Swearing 101

There’s no such thing as Swearing 101 but by the time we’re about five, we all know which words, if used in front of Grandma, will result in a paddle with a wooden spoon.

Did you know your brain processes swearing differently to the way it handles other words?

In early childhood, you can show strong emotion by crying. As children (especially boys) grow up, we discourage them from crying and swearing steps in as acceptable stress relief. In one study, volunteers who cursed could tolerate pain for nearly 50% longer than volunteers who didn’t.

In most people, the left hemisphere of the brain is in charge of language. The right hemisphere creates the emotional content of language.

Language processing is a ‘higher’ brain function and takes place in the cerebral cortex (this is the thin layer of grey matter about the size of a formal dinner napkin that covers the surface of each cerebral hemisphere).

Emotion and instinct are ‘lower’ brain functions and take place deep inside the brain.

When you’re about to speak, the brain generally comes up with a bunch of phonemes (units of sound) and has to put them together to make a word. This would be like having several different parts to a Happy Meal toy and having to put them together before producing a plastic car.

But the brain processes swearing in the lower regions, along with emotion and instinct. Instead of processing a swearword as a series of sound units that must be combined to form a word, the brain stores swear words as whole units (a squeaky rubber Bart Simpson head with no assembly required). So, the brain doesn't need the left hemisphere's help to process expletives.

Swearing specifically involves:
• the limbic system, which also houses memory, emotion and basic behavior – this is the system primates use to vocalise
• the basal ganglia, which play a large role in impulse control and motor functions.

So, swearing is a motor activity with an emotional component.

And magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies show that the higher and lower parts of the brain can actually struggle with each other when a person swears.

Shit, if you swear, you’re a chimp.

Five facts about swearing

1. Most swear words are either deistic (related to religion) or visceral (related to the human body and its functions) – there are also racial slurs but I think these are slightly different.

2. Swearing originates from early forms of word magic – people believed that spoken words could curse or bless people or otherwise affect the world – Voldemort!

3. Men swear more than women (and they often do it to seem more blokey).

4. In studies where people must identify the colour a word is written in (instead of the word itself), swear words distract the participants from colour recognition.

5. You can remember swearwords about four times better than other words.


Image: Michael Elliott