Oh, Damn it!

Holy sh*t! We are so excited to talk about this. There you go. Two cusses out there already. If it makes you uncomfortable then, pardon! But that’s the thing we are going to talk about this time. We hope some people are excited already to read about profanity from a scientific perspective. And don’t worry the content won’t be explicit to read and we won’t be dwelling around the reason why only certain people or actions are used as cuss words. We leave that to your judgement. (Although we truly are waiting for some gender-neutral profanities to trend in the near future)

Since the disclaimer is already out there, let’s delve into some profanities.

First of all, what is Swearing? Well there is no canonical definition for swearing but we do have a circular definition- swearing is swearing because of the effect it has on our physiology but that effect is produced when encountered with a swear word because we defined it as one (so guess what, swear words are subjective).

Irreverent language has been there with us since forever. They grow and reform too with the language, depending upon the social atmosphere. The stuff which is socially unacceptable and has the power to offend people makes its place in the dictionary of ‘bad words’. We tend to add cusses into our vocabulary from our surroundings. So these words act as a mirror of the society and can aptly tell what makes people scrunch their noses in disgust at some point in time and place. With the advent of religion, God and other supernatural things became important to people. Like in the Victorian era, it was considered that unnecessary swearing in the name of God would literally injure God itself. Therefore, swearing by God’s bones would have definitely offended many people then, hence, making a great cuss. This can also explain why swearing in God's name is still unacceptable and makes a milder version of profanity. Talking about sexual business has always been a taboo and often a matter of honor too. So words dealing with sexual parts or the act of sex itself made their way into bad words. 

But these words are special. They are considered to be stored in the lower regions of the brain which are associated with emotions. This can explain why you are likely to swear the second you realise that you had won a lottery, to express your excitement and happiness, the way we did at the beginning of the post. People suffering from aphasia (inability to pronounce and speak words due to brain damage in the regions associated with language and speech) are not usually able to speak intelligible sentences or words, but they still can swear.

(By-Mana Kash)

Why do we SWEAR?

What if we say that swearing is actually good for us, we know you are thinking that we have certainly lost it. But you have to agree that profanity holds a great power both individually and in a society and you also have to agree with the fact that swearing is not always rude. It is subjective and purely depends on the situation, intent, and purpose. Swearing seems to have five basic intents:

1. Cussing to offend the person in the middle of a fight. 'SOB!'. That's abusive swearing. 

2. When someone steps on your toe and you scream profanities out of pain. 'Ouch! Sh!t' That's cathartic swearing. 

3. While describing the awful food that you had last evening. 'It tasted like sh!t, bro!' That's dysphemistic swearing.

4. When you're describing something amazing. 'That was f***ing awesome dude!' That's emphatic swearing. 

5. Swearing for no set purpose because you're talking to your best friend. That's idiomatic swearing.

Studies show that swearing alleviates pain via emotional arousal and distraction. Swearing results in an increased pain threshold (People’s ability to withstand pain goes up, now that explains all that swearing we do after hitting our toe against something). Studies also suggest that swearing increases stamina or the ability to lift heavy-weights. The longer you swear for, the stronger you are. And let’s agree swearing is a creative take on language, it makes you feel better and it aids you in expressing your feelings and emotions better, over-all using cuss words is a great coping mechanism. To make this point clearer let us ask you a very easy question, what do you usually do when you are sad- say ‘Sh!t’(or any other cuss word) with the vocal and facial expression needed to communicate your sadness or say ‘I am so sad that I cannot even bring myself to breath effortlessly’ (or anything just as long and descriptive)? We personally go for the former. So swearing is really expressive and it helps us to make our point and emphasize it much better. 

Note to READERS!

We are not trying to promote cussing but trying to present them in a different light. Excessive use of anything is bad and the same goes for cussing. They do hold power in society and shouldn't be misused so often.

We often consider that swearing can rip some fabric of morality and can make people immoral all of a sudden. But factually speaking, each language and dialect has its own set of cusses, which developed according to different societal structures, so what’s swearing for you might just be a routine language for others. They were a part of our language and they would be in the future too. They will reform according to the social scenario and like it always has been, their usage would ultimately lie in the hands (we mean the tongue) of the speaker.