The Science Of Swearing: How Your Cursing Can Actually Help Your Conversational Skills

Fuck, shit, god dammit, puta, madre. Do I have your attention now?

Is that because that¡¯s not what you expected to read in a news article? Probably. Has it changed your opinion of me? Most certainly, but not all of you will think of me the same way.

You see, scientists believe that swearing, both deliberate and accidental, can have different effects on a listener, based on who¡¯s speaking and what position they hold. London based IA researcher Emma Byrne in a book titled ¡®Swearing is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language¡¯ explores that phenomenon, and looks to figure out just how we can use cussing to our advantage.

She says, in some cases, letting loose a few expletives can help you gain credibility and establish a sense of camaraderie.

One study Byrne cites examines the effects of swearing on an audience that¡¯s already on your side, as far as the topic of your speech is concerned. A team of psychologists from Northern Illinois University showed three versions of a videotaped speech to undergraduate students. While each speech was exactly the same,talking about lowering college tuition fees, one had no swearing in it, one opened up with a ¡°damn¡± and another had a ¡°damn¡¯ sandwiched in the middle.

Curiously the students who encountered the swearing, whether in the beginning or middle, rated the speaker are more charismatic than those who watched the swear-less version, while still just as credible. In addition, these two groups were also more in favour of lowering tuition fees after the video than the group that didn¡¯t encountered cussing.

There are two basic types of swearing, the kind that¡¯s deliberate and the kind that¡¯s accidental. The thing is, people can use swearing deliberately to project their passion for a subject or their authenticity. That might be why, if you accuse someone of stealing something of yours and they get mad and curse at you for suspecting them, it¡¯s likely you¡¯ll believe them.

Unfortunately, that¡¯s not always the case. Researchers have determined swearing can also sometime diminish your credibility, especially if the person doing it is a woman. In a 2001 study at the Louisiana State University, a researcher showed 377 men and women transcripts of speeches containing multiple instances of the word ¡°fuck¡±. The thing is, when he told subjects the speaker was a woman, they consistently rated it more offensive than others who were told the speaker was a man.

The thing is swearing comes off as a masculine trait, obviously right at home with other masculine expectations like aggression. So when a woman swears, a lot of the time people unconsciously see it as wrong. Instead of being powerful and in control, swearing in a woman is often seen as evidence they¡¯re ¡°excessively emotional¡±.

So how do we fix this? By ignoring the ¡°offensive¡± words themselves, and instead listening to the context they¡¯re in. After all, swear words lose their forbidden flavour over time. Where ¡°damn¡± was once a serious expletive, it¡¯s now a very tame curse. So carry on, just perhaps not so much in front of your mother eh? That never ends well.