Swearing and the F*@!g Brain
"You sound so uneducated when you swear"
"Watch your language"
"Do you have to say that word?"
Have you ever stubbed your toe on the leg of your bed? Or a box on the floor? It hurts, it hurts bad. Once I stubbed the same baby toe on my bed 3 times in 2 days. It turned purple and black for some time after. There were numerous swear words that came flying out of my mouth that I could not even recall moments later. It felt so automatic and instinctual. The words just flew out as soon as my brain registered the pain.
First, I want to clarify that there is a difference between swearing and cursing. Cursing is when you intentionally say an expletive within your sentiment. This includes "I am so fucking tired", "You are such a bitch", and "Your ass is dead." In these cases, you are intentionally cursing an individual, thing, event, etc. Swearing is when an expletive comes out of your mouth in response to a physical or emotional pain. As a disclaimer, these may not be the formally accepted definitions of these terms, however, it is the anecdotally accepted definitions.
The Poverty of Vocabulary Hypothesis: "A folk assumption about colloquial speech is that taboo words are used because speakers cannot find better words with which to express themselves: because speakers lack vocabulary. A competing possibility is that fluency is fluency regardless of subject matter—that there is no reason to propose a difference in lexicon size and ease of access for taboo as opposed to emotionally-neutral words... Overall the findings suggest that, with the exception of female-sex-related slurs, taboo expressives and general pejoratives comprise the core of the category of taboo words while slurs tend to occupy the periphery, and the ability to generate taboo language is not an index of overall language poverty."
- Jay, K.L. & Jay, T.B. (2015). Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth. Language Sciences, 52, 251-259.
For those of you who swear, it is not because you are less intelligent and it is also not something you are likely thinking about, but more an instinctual way to express the emotion you are feeling related to a given situation. So, f*@!g swear on!
"Watch your language"
"Do you have to say that word?"
Have you ever stubbed your toe on the leg of your bed? Or a box on the floor? It hurts, it hurts bad. Once I stubbed the same baby toe on my bed 3 times in 2 days. It turned purple and black for some time after. There were numerous swear words that came flying out of my mouth that I could not even recall moments later. It felt so automatic and instinctual. The words just flew out as soon as my brain registered the pain.
First, I want to clarify that there is a difference between swearing and cursing. Cursing is when you intentionally say an expletive within your sentiment. This includes "I am so fucking tired", "You are such a bitch", and "Your ass is dead." In these cases, you are intentionally cursing an individual, thing, event, etc. Swearing is when an expletive comes out of your mouth in response to a physical or emotional pain. As a disclaimer, these may not be the formally accepted definitions of these terms, however, it is the anecdotally accepted definitions.
From https://people.howstuffworks.com/swearing4.htm:
"Things you need to know about it to understand how it approaches swear words differently
from other language:
- In most people, the left hemisphere is in charge of language. The right hemisphere creates the emotional content of language.
- Language processing is a "higher" brain function and takes place in the cerebral cortex.
- Emotion and instinct are "lower" brain functions and take place deep inside the brain.
Swearing specifically involves:
- The limbic system, which also houses memory, emotion and basic behavior. The limbic system also seems to govern vocalizations in primates and other animals, and some researchers have interpreted some primate vocalizations as swearing.
- The basal ganglia, which play a large role in impulse control and motor functions.
So, you can think of swearing as a motor activity with an emotional component."
Swearing can be a way of opening a pressure valve and releasing the steam rather than keep it trapped inside. It can also promote pain tolerance.
The Poverty of Vocabulary Hypothesis: "A folk assumption about colloquial speech is that taboo words are used because speakers cannot find better words with which to express themselves: because speakers lack vocabulary. A competing possibility is that fluency is fluency regardless of subject matter—that there is no reason to propose a difference in lexicon size and ease of access for taboo as opposed to emotionally-neutral words... Overall the findings suggest that, with the exception of female-sex-related slurs, taboo expressives and general pejoratives comprise the core of the category of taboo words while slurs tend to occupy the periphery, and the ability to generate taboo language is not an index of overall language poverty."
- Jay, K.L. & Jay, T.B. (2015). Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth. Language Sciences, 52, 251-259.
For those of you who swear, it is not because you are less intelligent and it is also not something you are likely thinking about, but more an instinctual way to express the emotion you are feeling related to a given situation. So, f*@!g swear on!
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