It feels like the hits keep coming. The continuing global pandemic, economic tensions, and countless climate alarm bells only encourage higher rates of anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. But it's not all bad. There's a changing attitude toward one proven coping mechanism that is sure to upset the grandparents: letting all that sh*t out.
While curse words are deemed inappropriate in many settings, science shows that swearing can actually be good for our health. Researchers have found that cursing increases pain tolerance, helps build emotional resilience, can be an effective form of humor, and may be used in creative expression traits all needed more than ever to deal with the overlapping crises of today's world.
So what's the case for cursing?
Catherine Caldwell-Harris, a Boston University psychology professor and psycholinguist, was pulling out of her driveway when she misjudged her turn and backed into her mailbox. Despite her best efforts to keep it clean around her children, she let out a series of "sh*t sh*t sh*t!s" as they stare wide-eyed from the back seat.
She explains the science behind her slip. "Humans have an intuitive style of processing that's automatic and associative. As we hear emotional language, it's tied up with our emotional regulatory systems and gets separately stored. When fight or flight areas activate, our brains similarly activate emotional language."
That goes for less emotional contexts as well. Caldwell-Harris describes why sometimes every other f***ng word we say includes a swear word as an intensifier.
"When you start using these words in less emotional contexts, they get associated with less emotional contexts. Then they become habituated to your speech." However, the linguistics professor emphasized that just because a habit is formed, doesn't mean it's inevitable. Just as career public speakers learn to minimize qualifiers like "um" and "like"as they enter professional environments, so too can swear words be habituated out of our language.
Ultimately, humans have a choice over the words we choose. So why shouldn't we swear? What can swearing do for us, or do to those around us? The answer is pretty d*mn individual.
While few studies have been conducted, there is some evidence that swearing is on the rise since the start of the pandemic. Research on global conference-call transcripts in 2021 by Senteio, a business analysis platform, found that rates of swearing had increased by 60 percent from 2020 and a whopping 80 percent from 2018 with pandemic frustration and isolation playing a large role.
Michael Adams, author of the 2016 book "In Praise of Profanity," agreed that the continued pandemic could be to blame in an NBC interview last year. "Separated from co-workers and supervisors, we feel the need, reasonably, to construct bonds with them," he explained. One time-honored way to establish intimacy is to commit a crime together -- shoplifting, for example. For those who prefer not to go that far, a well-placed exchange of profanity works just as well. We trust those with whom we break a rule or violate a taboo."
One expert felt that it came down to the limitations of language itself. Stephen Granelli, Professor of Communications at Northeastern, blamed it on the intense emotion of the last few years. "We were tested in a way that we hadn't been before on our emotional vocabulary. With swearing, there was no better way to mark [the pandemic] as different than anything else experienced before. We only have so many words to express our frustration."
"We were tested in a way that we hadn't been before on our emotional vocabulary. With swearing, there was no better way to mark [the pandemic] as different than anything else experienced before. We only have so many words to express our frustration."
Power and rule-following are often central to the swearing dynamic. Nobody knows that better than retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Richard Brady, who feels that there is an important purpose to the military's reputation for dirty language, especially in boot camp. Although profanity itself has been phased out of basic training in the past decades, he explains that the intensity and intent of instructor language remains the same: to ultimately save lives.
"Historically, swearing has been very endemic to boot camp by instructors," Brady laid out. "It's about the shock and awe of basic training. It's about an indoctrination in building muscle memory to instantaneously respond to orders at a moment's notice. Using abusive language allows you to do that."
There's also an element to profanity that conveys authenticity in both professional and personal environments, in a world often so distorted by social media performance and careful self-monitoring of speech. Granelli is one advocate of this. Along with being a professor, he is an avid swearer in the classroom environment. His style goes against the grain in academia. Over the years, however, he's discovered that his lack of filtration allows himself to speak openly with his students.
"For my students, it breaks down a significant power distance between them and me. It increases levels of immediacy and their perceived closeness with me," the professor recounted. "When I tried to cut it out, I was less fluent as an instructor. Now, my storytelling, fluency, and topic speed is emboldened by not having to censor myself."
It's impossible to discuss profanity without discussing its role in comedy, as the two have co-existed since the beginning of the art. In using swear words to push boundaries and subvert expectations, comedians are often able to draw larger laughs and create social ties with our audiences. Stand-up comedian and actor Baron Vaughn, who was featured in a Netflix special about cursing, "The History of Swear Words," finds that the goal of comedy naturally combines with profanity.
"The context of a comedy club is that we are here to break down walls and barriers, to explore these taboos, to think about what our boundaries are. Using the language that's floating [in the culture space] is almost like a way to induct or certify that what we're going to be doing in here is for the grown-ups. We're saying, no holds barred truth telling and examination in this space tonight.'"
Of course, profanity remains societally taboo for many reasons, partially because modern culture hasn't come to an agreement on when it's OK. Who is hurt by a bad word? When can kids start throwing them out? Is society worsened by foul language?
Vaughn finds that, although it can be the finishing touch on a good joke, it's far from necessary to getting a laugh in comedy. "There's a lot of different important metrics to stand-up, like punchline-premise or tension-release. I can see many times where a cuss word will help a joke, or will step on it. It's always a back and forth."
He also fondly recalled how the rules about swearing in his house growing up impacted his own relationship with the words: "My parents, my grandparents all cussed and I wasn't allowed to. So of course it became this thing that was mysterious to me. Like a shiny sword made of lasers."
Now, as a stand-up comedian with his own little kids running around the house, he's become a lot more conscious of profanity's impact. "They hear everything you say. My wife and I speak very casually and frankly. Our oldest is five. He's old enough to understand when we say, 'that's not for mixed company'... My wife and I have made a very concerted effort."
Brady felt that, despite it not being all bad for the corps, it does become an issue for the socialization of young service members outside the military. "Marines have a tendency to use very foul language. It becomes harder to integrate into normal society. When you're with the squadron for a long time, it normalizes the language and the action." He questioned, "how do you integrate back outside of that core group?"
At the end of the day, free will means you can say whatever the h*ll you want to. In regards to her own language choice, Caldwell-Harris leans on the Henry James quote that says the first, second, and third most important things in life are to 'be kind.'
"If we need to increase our worth in the eyes of other people, we want to do something real. Not use a language trick." She concluded: "Cui Bono. Who benefits?"
It's up to you. Sometimes it's f*cking funny, and sometimes it's best to just keep it clean.
Produced by students at the Northeastern University School of Journalism. © 2023
