I SWEAR it’s good for you.
And science (proper science, not the home office desk variety) agrees.
Profanity. Cussing. Swearing.
Many studies point to a few blue words easing pain and frustration, while others suggest people who do it are more honest and intelligent.
There’s even an emoji for it, and it taught me a new word: grawlixes, those @#$*@# signs used in place of the cuss words. Thanks, Google.
I have always been a fan. The little rebel in me always asked who decided these arrangements of letters were offensive? If they were good enough for Chaucer, they’re good enough for me.
It really does make you feel better, even briefly. Kick your shin on the coffee table or stub your toe? Cuss out loud. Swear words, short, sharp and expressive, make you feel much better than saying “ouch”, “flip” or “darn”.
Without listing examples and making non-swearers cross, all the best swear words have crisp, guttural or sharp sounds. Expletives must explete.
The key here is to remember successful swearing happens when the swearer aims at something, not someone, unless they’re privately sealed in their car having a little car rage vent. No gestures allowed. Or at that *&@#$*& idiot referee or politician on the TV, not at a real live person, no matter how enraged you become: that is rude, obnoxious and unacceptable.
Of course, as with anything, there are exceptions.
“There’s a point where it’s just more efficient to say, ‘f*** you’, than it is to hit somebody,” says Timothy Jay, a professor of psychology and a world-renowned expert in cursing, in a Discover magazine report.
Because it’s socially dodgy, fewer people do it in public, but research suggests most people do it in private. When someone swears in public, it sends a message that that person is honest and authentic, not trying to be someone they aren’t. It invites those around them to speak freely too, without fear of being judged.
There are intellectual snobs who claim cussing is for people with a vocabulary deficit, but creative profanity requires broad linguistic skills. I work on these every day.
However, even the most committed cusser must be sensitive and bright enough to know when it’s inappropriate and rein it in.
For the past year we have been learning to live in a world where so much is out of our control, and “saying the f-word, or similar, can have an immediate calming impact on the difficult emotions we might be experiencing,” Dr Raffaello Antonino, a counselling psychologist, told Healthline (healthline.com).
Swearing works “as a form of coping mechanism to deal with the emotional consequences of various difficult situations, especially those we have little or no control over” and help us weather the storm, Antonino said.
“And the 1000 different ways people turn swear words into funny, inspiring, and ingenious phrases is nothing short of a creative medium,” Zrenchik said.
It can be very creative. Or, if you really don’t want to swear, work on constructing a few paragraphs of totally horrid rantings or insults without using a single profanity.
It’s bloody wonderful.
- Lindsay Slogrove is the news editor
The Independent on Saturday