etc.).
"Roger's Profanisaurus" now treats pain . . . ? (Score:2)
Wow, that's good news for the folks at "Viz" : http://www.viz.co.uk/books.html [viz.co.uk] or http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/095485778X/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books [amazon.co.uk]
Maybe Dr House should just swear more, and then he wouldn't need so much Vicodin?
Now you just need to convince those around you that there is a medical reason (other than Tourette's Syndrome) for your chronic swearing . . .
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
See: Copralalia [wikipedia.org]
Swearing feels good. That's why we do it. Not surprising that some people with Tourette's do it uncontrollably.
Cursing, Not Swearing (Score:4, Interesting)
These effects of making foul expletives show why it's more properly called "cursing" than "swearing". Cursing is a verbal counterattack on the source of the pain, which is more like the practice of placing a curse on an enemy than the practice of making a holy vow - because the vow here is profane. I expect researchers will find that cursing puts the curser in an attack state that suppresses the experience of pain. I also expect we'll find that cursing releases physical and mental stress, relaxing physical and mental parts of us so they can return to normal sensation, not the disarray that is the basis of our feeling pain to begin with.
On the US East Coast, we call it "cursing". I know on the West Coast they call it "swearing", and evidently do in the UK. The East Coast is known for its advanced research, typically in the streets, in coping with pain of all sorts, especially by talking. Maybe once they get the right names on these effects, they'll be able to use our informal groundwork to curse better, or perhaps an upgrade to swear off cursing entirely, just as bandaids have replaced blisters.
Re:Cursing, Not Swearing (Score:4, Insightful)
Meh. I live in Quebec. Tabarnac de sacrement de calice (roughly tabernacle of the sacrament of the chalice) is about the worst thing you can say. Swearing seems to fit much better.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah. Weird I know. "Fuck" isn't really much of a swear word here. You can say it all you want on (French) TV.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm from NYC and Long Island.
We also call Pittsburgh "West" and DC "the South".
Hm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hm... (Score:5, Funny)
Or when you're getting that really hot stove out of the oven
Yo dawg, I herd you like stoves, so I put a stove in your oven so you could cook while you cook!
Re: (Score:2)
Keeping a stove in an oven is dangerous for other reasons than it's hot when you take it out. Exhaling your lungs sounds like a particularly nasty side effect of swearing too. Is that anything like when smokers cough up a lung?
Coprolalia (Score:3, Interesting)
It's a shame that no mention was made in TFA to coprolalia ("the spontaneous utterance of socially objectionable or taboo words or phrases": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprolalia [wikipedia.org]), which is one of the symptoms of Tourette syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourette_syndrome).
It seems to me that there must be some deep psychological need for letting rip with a few choice words and phrases.
And teh next question is: .... (Score:2)
What is the most common subject matter for which swearing is about?
1) Domestic quarrels
2) computer usage
3) microsoft
3) other (list)
Cursing decried in public debate! (Score:2)
cursing is notoriously decried in the public debate
Kindest sirs,
I am concerned, due to the nature of the language which you have utilised upon this occasion, that you may in fact be referring to an article from around the turn of the century.
Your faithful and humble servant,
YourExperiment, esq.
Fuck, yeah! (Score:2)
'nuff said, cocksuckers.
(Can you tell I've been re-watching Deadwood lately? ;-)
That explains ... (Score:2)
This is why I rely on statistics (Score:2)
This is why I rely on statistics.
test #1: (Score:4, Funny)
serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now serenity now
hmmm
test #2:
FUCK!
no... same relief, just faster
Wrongsies (Score:4, Informative)
The conclusion is OK, the details presented suffer. That's common in pop-science writing, and sadly increasingly common in SciAm.
Left side = language: Based on the largest group of similar orientation, right handed males. Not even a majority -- 40%. Left handed males are right-side language almost the same proportion but are few overall. There are 'ipsilateral language' (same side as dominant hand, as opposed to 'contralateral', other-side), as well as 'undifferentiated', with language capability on both sides. Females are somewhat similar in breakdown but more undifferentiated overall. Also, the generalization is for non-tonal based languages such as English. See "right/other side" below.
Amygdala is "under the right": The amygdala is bilateral, with left and right parts. The right part is however functionally predisposed to processing stress handling behavior http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6SYP-4CT63XM-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=955088512&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7d34a0fd5e2952f900c2698ce0abe684 [sciencedirect.com] .
Left cortex vs. right deep: All language functions are handled in the outer few millimeters of the brain, the cortex. Some processes may be driven by deep structures, but all higher order processing relies on cortical activity.
Right/other side cortex: Opposite (or mixed with, in 'undifferentiated' brains) the language centers there is an equally employed structure that controls "prosidy", or emotional processing, understanding and expression in language. It is more oriented to tonal processing making it central to music as well as to tonal-based languages. "Right side" or prosidic region damage can result in flat monotone response to expression about both winning the lottery and death of a loved one. Or it can result in inappropriate response, such as laughter, to everything.
If you consider the necessity of 'other-side' processing in tonal language and the large population that uses it, the western/English, right handed, males, contralateral language center "dominance" becomes a great deal less world wide (there are brains world wide, honest) than the 40% usually quoted in western language research literature and texts.
Moving the expresssion of distress from the language structure dominant area to the prosidic/emotional area does tap into underlying emotion processing. Then again, so would singing. I'd like to see replication with singing instead of cursing -- betcha it's similar in outcome. Evidence: stuttering is stress based; stutters frequently don't stutter when they sing, ask (according to his belt buckle) M-M-M-M-Mel Tillis. And, a naive hypothesis: I'd bet that while those that use tonal languages may curse in pain and such, they are far more likely to use coherent language with stress (in both senses) placed in the tonal aspect of what they're expressing. Any speakers or Chinese dialects or other east Asian languages care to comment?
Lastly, an aside: The 'left side' language centers make the brain larger on the left. This is taken as a dominance of language processing over other kinds. However (1) chimps have the same assymetry, with the same proportion of 'other-sided-language', larger on the right, as with humans; (2) cortical localization is both redundant (more than one area can do the job) and plastic (one can take over when another fails); and (3) the amount of cortex devoted to something implies it requires that much effort. The same amount of processing and behavioral control can be handled by smaller areas when the processing is made mo
Duh (Score:2)
Not only that... (Score:3, Interesting)
Swearing can transfer pain. From the person in pain, to the person being sweared at.
On a more serious note, I believe screaming and crying are also effective, which are both natural reactions to pain. In severe cases, the sufferer can simply pass out, which might suggest the body knows more about pain tolerance than we do.
It is also said that the anticipation of pain can be just as horrific or worse psychologically than pain itself. Hence torture looses its effectiveness as the unpredictable subsides and the ends appears nearer.
I can see you are in pain... (Score:5, Insightful)
FUCK!
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
OW my freaking ears!
More "fuck" research (Score:3, Informative)
Then you might like this other research [ssrn.com] about the word "fuck". In fact, that's the name of the article.
Re:Well #@%$ me. (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If this study is true, that must mean I'm one of the most 'pain free' people I know.
from the article:
There is a catch, though: The more we swear, the less emotionally potent the words become, Stephens cautions. And without emotion, all that is left of a swearword is the word itself, unlikely to soothe anyone's pain.
Re:Well #@%$ me. (Score:4, Interesting)
In all seriousness, though, studies have demonstrated all kinds of interesting things about bilingual brains(particularly people who were raised bilingual, rather than ones who picked up a second language by study later in life), it'd be interesting to know if all curses lose efficacy at the same rate through overuse, if the loss is word-by-word, if the loss is concept-by-concept(e.g. excretory curses, sexual curses, blasphemy, etc.), or whether crossing language boundaries reduces the loss of efficacy.
Re:Well #@%$ me. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Well #@%$ me. (Score:5, Informative)
I can't remember which papers support that statement, but a Google search reveals (at least) one paper claiming that bilinguals curse more often in their dominant languages [bbk.ac.uk] (and while I haven't read it, I expect they controlled for frequency of use). If one of the purposes of swearing is to relieve emotional tension, that conclusion would make the most sense if swearing in your dominant language provided a greater emotional release. It wouldn't surprise me too much if the same thing was true for pain.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice try, but the individual's not an island. He or she might very well be comfortable with saltier language than most, but still surrounded by (and very much aware of) a society that generally thinks otherwise, thus the language still has 'power'.
Re: (Score:2)
What about 4channers that don't get out much.
Re: (Score:2)
Learn to read jim. "THAT" don't get out much, not ", THEY" don't get out much.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but only in this life!
Yeah, but that's only believe there is another one, and that your $DIETY is in charge of it. Who knows, Odin might have a lot of respect for somebody that can produce a good blue streak laden with lots of naughty Anglo-Saxon* words. ;)
*Disclaimer for the inevitable linguist Nazis: I don't know jack shit about the Angles, Saxons, or their words, but for some reason I think a Norse god would give you a thumbs up if your curse could make Beowulf blush.
Re: (Score:2)
Dammit...read thoroughly before posting--it should be, "Yeah, but that's only if you believe..."
Re: (Score:3, Funny)