Why do people swear? Why does using a swear word make us feel better? How do we choose which word we use?

Luckily for you, the Association of Psychological Science’s Perspectives on Psychological Science just published an article that answers these important scientific questions in an article by Timothy Jay (2009). If swear words hurt your eyes, you may want to stop reading now.

Jay notes that swear words (or taboo words, as he calls them) can include sexual references (fuck), those that are profane or blasphemous (goddamn), scatological or disgusting objects (shit), animal names (pig, ass), ethnic/racial/gender slurs (fag), ancestral allusions (bastard), substandard vulgar terms and offensive slang. Taboo words can be mildly offensive to extremely offensive, and people will often use a more mild euphemism to replace a swear word when in mixed (or unknown) company.

How do we choose what word to use and when? We make choices about which word to use depending upon the company we’re in, and what our relationship is to that company, as well as the social setting. We’re more apt to use less offensive terms in mixed company or in settings where more offensive swear words might result in recrimination (such as work). For instance, people are more comfortable and are more likely to use technical terms for sexual references in mixed crowds, and to reserve the taboo words for same sex crowds or with their sexual partner. Most people feel uncomfortable saying, “Fuck” in a business or public crowd, instead falling back on less offensive words like, “Damnit.”

As Jay notes, “Swearing is like using the horn on your car, which can be used to signify a number of emotions (e.g., anger, frustration, joy, surprise).”

Taboo words can be used for a variety of reasons, including to achieve a specific reaction from others. Swearing injects a direct, succinct emotional component into the discussion, usually in order to express frustration, anger or surprise (up to two-thirds of our swearing is for just such expressions). These insulting swears can be name calling or wishing someone harm, so it’s no wonder they are often a defining feature of hate speech, verbal abuse, sexual harassment and obscene phone calls.

Swearing is beneficial in ways that people may underestimate or take for granted. Swearing is often cathartic — it often frees us of the feelings of anger or frustration we hold and allows expression for them. It can also be a useful substitute to physical violence (who would rather be punched out than to withstand being sworn at?).

Swear words can also be used in a more positive manner, in the form of jokes and humor, sex talk, storytelling, self-deprecation or even social commentary. Imagine when you want to emphasize how great you feel something is, a swear words emphasizes the positive feelings you have for that object, situation, person or event (”This concert is fucking awesome!”). Sure, we could just say “This concert is awesome,” but the addition of the swear word emphasizes the emotional reaction we have toward it — and easily conveys that emotional reaction to others.

Virtually all people swear, and people swear pretty consistently throughout their lifetime — from the moment they can speak to the day they die. Swearing is almost a universal constant in most people’s lives. Research, according to Jay, has shown we swear on average from 0.3% to 0.7% of the time — a tiny but significant percentage of our overall speech (frequently-used personal pronouns occur at approximately 1.0% rate in speech). Swearing is more common than you might think. But personality research suggests that people who swear more, not surprisingly, score higher on traits such as extraversion, dominance, hostility and Type A personalities. Swearing is not just for the uneducated or people of a lower socioeconomic class — it knows no social boundaries in its expression.

Swearing is a natural part of human speech development. We learn which words are taboo and which words are not through our normal childhood development. We also learn that not all swear words are equal, as Jay notes — “Fuck you! represents a greater level of anger than crap!” We then learn that we may be able to say a swear word in one social context, but not another.

Jay’s article was a bit of an eye-opener for me as well, as I didn’t know that swearing was really as commonplace as he notes, and I never much considered the beneficial effects of swearing. Jay calls on more psychological research to be done on this topic, and after reading his article, I’d have to agree.

人為什么要說粗話？為什么用上粗口會讓我們感覺更好？我們怎么選要用什么詞？

現在好了，心理科學協會（原美國心理學會）出版的《心理科學新知》上剛發表了一篇文章，Timothy Jay在文章中回答了這些重要的科學問題。如果粗口讓你不舒服，你就不必繼續往下讀了。

Jay提到，粗口（或者按照他的話，禁忌詞匯）包括了和性有關的內容（比如f***)，那些不敬或者褻瀆的詞匯（goddamn），排泄物或者惡心的東西（shit），動物名字（pig），和種族/民族/性別有關的蔑稱（fag），污蔑祖先(bastard），還有一些非正式的庸俗詞匯和污蔑性的短語。禁忌詞匯的程度可能從輕度污蔑到嚴重污蔑，人們一般常會在復雜（或者不明）的場合下，用溫和些的婉轉語來代替粗口。

我們是如何選擇什么時候用什么詞呢？我們會根據和什么人在一起、我們和這些人的關系、以及社會場合來選擇要用什么詞。如果周圍的人龍蛇混雜、或者是用那些更重的詞可能導致指責（比如工作），我們就更容易用一些沒那么冒犯的詞。比如，和一群不同背景的人在一起，說到和性有關的事情，人們更愿意用一些技術層面的詞匯，而把那些禁忌詞匯留到當我們和同性在一起或者跟性伴侶在一起的時候。大多數人都會覺得在商業或者公共場合說“f***”很不舒服，因而會說些沒那么冒犯的詞，比如“damnit”。

就像Jay指出的，“說粗口就像在車里按喇叭，可以用來表示不同的情緒（比如生氣、受挫、高興、吃驚）。”

使用禁忌詞匯可能會處于不同的原因，也包括激起他人特定的反應。說臟話將直接、簡潔的情緒成分帶進了討論中，一般都是為了表達受挫、生氣或者吃驚（高達2/3的粗口是為了表達這些情緒）。這些不敬的粗口可以使罵人或者詛咒某人受到傷害，因此，毫不奇怪，他們往往是界定怨恨言論、言語暴力、性騷擾和淫穢電話的標志。

而人們往往會低估說粗口的好處，或者認為是天經地義。說臟話常常是一種發泄——它能幫我們宣泄那些被壓抑的生氣或者沮喪的感覺，讓他們表達出來。他也是身體暴力的有效代替品。（比起被罵一兩句，誰愿意被暴打呢？）

粗口還能更積極地使用，比如在笑話或幽默、性對話、講故事、自嘲或者社會評論中。想象一下，當你想強調你覺得一樣東西多棒的時候，粗話會強調你對這個東西、清凈、人或者事件的正面感覺（這個音樂會太他媽棒了！）。當然，我們也可以就說“這個音樂會太棒了”，不過加上一個粗口，會強調我們對它的情感反應——也會很容易的吧這種情緒反映傳遞給他人。

基本上所有的人都說粗口，人們說粗口的頻率在一生中相當穩定——從我們能說話到我們死的那天。粗口是在大多數人的生活里幾乎是普遍存在的。Jay的文章中指出，研究發現我們說臟話的平均頻率占到0.3-0.7%，在我們的言語中，是個雖小但是不可忽視的組成。說臟話比你想象的更普遍。不過關于人格的研究指出，那些說臟話更多的人，在外向性、統治傾向、暴力傾向和A型人格方面分數更高。并不是只有那些沒受過教育或者社會經濟層次低的人才會說臟話，人們發現這種表達方式并沒有什么社會界限。

說臟話是人類語言發展中很自然的一部分。在正常的兒童發展過程中，我們學會了那些詞是禁忌、哪些不是。我們還知道了并不是所有的粗口都一樣，就像 Jay寫的“F*** you!比Crap!所表達的憤怒程度更高”我們之后還明白了，在有些社會場合中我們能說個臟話，但是在另一些場合則不能。

Jay的文章也讓我開闊了眼界，因為我之前并不知道說粗話像他說的真有那么常見，而我也從沒認真考慮過說臟話有什么好處。Jay呼吁在這個問題上進行應該更多的研究，在看過他的文章之后，我也不得不同意這個觀點。