So F**king what?

Swearing, something often perceived to corrupt the English language and that it portrays a lack of imagination within our vocabulary. Not according to Stephen Fry who quoted “The sort of twee person who thinks swearing is in any way a sign of a lack of education or a lack of verbal interest is just a fucking lunatic.” Most people tend to use swear words consistently throughout their life, so when we use ‘swearwords’ as an adjective why does that still offend people? For example ‘I’m fucking boiling’, this statement was never set out to offend anyone, but merely emphasise how that person is feeling, yet your mother will most likely give you a slap on the wrist and tell you she doesn’t want to hear that vulgar language.

Nothing quite relieves our pain when we become the victim of slamming the door on our fingers, or burn ourselves with boiling hot water, then that that four letter word that we as society still frown upon. Despite the fact its been scientifically proved to relieve pain, yet we still perceive as a demon to the English language. Along with pain, swearing relieves stress, which is why, when we miss the bus that we need to get to work on time, we find ourselves using curse words, think about it, does any other word bring about quite the same stress relief as the ‘Fbomb’. There was a recent study carried out by physiologists in Keele University that measured how long college students could keep their hands immersed in cold water, and whilst doing so they were aloud to express an expletive word of their choice. Results showed that when the students used a curse word, they were able to withstand the pain for an average of 40 seconds longer. Although evidence of this is not clear, it is suggested that expletives hinge on evolutionarily ancient structures buried deep inside the right half of our brain. One of the structures is called the ‘amygdala’, a group of neurons that can trigger a response in our brain, causing our heart rate to rise when we swear, making us less sensitive to pain.

 We also use curse words to add comical elements to what we’re saying, usually due to the emphasis it brings which enhances our jokes. Maybe it is the fact that we shouldn’t be swearing that makes it funnier, after all it is human nature to laugh at things we shouldn’t be doing?

Not only do we use curse words in bad situations, but to emphasise positive feelings such as ‘it was f*****g great’. We do this in order to enhance an emotional reaction we’re having, for example the sentence example that I just gave you wouldn’t sound as convincing if a person just said ‘it was great’. The fact we can use the same word (f**k) to express that we’re angry, happy or surprised, to convey a range of emotions and it still provides equal meaning is fascinating, how many other words in the English language can do this?

Why does society say that swearing is a poor way of expressing yourself? It’s a perfectly adequate way of expressing how we feel; actually, without swearing I think it would be hard to find words to express as accurately how we’re feeling, it gives added meaning to what we’re saying. Swearing, as I previously mentioned is something the majority of us do, so why is it only associated with lower classes in society? If I asked a Lawyer earning a top wage if he’d ever sworn, I’m sure his or her response would be yes, the same with if I asked a cleaner on minimum wage, I’m sure there answer would be the exact same. So these words that we don’t condone actually deserve to be celebrated. A group of words that people from all social classes know and use for pretty much the same purpose.

It is a common misconception that swearing if for the less intelligent, as there is no direct link between intelligence and swearing. Take Stephen Fry, he is well renowned for his intellect, yet this doesn’t stop him from swearing. We swear in order to make our point clearly, and being able to communicate well with others demonstrates intelligence, and even people with the most extensive vocabulary still find the means to use curse words.

Swearing does tend to be a more common feature of men’s language than women’s, for example in the USA 58% of women swear compared to 72% of men. When swear words are used as derogatory, I can understand why this would be offensive, for example if a man was to say ‘yeah I f****d that girl the other day’.  I can comprehend that this does sound more aggressive and distasteful than to say ‘I made love to that girl the other day’, however they both carry the same meaning and the outcome is the same so when we wince at the first example I gave (I f****d that girl the other day) we must bare this in mind and remember they are just words.

Some words undergo the euphemistic treadmill whereby a word replaces an offensive or pejorative term, for example the word ‘retard’ was once a legitimate psychometric term, however gradually acquired negative use and earned its way to being a common playground insult, whereby children would throw the word about as they saw it as harmless fun.  The word has now been replaced by more acceptable terms such as ‘mentally impaired’ and ‘intellectually challenged’, however it’s only a matter of time before these words become taboo.

The reflectionist view states that language is a reflection of thought, therefore there is no point of making these words taboo because this won’t change the way that people think. However, the Sapir Whorf hypothesis suggested that thought creates language, so some schools of thought are that if we get rid of curse words, people won’t think using them anymore.

My next comments are bound to cause a stir, however I do believe it’s mainly down to peoples sensitivity. When will people wake up and realise that the majority of the time these words aren’t being used to harm people, and if they are, there’s always equally bad alternatives that aren’t swear words that people can use. As I mentioned before hand, people use words as harmless fun, so why do we have to create an issue out of this? There are far worse things going on in the world than the occasional slip of the tongue, after all, they’re only words.