FRAK! Swearing helps you tolerate pain.
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Bad language could be good for you, a new study shows. For the first time, psychologists have found that swearing may serve an important function in relieving pain.
The study, published today in the journal NeuroReport, 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.
Although cursing is notoriously decried in the public debate, researchers are now beginning to question the idea that the phenomenon is all bad. "Swearing is such a common response to pain that there has to be an underlying reason why we do it," says psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in England, who led the study. And indeed, the findings point to one possible benefit: "I would advise people, if they hurt themselves, to swear," he adds.
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.
One such structure is 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. Indeed, the students' heart rates rose when they swore, a fact the researchers say suggests that the amygdala was activated.
That explanation is backed by other experts in the field. Psychologist Steven Pinker of Harvard University, whose book The Stuff of Thought (Viking Adult, 2007) includes a detailed analysis of swearing, compared the situation with what happens in the brain of a cat that somebody accidentally sits on. "I suspect that swearing taps into a defensive reflex in which an animal that is suddenly injured or confined erupts in a furious struggle, accompanied by an angry vocalization, to startle and intimidate an attacker," he says.
But cursing is more than just aggression, explains Timothy Jay, a psychologist at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts who has studied our use of profanities for the past 35 years. "It allows us to vent or express anger, joy, surprise, happiness," he remarks. "It's like the horn on your car, you can do a lot of things with that, it's built into you."
In extreme cases, the hotline to the brain's emotional system can make swearing harmful, as when road rage escalates into physical violence. But when the hammer slips, some well-chosen swearwords might help dull the pain.
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.
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107 Comments
Add CommentAll I can say is *$£% off & b~@*+% !? Ahhhh that's better?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIts not the words - but the physiological process that effects any changes. Do not confuse the correlation of the words with being the cause.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe entire notion of certain words being "bad" or worse than others, is completely ridiculous and nonsensical. It is a locally forged, socially constructed superstition with global appeal. Humanity will remain bound for as long as it chooses to be by its primitive, self-imposed limitations. This is one of them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople swear precisely because they are told not to. If swears didn't exist, we would punch the wall when the hammer strikes the thumb, as people are equally prone to doing already. Both are stress relief by retaliation, performed while minimizing the victim quantity to feel guilty about.
The greater the population in any given environment, the greater the stress. Expect to here more swearing as time goes by.
Oh crikey. Not here, "hear", there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's higher unnatural to just repeat one expletive or chant one neutral word. I would use the rich library of all expletives that come to my mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the experiment is repeated with students that normally do not swear, forcing them to swear probably would reduce their pain threshold.
HOTBLACK! Such grand Skinnerian visions you must hold for our species (as suggested by invoking of the heavily ideaologically loaded phrase of "humanity will be bound.....")!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFuckinA dude, set yourself free first! "crikey"? whatTHEfuckisTHAT? There is so much more in the rich library (mentioned by CHEAPSKATE) .....
Language (acrolect, mesolect AND basilect) is a tool you can use......
To the first two comment writers above:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPutting aside for the moment social acceptance of cursing aloud as an effective pain relief technique, it is pretty clear that TYPING the same words has at best the opposite effect (in both the arenas of social acceptance and of pain relief ), especially after striking your thumb with a hammer.
I started using profanity for pain management but then it got addictive....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI started using profanity for pain management but then it got addictive...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's Ok at home : in fact, if I'm passing a kidney stone I LIKE being on my own so I can scream, shout, swear, whatever.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut they don't like it in hospitals.I've been told off for crying in hospital
"You're keeping all these other ladies awake" FUCK THAT is not an acceptable ( tho deeply satisfying ) reply! Liz
That's Ok at home : in fact, if I'm passing a kidney stone I LIKE being on my own so I can scream, shout, swear, whatever.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut they don't like it in hospitals.I've been told off for crying in hospital
"You're keeping all these other ladies awake" FUCK THAT is not an acceptable ( tho deeply satisfying ) reply! Liz
It's a fascinating idea, and makes me curious if this was a factor in the effectiveness of the work of Moshe Feldenkrais toward alleviating pain and improving function in his students/clients/patients. Perhaps letting loose with a good blast of @#$( %^&! *@&$% makes one feel more "potent," self-directed, in control of one's fate. The feeling that one has the power to make a change is a powerful thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI used to preach the same thing: that one word can't inherently be "worse" than another; that the "F "sound isn't offensive, as "FLY" is not offensive; "uck" isn't offensive, as "DUCK" is not offensive. It should follow then, that "FUCK" is not offensive. The meaning may be offensive, but not the phonetics. If that's true, then "FUDGE" when used as an expletive replacement, should be equally as offensive as the real deal; the intent and meaning are the same.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThen I came to a different conclusion, though. And that is that we, people, NEED these taboo words to express that we're REALLY angry, or REALLY serious, or REALLY scared. If society were to take the "logical" approach and deem that all words are equally non-offensive, and that it is the MEANING that holds any possible offense, then how would we let that guy who just cut us off how angry we are?
"HEY, BUDDY! WHAT THE FUDGE IS YOUR DARN PROBLEM?!??"
It does't hold the same weight, does it?
So, I submit that the existence of "swear words" is less a function of one section of the population deciding that certain words are bad and shouldn't be used, and more a function of the OTHER section of the population creating these words so that they CAN BE used.
But what the HECK do I know? It's just my own opinion.
Conversation with a 3-year-old:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this3YO: That's a bad word!
Me: What's the difference between a good word and a bad one?
3YO (after some thought): You laugh about it?
Of course, since the groups were self selecting, this proves precisely two things:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1) Jack
2) Sh... I can't do it. Sorry.
<i>"the "F "sound isn't offensive, as "FLY" is not offensive; "uck" isn't offensive, as "DUCK" is not offensive. It should follow then, that "FUCK" is not offensive."</i>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course, by that logic, gin is not a martini and vermouth is not a martini, therefore gin and vermouth are not a martini.
I have often said my child's first word will be "sh*t" as I seem to use when: i drop things, stub my toe, scream at the car in front of me, yell at my dog, yell at my husband, slam my finger in my drawer, etc. etc. etc. It seems to be my favorite word in the English language and expresses what I feel perfectly, excrement!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow ironic I found this whilst looking for distraction from a severe, stiff-neck-induced, headache! Unfortunately, this is the kind of pain that results from tension. In other words, I need to not curse, but relax. Damn! I really hoped curing would help.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCheers!
I thought this article was entitled:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy the #$%! Do We Swear? For PALIN Relief!
Now THAT would have been a good article!
I agree with Candide above. It can't be the actually word used. Rather, the group which chanted some "neutral" word was being force to chant a word that their mind did not associate to a stress relieving process. In fact, they had to think about it. Meanwhile, the other group was chanting some giving expletive, which they had, over the course of their life, used to relief stress, whether during pain or anger.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNow, if those people would have grown up using a different word, such as lollipop, I am quite sure the effect would have been identical.
I am pretty confused as to why this is really news and appears to be an exercise in the obvious.
Oh, my god. I think that to swear probably brings troubles that would make somebody more painful...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat-O Jduringer! :) Well I'm glad someone got a kick out of that. I've been making an effort lately to utilize ideologies I strongly disagree with. If you think it's unsettling to read, try being the one that wrote it. Ugh! Crikey is no different than fiddlesticks, tut, pish, pip, etc... words as punctuation, w/ all meaning removed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWould sexist, racist, or other ethnic slur word indicate a form of pain managment?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes that form of profanity have to have meaning to the speaker for it to have an effect? For example, if a non-english speaker used english profanity would it have the same effect as if he/she spoke profanity in their own native tongue?
Would just shouting out "ouch!" or "NO!" have the same pain relieving effect as some form of profanity or cursing, as saying "Crap!" ?
Does how one says the Profanity affect its pain relieving capablity? For example, if one is restricted to only saying profanity in a lower volume, or lower tone, or a slower speed does this effect the pain relieving effect of using profanity as a form of pain management?
How much did Dick Cheney contribute to this study? :-)
Yeah, you've got a point there. Typing profanity is one of the most crass things I have seen in online comments, especially the ones in certain youtube, but it is expected that people will do so in response to an article about swearing, even though this article has clearly said that it was for pain relief if shouted out.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes it work with emotional pain, when I am around stupid people I guess it must hurt mentally because I swear a lot. It happens often when I am around someone who chastises me because I put together a string of letters and pronounce them around a person who tells me I am going to hell for saying (insert any of George Carlin's 7 words). My kids say freak rather than fuck, if I swear in Spanish will I still get relief, because someone doesn't know the language do I get a pass? The people who cause me the most pain are the ones who say I have a limited vocabulary since I use words considered bad by most of the population. So I can say you are a stupid dolt, society has formed you to be an automaton who feels compelled to spew the crap you were told was bad as a child which has no basis in fact, or I can release my pain, say WTF and walk away.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWill swearing reduce one's pain in Hell? I think not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRepent NOW and believe in the only one who can save you--the One whose name is too often used in vain for swearing.
Thank you science for justifying my behavior,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.flickr.com/photos/aardvark_foto/3054133084/in/set-72157609576550298/?editedcomment=1#comment72157621260655103
It's all about adrenaline...is it really that hard to figure out? This is the same reason why martial arts instructors encourage yelling while striking. It's the same $%#$% thing. Martial artists have proven they can do more while yelling because of the adrenaline surge. This was proven centuries ago. What a waste of time and money. Good job, Detective Dipshit. I could understand a study confirming swearing and yelling in combat come from the same basic biological function, but it's obvious that's not where this guy was coming from.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, you're going straight to hell if you utter a single swear word
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCheck out iCuss - great tool to help you swear more creatively :) http://current.com/items/90397848_the-first-17-rated-app-in-the-app-store-without-nipples.htm#
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat happens when the profanity we currently use loses its vulgarity through desensitization? Are there worse words being made up?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRead a study years ago in which the group of cursers had lower blood pressure than the group of non-cursers. Can't remember where, though. Guess what my husband isn't going to try again to give up for Lent. I told him it was unnatural.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi personally love this article. I see nothing wrong with swearing. I mean every other word doesn't have to be a swear word, but people know when where and you they can swear in front of. It's a natural reaction that I happen to find very helpful in certain situations. In fact, the best word is F--K!! It's very universal!! If your sad, glad, mad, confused,,,any emotion you feel, this is the perfect word!! You people out there that use the F word know what i'm talking about!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love the F word, it's so universal. Any emotion you could ever possibly feel, you can use that word. If your pissed off, or happy, sad, confused, you name it! My favorite word ever!!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you ask me , this is not science . It is bulls$%^&##@!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSacre bleu!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes anyone think that it is not actually the words being said, but the act of emotiing frustration of some kind?? You raise your blood pressure enough to continue further pain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder what level of pain people with turrets syndrome feel.
All of you have it wrong. It is tied to the Tourette syndrome sufferer and the moment of climax. Hear my words.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy am I not surprised that ignorant bedwetters tied it to politics?
As an ER nurse, I can vouch for the amount of cussing that goes on when pain in involved. Usually, the expletive is sudden and almost unexpected by the patient, followed by an immediate apology! I always tell them no apology is necessary and if it helps, hell, invent some new ones to go with it! : )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs an ER nurse, I can vouch for the amount of cussing that occurs when pain is involved. For most patients it is sudden and almost unexpected, followed by an immediate apology! I tell them no apology necessary and if they want to invent some new words to go with it, go for it! : )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOoops, sorry for the double post - thought the first one was lost in cyberspace!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisObi -
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI see your point, but I feel like it's not the same thing. My point is that the can be nothing inherently offensive about a series of phonetics strung together in a particular order.
Your argument would make sense if you said, "F is not fuck, and uck is not fuck, therefore Fuck is not fuck." - but that's NOT what I'm trying to say.
I'm just pointing out that the words, the letters, are only "offensive" because "we" say they are. It's very obviously the intent that is allegedly offensive, not the phonetics.
Wonderful article! Damn right!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishas everyone forgotten that we are part of society and swearing is considered highly offensive to some people? yes, it might relieve anger, but so does smacking someone. should that be ok as long as we use it to alleviate our pain?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi don't think so. as long as we live in society we have to accept that there are rules and that certain expletives are considered just as hurtful as inflicting physical pain on someone. if we allow words like f*ck or sh*t, what's to stop c*unt, f*ggot, etc from getting involved. or are those on the same level? and if so, ouch.
Mr. Joelving, I love your writing! Can't wait to read more of it. I'm a subscriber, when your next feature?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMr. Joelving, I love your writing! Can't wait to read more of it. I'm a subscriber, when your next feature?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMr. Joelving, I love your writing! Can't wait to read more of it. I'm a subscriber, when your next feature?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, %&*#* off.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, $%*^! off.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYelling during childbirth works well too. Gets that oxygen in and relieves pain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYelling during childbirth works well too. Gets that oxygen in and relieves pain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAristotle put the matter of anger first and best. Anger is due to boiling of the blood. For millenia this fact has been well known to science. Though of course Aristotle specified four causes, in this particular case it boils down to the boiling of the blood.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with the person who demurred about the general probity of swearing as a pain emollient. Though it may work this way in a vacuum, swearing can easily slide into vulgarity and abuse. That may result in more pain in one's social relationships, since to the extent that others think you are uncultured and brutish, life with them may be less pleasant.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, quoting Mark Twain, "In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer."
I think this study is fucking bullshit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSeriously, I used to swear when I was in pain or did something to myself that caused an immediate severe pain. However, I have found through practice that it is the YELLING, not the word yelled, that SEEMS to help. I'm not yet convinced that it really does, except to provide a momentary distraction from a suddenly acute pain.
Which is exactly what the authors are talking about - redirecting the fight or flight mechanism somewhat. And, enduring cold water on one's hands is not a real experiment. To test the effect of yelling, expletives, words like OUCH, YOW, and ZOWEE the subjects would have to not know that they are going to be hurt. It is the sudden surprise and rush of adrenaline that an unexpected pain causes and one's response to that that's important.
The fact that swearing makes me feel better when injured or angry is no surprise. What fascinates me is why it only works with certain words. Saying "fudge" simply is no help at all!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(What did people say before Jesus Christ was born?)
I live in Sauid, where driving is a nightmare...swearing, blowing a horn, or agressively accelerating a car all have become a part of the daily culture here...it's how we vetn our anger, it's how we take revenge, and it's how we calm down a bit...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSwearing: This would a appear to be an English/American /Australian tendency. Bad swearing in Germany is virtualy unknown....thankfully. I get tired of listening to swearing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh, dear - and the over-use of profanity degrades it. Something many of us have already noted, at least anecdotally.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course, substitute choice words of similar import - like the rivet-passer who said to his rivetter, when he dropped his hammer: "Really, Fred - you must be more carefull-like with them tools." - and this was back before the days of hard hats. or the tale of the Survey Chief, who replied to one of his young instrument men, who reported an error on the first day of the trip, a couple of weeks earlier. This error completely vitiated the work of the whole trip. "Now, isn't that annoying!"
ledenazvezda- You said:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"has everyone forgotten that we are part of society and swearing is considered highly offensive to some people? yes, it might relieve anger, but so does smacking someone. should that be ok as long as we use it to alleviate our pain?"
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Your comments here make the point completely. The fact is, there would not exist "swear words" if there did not exist people like you to take offense to them.
If someone stubs their toe and yells out a loud, "F*ck!!" (censored out of courtesy to the poster to which this is in response to) I am not in the least bit offended. If you, on the other hand, were in that room, you would apparently be quite offended. To me, the toe-stubber could have yelled the F word, or "damn!", or "OUCH!!", for that matter, and it would all be the same to me. You, however, note a distinction between these words - some as offensive, some as non-offensive.
So, in reality, it is people like you, those who take offense, who perpetuate the existence of "swear words." For where there is no distinction between what is acceptable language and what is not, the unacceptable ceases to exist. No?
And to answer the second part of your post, no, of course we can't start slapping people, don't be silly. My uttering of a few specific syllables and my reaching out and physically assaulting you are not even remotely the same thing. You do a disservice to your argument when you use such patently ridiculous logic.
But hey, what do I know? That's just my two cents.
This research seems to indicate that heightened emotion deadens pain, but the Lamaze classes that got me through four births used removal of emotional response to successfully make pain more bearable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am reminded of "Start Trek IV: the Return Home" in which Spock attempts to make use of colorful metaphors. "The hell why?", he says. Perhaps Vulcans followed a different evolutionary path with regards to expletives?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyway, it's a cute story.
i personnaly love the idea of seeing the wordfuckin scientific american, i agree overuse can neutralize the effect of the words on others, but from the first person, yeah, me too
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHave to wonder how much pain he was actually to record that audio, yow-zer potty mouth!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSwear word aren't just in English, you know.. there's alot of other language with swear words.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo... the pain relieve doesn't came from the word itself, but the "offensiveness" of the word.
Being "offensive" as pain relieving is no surprise, I agree with Thunderbunny. It is a combat mode.
But, offending other people with such words is plain selfish. No one should recommend this behaviour.
Actually this goes back to the primitive need to overcome and obliterate and expunge and destroy the evil spirit that has attacked you, dropped the branch on you, made you hit your hand with the stone adz, tripped you. It's ciritical to do this to preserve yourself. Curse it, damn it, protect yourself in the future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually this goes back to the primitive need to overcome and obliterate and expunge and destroy the evil spirit that has attacked you, dropped the branch on you, made you hit your hand with the stone adz, tripped you. It's ciritical to do this to preserve yourself. Curse it, damn it, protect yourself in the future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisActually, it's a genetically selected need to curse, exorcise, and destroy the demon that has just attacked you, made you hit your hand with the stone adz, threw the branch at you out of the tree, or tripped you. You must destroy it or it will possess you and destroy you. And it works! I feel much better afterwards.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry for the duplications. Had to sign up with this !@#$%^&*() thing. @#$@#$%$%^ computers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisP.s. - ever notice how you glare at the thing you just banged your head on? And you're tempted to bash it one back? It's to get even with that evil spirit in it. I love this stuff.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a brazilian psychoanalyst and psyquiatrist interested inthe studies of Postttraumatic Stress Disorder. I associatede these studies with the contributions of Frances Tustin on sensory sensations mediatede by the amygadala cerebral and the Sympatic Nervous System. I understand symptons as swering, salivation and tearing as a biologic innate defense of the trauma's victims to autoappeasante themselves from death anguish. Really its is possible to involve pain manegement.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSebastian Abrao Salim
I'm a brazilianPsychoanalyst and psychiatrist interesred in studies on Postttraumatic Stress Disorder and Frances Tustin studies on sensorial sensations mediated by the cerebral amygdala and the Sympatic Nervous System. These studies has shown to me that symptoms as swearing, tearing and salivation, All smmoth corporal elements, are biological reflex defense used by trauma's victms to autoappese themselves and is coerent to understand them as pain management.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a brazilianPsychoanalyst and psychiatrist interesred in studies on Postttraumatic Stress Disorder and Frances Tustin studies on sensorial sensations mediated by the cerebral amygdala and the Sympatic Nervous System. These studies has shown to me that symptoms as swearing, tearing and salivation, All smmoth corporal elements, are biological reflex defense used by trauma's victms to autoappese themselves and is coerent to understand them as pain management.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisISTR a scene in "I Remember Mama" that uses this same exact concept! The old uncle is telling his young crippled (?) nephew to swear when his leg hurts him too much. Haven't thought of that in years...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishas anyone also thought that perhaps the people who are rougher, and had a rougher life would also choose a rougher word, and those who are not so often to choose to speak that way might actually not be so rough and would tend to feel more pain?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn exclamation is the most primitive form of intentional communication. Expletives are simply one form of exclamation. During the first year of life, before we can talk, exclamations are the only form of communication we are capable of expressing. Any pain during that period is responded to as an exclamation, and given that human behavior has adaptive value, one would surmise that the pain of the infant is thus relieved. Swearing is an adaptive regression, and preliminary empirical results seem to confirm this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRAD
Well, it's not the volume of the swear that counts- as an ER doc, with substantive roots in New Jersey linguistics, I much prefer a patient swearing to their writhing or hitting, the latter of which tend to interfere with my efforts to provide pain relief. So, next time you're in with a stone, swear in a lower decibel range, but swear away!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnyone who has ever lived in New Jersey is working on this problem at all times. Fear not.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@margdean56: Yeah, I remember that too! It's not in English though, and the kid doesn't know what it means. He thinks he's swearing, so it relieves his pain; in reality, all he's saying is "stupid goat."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article makes perect sense; when I feel stress, I find myself using a lot of curse words. Several years ago I realized that while feeling pressure/frustration/anger/ or other, swearing [more than usual] helped me to feel better. For me it can be a slight release, much like a slow, deep breath, enabling me to cope for one more minute, hour, or day...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs I explained to someone a long time ago,a word alone can not be offensive.A person is offended by a word,only because they are taught to be,when they hear the same word in different language,they are no longer offended by it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisif you ask me its not swearing that reileves the anger but that you say it with anger and you know its not right to say that word out loud like you have......
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes the study differentiate the actual word said, or comparing various words, compared to the explosive sound/air burst? I knew an elderly post polio relapse sufferer who used a sound with air in a forced burst to help her stand up from being seated, not needing to insert a cussing to get the job done. I maintain what my Dad used to say, "profanity is the effort of a feeble mind to express himself forcebly". This study sounds like a fabricated excuse to justify the dumbing down of America where kids can barely string a sentence together anymore without their profane bursts. I say this study is feeble. I have to refer to Idiocracy, which is what many kids sound like these days, and we know what their school scores are (well, the ones that aren't doctored, like this study appears to be).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://eagleswingssoar.blogspot.com/2010/01/in-flow-are-we-really-all-connected.html
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisand please ignore my shorter but almost the same posting until SciAm can remove it.
I recall a particularly nasty injury I took as a youngster while wrestling with my brother; we tumbled onto a lawn chair and I opened a 4" gash in my chest. My mother (a nurse) treated the wound with iodine and I was stifling my cries of pain until she said: "Swear. It'll make it hurt less." I did, and it worked - best of all, no Irish Spring mouthwash to accompany the blue streak I unleashed that day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the proffered explanation is correct then all people will use expletives from their own language. Probably none of these will have the co-meaning of sexual intercourse. Interesting that our most potent expletives (fuck! and shit!) are crotch-related. Do other languages share that locus?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat's like soooo believable...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTHIS IS SOOO BELIEVABLE...LOL
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisrandom question: I have a friend who shows a negative physical response to swearing. Rather than swearing relieving pain, it causes her pain- why would this occur?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey guys, random question for the board:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a friend who shows the opposite response to swearing. Rather than relieving pain, when someone swears this individual FEELS pain. It seems stupid and you're probably thinking..whaaaaaat, but it's affecting him immensely. What would cause that? I've been trying to figure it out but the majority of the articles on swearing are much like the one above. If anyone can point me in the right direction that would be sweet. Thanks.
Exactly, I might just be a geek, but I find "frak" works just as well as it's analogue.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBattlestar Galactica, sure, but it may help that the phrase "rackin-frakin rabbit" is also a part of my childhood memories.
It seems very natural, guttural. Has a satisfying feeling in your mouth: you can start the word while biting your lip or gritting your teeth, the R provides a subtle "growl", and it ends on a classic, Germanic, hard K!
Works ending in T, or Tch, also seem to work best.
the article is too superficial to be of much use: what is the connection between an expletive relating to a bodily function and feeling pain? would any other short word do as well? Could one say "Jew it" and get any satisfaction? If repetition decreases the amount of pain relief, why do some people continually use "obscenities"? Are profanities (involving God) less effective than obscenities? The questions are endless....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere's a great deal of sloppiness in the classification here of "strong" language.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll seven of the Carlin words are merely vulgarity.
"Damn our enemies" is a curse.
I think that the use of the Lord's name in vain is profanity, so "God bless America" and "In God we trust" are profane utterances expressly forbidden in the Gospels.
My favourite blasphemy is "God is dead, but don't worry, the virgin's pregnant again"
Now I feel better.
Re: Jew it!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read once that the English writer John Osborne said "the worst four letter word I know is TORY.
I've found that when swearing is an involuntary response it helps, but for lower levels of pain (the hammer slip) studiously not acknowledging the pain & continuing the task works better than choosing to indulge it by swearing/ stopping/ jumping up & down etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMe, too----and, it feels so good!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is a lousy study. Do you really think those test subjects didn't know what the "right" way to perform was ? If a study of this quality was performed on meditation or an herbal treatment, people would quickly point out the poor test quality. But then you see this drivel. This crap belongs in PSYCHOLOGY TODAY.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSwearing is used too much as common every-minute language and the words (along with associated emotion) become de-sensitized. http://this1that1whatever.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi think that swearing is good i do it all the time and it helps when i have hurt myself
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi learnt the f word when i was four years old becuase my uncle used to use it in frustration. not only does it work for pain it also works for frustraiton.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi learnt the f word when i was four years old becuase my uncle used to use it in frustration. not only does it work for pain it also works for frustraiton.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi agree with the that staement, there is a time and a place for swaring.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishave you ever tried swearing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKratom is the common name for mitragyna speciosa, and this tree belongs to the rubiaceae genus. Kratom has been popularly well regarded for its psychoactive characteristics, especially in places like Thailand and Malaysia. It does come in with loads of advantageous but gets a controversial result especially in one topic that is drug addiction. People prefer using this plant because it helps in alleviating effects of pain. People tend to over indulge in this drug hence eventually get addicted to it to escape from pain and boredom. Undoubtedly Kratom does have loads of wonderful usages no matter what your goal is.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSource : Findrxonline.net
Not correct in entirety. Majority of individuals in my region call out "Aaaigaa!" translated as 'oh my mother' few remember 'oh good!' when they get hurt or in sudden pain (noone will call it a swearword)and nobody not even criminals would swear or badmouth in case of sudden pain but remember any of the two exclamations. It is not right to correlate badmouthing with pain relief. This does not send out good message.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat is only partly true
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe way i interpret this is that when your and introduced to pain the body realizes that and tries to find ways to ease the pain. Some of the ways is through force like biting on an object, tensing up really tightly, or swearing. In a sense swearing is an impulse that occurs when the brain receives the pain and then formulates a relief process. Some people that relief is through swearing others it can be force or through just simply mind over matter.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisShut the fuck up dude.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this