Social campaigner Mary Whitehouse abhorred it. Writer and actor Stephen Fry has publicly done and defended it. But how do you feel about swearing? Yeshi Dolma writes.
Be honest, you know you’ve said ‘bad’ words. Who hasn’t? At the very least, most of us will have shouted out some colourful expletives after stubbing a toe or cracking an elbow: because even though we all know it’s taboo, it somehow makes us feel better.
When we were little we might have been threatened with having our mouths washed out with soap for it but, ironically, swearing can help us get through some important social situations. We can use our potty mouth to make people laugh. We can curse with our buddies or coworkers to show solidarity. Or we might pop out a profanity simply because we are deliriously happy, or angry, or scared, or feeling any number of emotions.
But there is also something quite amazing that swearing can do for us: it can help us to feel less pain.
When we start swearing, the electrical conductivity of our skin is affected. Our heart rate speeds up and we might even get cold, sweaty palms. These responses are what Dr Richard Stephens and his team at Keele University believed to be the first signs of a fight or flight response, when our brain perceives a threat. For our distant ancestors, this may have been the sight of an approaching animal with big teeth and claws, but these days our stressors are more likely to be unwanted bills, traffic jams and delayed trains. The aim of fight or flight, as the name suggests, is to get us away from the perceived threat or to stay and fight it. Our body starts pumping adrenaline and other hormones through our body, making us hyper-alert and ready for action.
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