Why we curse. What the F***?

William Haskins · Oct 13, 2007

great fucking article.

The strange emotional power of swearing--as well as the presence of linguistic taboos in all cultures-- suggests that taboo words tap into deep and ancient parts of the brain. In general, words have not just a denotation but a connotation: an emotional coloring distinct from what the word literally refers to, as in principled versus stubborn and slender versus scrawny. The difference between a taboo word and its genteel synonyms, such as shit and feces, cunt and vagina, or fucking and making love, is an extreme example of the distinction. Curses provoke a different response than their synonyms in part because connotations and denotations are stored in different parts of the brain.

The mammalian brain contains, among other things, the limbic system, an ancient network that regulates motivation and emotion, and the neocortex, the crinkled surface of the brain that ballooned in human evolution and which is the seat of perception, knowledge, reason, and planning. The two systems are interconnected and work together, but it seems likely that words' denotations are concentrated in the neocortex, especially in the left hemisphere, whereas their connotations are spread across connections between the neocortex and the limbic system, especially in the right hemisphere.

A likely suspect within the limbic system is the amygdala, an almond-shaped organ buried at the front of the temporal lobe of the brain (one on each side) that helps invest memories with emotion. A monkey whose amygdalas have been removed can learn to recognize a new shape, like a striped triangle, but has trouble learning that the shape foreshadows an unpleasant event like an electric shock. In humans, the amygdala "lights up"--it shows greater metabolic activity in brain scans--when the person sees an angry face or an unpleasant word, especially a taboo word.

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20071008&s=pinker100807

blacbird · Oct 13, 2007

Mark Twain has a great quote about swearing, which I can only paraphrase (maybe somebody else can get the verbatim version), something like: There are times when profanity succeeds where even prayer does not.

caw

William Haskins · Oct 13, 2007

"under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

great quote, blacbird.

brokenfingers · Oct 13, 2007

Are you fucking kidding me?

KTC · Oct 13, 2007

feck it.

KTC · Oct 13, 2007

Yeah. and Twain also said: There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce.

Voyager · Oct 13, 2007

Prayer and profanity combined convey a job well done.

Cranky · Oct 13, 2007

I swear cuz I was a sailor. That's what we're supposed to do, ain't it?

WittyandorIronic · Oct 13, 2007

thanks for the article.

Kind of neat to know it goes beyond meaning and synonyms and into the visceral sensation provided by such colorful language.

Sunkissed27f · Oct 13, 2007

I don't curse, I find it crude and offensive.

Shame on you for doing!!

ETA: I can spell I swear!

Dawno · Oct 13, 2007

I would like to remind you of this post before you take this thread to be a place where use of profanity is encouraged.

MacAllister said:
My intention in turning off the bad words censor was never to make profanity more widely exploited. Actually, quite the opposite: My intention was to confront people gaming the system and throw the onus of responsibility for that language back into their own laps.

When and if you choose to curse, please consider your words and choose them deliberately and with great care. Excruciating care, in fact. I'm not singling anyone out, btw--there are several people to whom this applies.

This has been a public service announcement for a more language-aware tomorrow.

best,
M

joetrain · Oct 13, 2007

what happens when you swear all the time and the denotations become the connotations so the only difference between "sh*ting" and "defecating" is the exertion involved?

...besides just being a tactless bastard.

KTC · Oct 13, 2007

or did you mean Bastard? Or even Bastard?

WittyandorIronic · Oct 13, 2007

I think that the swear word is not the actual letters and words, but the visceral (i really love that word) meaning behind the word. The letters and words change throughout the world, but I assume all languages have taboo words. As I am mono-linguistic, and barely that, I can really only think of the word "bloody" in the UK. It's said as a cuss word there (right?) while in America it is a term to describe your injury, and nothing more. Even when someone from the UK says it, or someone tries to use it in that sense, it is an amusing affectation, and far from offensive.
So, I think that even as the word sh*t became ineffective, something would just as gradually replace it.

brokenfingers · Oct 13, 2007

Curse words are verbal exclamation points.

Jersey Chick · Oct 13, 2007

I swear because I'm good at it and I get very creative. There are times when Jersey Guy looks at me all shocked (he's a Union pipefitter by trade, mind you) and says, "I didn't know you could even use those words like that." You know you're good when the construction workers are impressed.

JoNightshade · Oct 13, 2007

Am I the only one who didn't really understand that article? I feel dumb.

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 13, 2007

Cranky said:
I swear cuz I was a sailor. That's what we're supposed to do, ain't it?

I don't swear because I was a sailor. I just got so fucking tired of it.

sassandgroove · Oct 13, 2007

Well --- I guess I should not post my glib response given Dawno's post.
Oh well. It is a cool article, anyway.

sassandgroove · Oct 13, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Am I the only one who didn't really understand that article? I feel dumb.

The way I understand it, the part of our brain that stores literal definitions of words is separate from the part of the brain that ties emotion to memories and words. Does that help?

JoNightshade · Oct 13, 2007

sassandgroove said:
The way I understand it, the part of our brain that stores literal definitions of words is separate from the part of the brain that ties emotion to memories and words. Does that help?

Soooo, people swear to get into that emotional part of the brain?

sassandgroove · Oct 13, 2007

Maybe. I read it more as we know the difference between two words with similar meanings because we have tied emotion to them. Like the difference between fucking and making love. At least the way I understand it.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 14, 2007

Swear

This article seems to assume that everyone swears, that everyone uses vulgar language. A great many people do not.

I tend to believe people use vulgar language for a much simpler reason that this article suggests. People use vulgar language because they choose to use vulgar language. Some people simply have small minds and a lack of good manners.

sassandgroove · Oct 14, 2007

Just because some people possess more decorum than others does not necessarily negate the findings. Not using a taboo word doesn't mean one doesn't know the distinction b/w the taboo and non taboo synonyms.

Edited to change.

I don't like "Posess decorum", I want to amend my statement to say:

Just becuase some people choose not to use certain does not mean they don't know the distinction between the taboo and non-taboo synonyms.

scarletpeaches · Oct 14, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
This article seems to assume that everyone swears, that everyone uses vulgar language. A great many people do not.

I tend to believe people use vulgar language for a much simpler reason that this article suggests. People use vulgar language because they choose to use vulgar language. Some people simply have small minds and a lack of good manners.

And some people think that if you swear you have a small mind, which is in itself an offensive and pompous attitude.

Why we curse. What the F***?

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