A new study claims that swearing is a useful tool which makes us laugh and helps us to cope with stress and anger.
Academics from the UK and Sweden have been studying the impact of swearing. They found that swearing has lots of benefits and that blasphemous words can have a positive impact on our relationships.
According to the Mail Online:
…the new study, conducted by Keele, Ulster and Westminster universities, when swear words are used in solidarity or to express joy, it can be a powerful tool to lower pain, make people laugh and even deal with road rage.
The study did point out, however, that people still need to be careful with who they swear around as the words can still be seen as ‘offensive, inappropriate and objectionable’ in certain circumstances.
The academics studied more than 100 papers on swearing believing that the powerful use of swear words may even come from a different part of the brain to normal speech.
They also discovered that the rude words were ‘undeniably different from and more powerful than other forms of language’.
The main positives aspects of ‘everyday swearing’ included helping express emotions such as fear, joy, anger and excitement as well as humour and solidarity.
The researchers added that the explicit language holds the capacity to ‘posses an emotional force’ that is not shared by other words used.
It creates an ’emotional arousal’ in both the listener and speaker. The words can even increase credibility and persuasiveness.
