Who made them up? Where do they come from? What do they eat, how big are they, and do they have rainbow manes? We're answering all of…. How do weather people predict the weather and know what's going to happen tomorrow? Why is a meteorologist called a meteorologist?
We learn about weather…. How does water turn into ice? Why is ice sometimes slippery and other times sticky? Why is it so cold?
Why does it float? How are icicles made? Nor is having four letters sufficient, since many four-letter words are not at all profane, like four or word.
The real issue seems to be whether having four letters makes a word more likely to be profane, all other things being equal. But is twenty-nine a lot? You can tell by comparing the lengths of profane words in blue bars with English words in general, shown in the red bars. As you can see, English has a lot of words with four, five, six, or seven letters. And in general English looks like a smoother version of the profane distribution. But what really sticks out is how many more profane four-letter words there are than expected from English in general.
Perhaps more surprising is how many profane three- and five-letter words there are. Less important but also notable is the little bump in eight-letter profane words, compared with the language in general. This is due to words composed of two four-letter words, like bullshit and shithead. So this raises the obvious question, why?
Why are profane words more likely than other words to have four letters? The three-letter words included in the list are ass , cum, fag, gay, god, Jew, and tit. And the four-letter words are anal, anus, arse, clit, cock, crap, cunt, dick, dumb, dyke, fuck, gook, homo, jerk, jism, jugs, kike, Paki, piss, scum, shag, shit, slag, slut, spic, suck, turd, twat, and wank.
Do you notice any general trend in how these words are pronounced? Just a few words on the list have more than one syllable: anal, anus, homo, Paki, and, arguably, jism. The profane words are but a speck in a sea of monosyllables. They tend to be built in a particular way.
There are exceptions of course — like Tourette Syndrome. Kudos to the people whose entitled moral ground makes them think they know more and better than a Behavioral Science PhD. Do they really think the world revolves around their own moral values? As for the article. Well written and informative, as much as should be. I would be interested to know how the research progresses.
Reference anger to infantile expression shows a lack of connection to our language. I do not choose to revert to anal attachment to feces, when I am frustrated. Likewise, I do not choose to use a word for intercourse, inviting people who I do not even like to intercourse. That sex and hatred are so intertwined speaks volumes of our inability to differentiate between the two. To reference a woman as a female breeding dog and then teach her to be proud to insult herself, defies all logic.
I could get more into profanities, if they made more sense, raising themselves out of poop, piss, sex, into words that make logical sense. Well, Mac your remarks were hilariously forthright and candidly serious. Your colorful discourse was quite amusing to me, although you appear to be quite sincere with no intention of being comical.
I like. Thank you for sharing. Here is a great explanation on how context makes all the difference. Of course saying words with negative associations, are going to give rise to negative feelings and stress. This does not apply to light-hearted situations in which the swear words are being used for dramatic effect. A cleverly placed swear word in a funny situation can be very amusing. There is no credible evidence to back up your preconceived notions.
Perhaps those who are more reserved with their use of language are fraudulent, and limit themselves as to who or what they can be due to fear of judgement. Cry babies. Get over it. I grew up in a home with parents who swear. What happened? My repertoire is just more extensive and colorful than some. Cry me a river…. When I was going to school I had a woeful stammer in my speech and had great difficulty conversing socially and answering questions at school. Found that when I swore before starting to recite a poem especially in class it got the first word out easier especially if the poem began with a broad consenant.
If the poem began with a vowel it made it that bit easier to start the recitation. I had to swear under my breath of course as swearing might not go down well if expressed loudly.
Stammer is hardly noticeable nowadays. Thanks for your inspirational findings. I cringe at the sound of it, or any of the other curse words that people use. It is offensive in mixed company. I personally feel that when someone swears, they are displaying the fact that they do not have a good vocabulary.
Most of the people in my school swear just for fun. For example, one of the sentences I overheard in the lunch-line contained at least 10 swears, in like a 20 or so word sentence. This problem has to stop. Swear words are designated in the dictionary as swear words. When they are used, you, by definition, are swearing. If used in a different context, of course, they are not swearing, but that does not excuse the offensive nature of swear words. This is supposed to be a psychology oriented site, yet the authors of the article seem to be focusing with predilection on the linguistic aspect of the issue.
By the time I read the passage where the authors claim we do not know how our children learn to swear, though, I was looking for a disclaimer announcing this is only for entertainment and that it is a fake news site. Not only do they offer very little data in support of their claims, their claims defy rational logic, which is probably the reason we find no significant data in the article, other than the claim that the authors were interviewed 3, times regarding this issue, which is obviously not true.
This kind of articles explain why according to recent studies, a vast majority of the population of America does not trust scientists and science journalists.
What is even more depressing is the fact that the authors teach in our colleges and universities, which seems to account for the state of profound ignorance of our society. On that note, as a personal observation, I noticed that most of the swearing is done by individuals that are poorly educated on the subjects they discussed, and that swearing it is used as a cover for their lack of knowledge, as a form of defense mechanism against those who expose them for making false claims.
Through my Sophomore year of High school, I never cussed. A higher shock value, you know? I found it to be a burden, as it lessened some humor, so I took it up my senior year. No one noticed. It would be really nice if any of the studies the authors consulted were cited in this article. It is really difficult to trust the veracity of the information here if none of it is backed up. I realize that this is now a few years old but it has given me a laugh.
So, swearing can be a safety valve to let off steam when you experience stressful events most significantly from those close to you. Before people think I am a brain challenged moron, I am an Oxford qualified pathologist and to be frank, I like swearing. Some of the people responding here are straight from Victoiana and I shoukd know as I am living with one! I have specific questions. Thank you. After seeing so much profanity on the Social sites.
I got curious and wound up here. To put it simply, there are 3 things that are basic. You need a sender, a receiver and a medium to communicate a subject matter. In my case, the medium is the internet. When the communication is sent there is a context. The receiver evaluates the message and responds. The use of the internet as the medium is important to the context by veiling the sender and receiver. With face to face there is the advantage of seeing facial expressions as tone of speech.
As already stated the message can be good or bad. Since the message is written, you know the sender had time to think of the words they will use. All of this causes me to conclude the profanity used in the internet social media is mostly pejorative. Thank you for this input. I have been working on some research on swearing which was participated by college students. This might answer our question if swearing should be avoided or not as perceived by those who swear.
However, this could be not enough, so it is also a good thing to consider why some people do not swear which might also answer the same queation. This article is helpful to understand the teen psychology. Though, swearing words sound bad but their effects are very positive in anger management at least, and what I observed. Those teens are less illusive and avoid fanaticism. Here in this neck of the woods do woods have necks? I started swearing after about ten years as a senior research scientist, as a way of releasing the build-up of stress from the demands of the job and from having to deal with belligerent members of the public who thought they knew better than someone who had studied their particular area of expertise more carefully than those members of the public could ever do.
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For more information, please see our Community Guidelines. He can be contacted at T. Jay mcla. Kristin Janschewitz is an assistant professor at Marist College. Her research interests include taboo language, emotion regulation, and cognitive control. Share Flipboard Email.
Richard Nordquist. English and Rhetoric Professor. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks.
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