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Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For Pain Relief: Scientific Americ

scientificamerican.com — Dropping the F-bomb or other expletives may not only be an expression of agony, but also a means to alleviate it

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 13, 2009

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  • facsimilesmiles, on 07/12/2009, -2/+94George Carlin must have felt like a million bucks.
  • nichiplechle, on 07/13/2009, -2/+40To prevent little children from knowing what swear word that was just said.
    Thereby , according to this article , making their future life more miserable and painful by preventing them from learning to swear.

    Have a nice F-k-n Day

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  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -2/+38I ***** love swearing, it does feel great. But the key is to also have an expanded vocabulary, so when you're telling someone how ***** retarded they are. You can use more than just one insult.
  • Falldog, on 07/13/2009, -3/+32Why the ***** do we censor when we know perfectly well what the ***** was said?
  • appleofdischord, on 07/13/2009, -0/+26*****.
  • Paal, on 07/13/2009, -1/+24Wasn't it obvious that cursing and swearing relieves pain?
  • GDOG5, on 07/13/2009, -2/+19***** you
  • TobiasParker, on 07/13/2009, -0/+14*****.
  • BrokenVisage, on 07/13/2009, -3/+17Scientific Americ? First SyFy now this?!
  • WOMPA, on 07/13/2009, -0/+14Do you feel better?
  • undervalued, on 07/13/2009, -1/+15I must be in a lot of ***** pain.
  • Myztry, on 07/13/2009, -1/+14I think they have totally missed the point. We use swear words because of mimicry. The actual words themselves are irrelevant except that we observe them to be chosen by others.
    The essence of swearing that totally eluded the 'researchers' is the multitude of tones we use when swearing. The dozens of meanings and enunciations of words like *****. That is where I think the 'animal' comes into play. That is our howl.
  • WOMPA, on 07/13/2009, -0/+13Sort of like the smurfs?

    Hey, you wanna go smurf down by the river?
    You seen Smurfette today? I would smurf her smurfs, if you know what mean.
    Smurf you and the smurfing smurf you rode in on.
  • donotclickjim, on 07/13/2009, -0/+13*****! This is awesome news! It apparently also works when you aren't feeling any pain. I feel better already.
  • jaxter2010, on 07/13/2009, -1/+13*****, *****, *****, ass, titties, boner, bitch, muff, pussy, *****, butthole, Barbra Streisand!
  • rocknog, on 07/13/2009, -1/+10Wow, mind-blowing research there. I learned this first-hand last year when I slipped on some ice and sprained my ankle. A constant stream of vulgarities proved absolutely necessary in giving me the strength to walk back home.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 07/13/2009, -0/+9When I was about 12 I was fishing out in the ocean with my dad & brother on our boat. Long story short I ended up with the hook from a lure stuck in my thumb right next to my thumbnail and a 10 pound bluefish flapping wildly on another lure hook. Being so young, and never having cursed in front of my parents I tried as hard as I could to avoid swearing as my dad & brother worked to cut the fish free. I ended up swearing a bloody storm though - I just couldn't help it. Not sure if it helped or not since it was so long ago, but in the heat of the moment I guess it helped.

    And of course that was the tastiest fish I ever ate.
  • sigmaman2, on 07/13/2009, -0/+8Oh fudge! These funny scientists think they are so high-falootin' smart! Well, I think that they don't know junk! They are a just a bunch of empty-heads! Forget them! FORGET THEM!!
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -1/+9The whole concept of swear words is just nonsensical to me. It's a word.

    How can a word be bad? I'll tell you why: some idiot. Some idiot decided to hate a word, then restricted it. Passed it down through generations upon generations.

    So now "*****" holds a worse meaning than "sex", or "*****" has a worse meaning than "poop". Maybe we should decide to hate the word "glass" and instead only use "cup".

    "Can you get me a glass of water please?" - "Um, what the ***** did you just say to me? You mean a CUP?! DON'T SAY GLASS. *****." (see how absurd it is?)

    The reality is... it doesn't matter. It's all made up.

    "This ***** thing sucks." is the same exact thing as, "This thing is terrible, I don't like it."

    Yet we somehow perpetuate the ideas forward by teaching our kids, "Swearing is bad!" - I think I'll change mine up. Just teach kids, "Swearing is fine, but other people are stupid and will get mad at you for it. That's just the way it is."
  • roostersheep, on 07/13/2009, -0/+8For some reason most of the sentences I think of have swear words in them. I've managed to almost completely censor myself when speaking - I must swear fewer than 10 times a year. I find myself coming on to digg and writing in ways I'd never dream of talking. Perhaps it's a method of release in response to the censorship I subject myself to. Perhaps it's time to let go and speak how I think.
  • graeh, on 07/13/2009, -0/+8I'd love to see your peer reviewed similar study supported research on that particular assertion - I'm sure if it is based on science and not just a stupid cliche (which one could speculate the overuse of itself comes from limited intelligence) SciAm would love to write about it!
  • MattyDienhoff, on 07/13/2009, -0/+7Actually, I most often swear in exclamations of surprise or frustration. Such exclamations rarely have any deeper meaning than "oh no", so how is using words society deems profane any less meaningful than if I had simply said "oh golly"? Get off your high horse already.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 07/13/2009, -1/+7Have you ever suffered extreme pain? And by extreme I mean a lot more than a splinter in your finger. I once had a fishhook go through my thumb while a very lively bluefish was on the other end of the lure. I thought that was pretty painful and couldn't contain a string of profanity as others helped get rid of the fish. So do you consider me weak in that I haven't figured out how to control my emotions in such an extreme situation? Are you going to "control" me by jabbing me with fishhooks?
  • Travelsonic, on 07/13/2009, -0/+6***** pussy.
  • kiingdano, on 07/13/2009, -0/+5swearing, the true universal language.
  • mbelrose, on 07/13/2009, -2/+7You must have a very, very interesting view on human nature if that's how you really feel. Realistically, you were indoctrinated into those values, instead of actually learning them by observing real people. Most people who swear simply have different views on what is offensive than you do. Language is fluid over time. The word "damn" is barely considered offensive any more, while racial slurs are becoming even more taboo every day. You could just as soon say "Belgium" is the most offensive word ever.
  • btdub, on 07/13/2009, -2/+7I swear the title said, "Why the #$%! Do We Swear? For PaLin Relief: Scientific Americ"
  • Travelsonic, on 07/13/2009, -0/+4"What is so hard to understand about it? The people I know that swears a lot do so due to anger"

    That's called assumption, and you can't take a few examples of where it is true and make a blanket statement about swearers.
  • exspasticcomics, on 07/13/2009, -1/+5swear words are just normal words in the dictionary. the only thing special about swear words is that they sometimes offend people. -people swear.. because people speak using words.
  • sonofabiscuit, on 07/13/2009, -0/+4BOB SAGET!
  • AngusMustang, on 07/13/2009, -2/+6This is (new)s?
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -2/+5Hm, and judging on how nonsensical and unrelated your comment was to mine, it seems like you don't like the basic idea behind reading a language... are you sure you understood everything I wrote?

    Let me explain in plain english: there's no logic whatsoever behind someone's negative reaction to a "swear word". It's mindless conditioning that almost can't be explained or rationalized in today's world, and what's important is not the words used, but the conveyance of the idea via communication.

    Hence, absolutely no difference, morally or otherwise, between a kid saying, "This ***** thing sucks" or "I don't like this thing!" It doesn't bother me and I don't think twice about it, but surely some upstanding moral citizen will be quick to point out how wrong the child is, when in reality... who cares? Why does it matter?
  • tysonwil, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3HOLY DUMB *****

    ah much better...
  • Travelsonic, on 07/13/2009, -1/+4Hamsta,

    "bservation tells me that a lot of people that swears frequently are more prone to mindless voilence and losing control when cornered."

    [citation required]

    Seriously, that is the stupidest ***** thing I've read all day.
  • TNicholson, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3Reminds me of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbALbZ9bHFU for some reason...
  • falser, on 07/13/2009, -0/+3Yeah man, people with Tourette's Syndrome feel ***** great.
  • Kosh, on 07/13/2009, -2/+5"It's mindless conditioning that almost can't be explained or rationalized in today's world, and what's important is not the words used, but the conveyance of the idea via communication."

    See, the first half I disagree with completely, the second I agree with completely. I agree that the actual word used is completely arbitrary, but that doesn't effect (affect?) their meaning in the slightest. In addition to meaning, words are used in different contexts. Hence no one would use "ostentatious" when talking to a child, they would use "showy" instead or something like that. Swear words (I haven't really studied language, this is just my guess) possess some similar property, society has (for whatever reason) developed these words so they are not to be used in polite conversation.

    Here you'll probably point out "society doesn't have a reason, it's just retarded" and I would answer that the mere fact that words like these develop proves you wrong.
  • Travelsonic, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2Actually, my vernacular is very well developed, so ***** YOU Handler.
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2Sure cursing helps alleviate the pain in the short term, but I've got to believe that the more you curse, the less relief it actually grants.
  • TexMexRex, on 07/17/2009, -0/+2***** Scientific American
  • Hedgefox, on 07/13/2009, -1/+3Congratulations! You've just discovered the obvious!
  • jerrolds, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2EARMUFFS!
  • mbelrose, on 07/13/2009, -0/+2I swear occasionally, and I can assure you, my vocabulary is fan-*****-tastic.
  • duggtodeath, on 07/13/2009, -1/+3Then why the ***** are people always ***** cursing on Digg? *****!
  • pizzaface200, on 07/14/2009, -0/+1***** that *****.
  • ventg4fun, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1I f***g KNEW there was something to it. I get sooo much satisfaction out of a good expletive, or sometimes a phrase of good expletives. It's not only useful for pain relief, but good to vent/let off steam as well. !$#*#&!^#!! -- Ahhhhh ;-)
    The article is correct and that too much profanity lessens the affect - 'too much of a good thing....yadda yadda...'
    Dugg, for counteracting APA's decades-old collective opinion on swearing.
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -1/+2I take great pride in controlling my language. It is important!
  • uncleosbert, on 07/18/2009, -0/+1sometimes, it ***** hurts to read digg.
  • inactive, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1If i didnt swear i would probaly be in prison for murder ...am i proud i cuss not really but its the best way to relive tension other than masterbation.
  • ViscidGobs, on 07/13/2009, -0/+1Really? What do you use to control it with?
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