Positives of Swearing
That caught you off-guard didn’t it? You didn’t know there were positives to swearing, did you? The other day I made a post about children swearing, which generated a lot of great responses and even a small debate. One thing that I did not include in the original post, “What the @#$%!#”, was that there have been studies conducted that show that swearing actually has positive effects.
According to a study performed in 2009 by Richard Stephens of Keele University in England along with other colleagues, “Swearing also makes it easier to bear pain” (Pappas, 2012). This study had volunteer submerge their hands into a tub of ice water where some were told to swear when and while their hands were submerged, while other volunteers repeated, “a boring, nonobscene adjective” (Pappas, 2012). Those who swore while participating were able to leave their hands submerged for longer periods of time than those who weren’t swearing. According to Stephens, “It’s possible that swearing increases aggression and thus pain tolerance” (Pappas, 2012) which would explain why people can take pain more easily when they allow themselves to curse.
According to Timothy Jay, “Swearing also serves a purpose of expressing emotion more deeply, succinctly and cathartically than other types of speech,” (Pappas, 2012) and I could certainly see swearing being more cathartic than regular types of speech. For example, when you’re feeling down, have you ever just let out a string of swear words and suddenly felt at least a tiny bit better? I know I have. There this common misconception that people who use swear words are low-lives with a small vocabulary, but in reality it shows that these people actually probably have better control over their vocabulary because they don’t restrict themselves as much. Do I think this condones dropping f-bomb after f-bomb? No, but I’ve met some people who say they don’t swear and they often seem, to me, a lot more wound up than those who swear freely. Those who swear know how to express themselves and their deepest emotions, which is one point that Jay made in the above quote.
Swearing is just another way that people can express themselves and isn’t that what we’re always telling our children? “Be yourself” and “Let out your emotions” are some things that I’ve often heard parents tell their children, so what if “being yourself” involves swearing and what if a child feels the need to use a swear word to express what they’re feeling? Can a child really be punished for expressing themselves like their parents have been encouraging them to do all of their life? Personally, I don’t think so. If you say that they should find other ways of expressing themselves, then in actuality you’re telling them to hide who they are and to withhold their emotions because they cannot express themselves in the way that they want to express themselves.
I have to point out a comment that was made on my last post because I think that it’s a very valid point that ties into all of this very well. Roach, from My Name is Roach, made the comment, “who decides what is a swear, why did they pick that word?” This is something that my husband and I have talked and thought about for quite some time. Why do we put so much weight on these words when they’re just words like any other word? Why isn’t “chair,” “television,” “pillow,” or something of the like a swear word? From my understanding, these words were dubbed as “swears” centuries ago, but it doesn’t seem as if anyone really knows why. No, this isn’t a positive of swearing, but it’s something to contemplate and something I think people really should think about. Swearing does have a lot of positives to it, so why is it that we only see the negative?
Let’s Chat!:
Did you think there were positives to swearing? What are your thoughts on why we deem words as “negative”?
References
Pappas, S. (2012, January 18). ‘Modern Family’ tot’s potty mouth no big deal, experts say. Retrieved from http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/18/10184299-modern-family-tots-potty-mouth-no-big-deal-experts-say
Posted on June 22, 2012 by Felicia
I do indeed believe swearing can be a good thing. It does really blow off some steam when you’re angry.
As you talked about in your posts.. why does it not have the same effect to say “pillow”, “tv” or “chair”. I find that quite interesting. I believe it’s because swear words are “tabu”. And saying them out loud makes us feel bad on a subconsious level, and then increases the tolerance to pain. Just my theory.
On the other hand.. I really like the design of your blog. It’s very easy to navigate and it somehow attracts your attention. I haven’t read many of your articles yet (except this one), but I’ll be sure to check them out
Sharkwave recently posted..Should We Be Afraid Of Solar Flares?
I really like the theory you presented here, Sharkwave! I have to say that I agree with it. We’re taught not to swear and then when we do we end up feeling awful. Unless of course you were brought up being “allowed” to swear.
Aww, thank you so much for the compliment and thank you for stopping by! I hope that you enjoy reading through my blog posts both old and new!
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Wow, really nice article! I had no idea that swearing can have positive ideas! Although I had a small idea of this because I sometimes curse when I’m all by myself, like say if I drop something or if something doesn’t go my way or whatever. However, I am always wary of swearing in front of others, hence why I never do it. When I do it by myself, however, like after an incident or something, I do find myself feeling a little bit better about the whole scenerio. And sometimes I even get to a point where I forget about the incident completely after a time. However, growing up Christian Catholic, I never swear in front of others (even if they permit it, surprisingly!) and I never swear aloud in general public… this is out of general respect of course. When I used to run a forum, I never swore in the public forums (because this was one of our rules that swearing is intolerated) but I was never afraid to let loose a swear word or two in our staff lounge, especially if I was really super pissed about something that had happened on the public board or whatever have you. Very nice article over all.
Thank you so much for your comment, Ashley, it’s really fantastic! I’m happy that you shared all of that with us.
Cursing certainly does have some positives with it. I’m very similar to you as I don’t swear in public…generally. Even though my in-laws are perfectly fine with swearing, I just can’t do it around them, which I think is due to the way I was raised, for the same reason as you, to out of respect. I have to admit though that there have been people that have made me so angry that I lost complete respect for them and ended up swearing at them up and down, which of course I felt bad about later. But it does have its positives and I really appreciate you stopping by and sharing your experiences!
I swear without saying it aloud. I say to alleviate myself of the pain and it helps
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Happy weekend!
Glad to hear that you have found some positive use for swearing! Thanks for commenting!
You really did get me off-balanced… with this. I’m quite baffled at your article. But it hath shed some light on this topic. Most excellent read.
I’m glad that you enjoyed the article.
I’m not exactly sure how it “baffled” you and got you “off-balanced” however.
Its because I never thought that they were “positive swears” as you put it… XDD
I didn’t actually say there was “positive swears.” What I said was there are positives to swearing. If you go back and read the studies that I discuss, you’ll see what I mean.
Great article! I agree on that pain relieving study.
Thanks for the compliment! I thought that study was very interesting when I read over it and it really does make sense.
I use these words regularly as if it’s nothing. However, when I am around more professional people in either my moms work or at dinners or even an interview for myself, I can honestly say, I don’t cuss at all. Of course, when it’s just myself or a close friend, I use those words just like any other word. An example would be, “Damn, dude. She was so hot…” or something similar to that. Haha.
It’s certainly understandable to no swear in professional settings because you want to be just that, professional. Also swearing around strangers you may want to be weary of considering you don’t know their thoughts and feelings on the subject. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to swear when hanging out with friends and actually the psychologist Timothy Jay, whom I mention here and in my other post, suggests that swearing is actually part of being social with others like in the example you provided.