Is Swearing Really as Bad as Everyone Thinks?

Swearing has been around for hundreds of years and has always had negative connotations and impacts, yet everyone still does it anyway? Shakespeare swore in his plays with phrases such as, 'God's bread', 'a pox on't'. Also a man called Ben Jonson who was around the year of Julius Ceaser used phrases in his books such as, 'Whoreson base fellow' and 'I am the rankest cow that ever pissed'; these were all shocking phrases at the time, yet they still used them? Bill Bryson author of 'Mother Tongue' claims, 'The gravity of swear words in any language has little to do with the words themselves and much more to do with the fact they are forbidden. It is a circular effect. Forbidden words are emotive because they are forbidden and they are forbidden because they are emotive.'

Different swear words and phrases have different impact and some are seen as unmentionable whereas others are harmless, but this is always changing over time. Blasphemy (deliberate swear words related to religion) used to be unspeakable and frowned upon but today in the 21^st century, this type of swearing has died out and we use more words of profanity such as, 'Jesus Christ!' to express ourselves. In this modern day and age, swearing can make someone appear to be of a lower social economic class and lower economic standing but I have discovered this is not the case.

Swearing is a very important part of the English language especially but people tend to avoid the subject especially when it's in a formal setting, for example; a lesson in school or business meeting. But, why is that? It can be used in so many different ways and has positive effects too. Timothy Jay (2009) claims, 'Swearing is like using the horn on your car, which can be used to signify a number of emotions (e.g frustration, anger, joy, surprise)'. Using politeness features, swearing can be an example of positive politeness where we seek to establish a positive relationship between ourselves and someone else. We respect a person's need to be liked and understood. Swearing demonstrates this as it shows awareness that the relationship is strong enough to cope with what would normally be considered impolite. It also articulates an awareness of the other person's values, which fulfils the person's desire to be accepted.

Timothy Jay (2009) a psychologist has studied deep into swearing and he found that 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 and frustration we hold and allows expression for them. It prevents us from acting out with physical violence. It's also used in a positive manner for jokes, sex talk, storytelling, social commentary and allows us to easily convey our emotions to others. Swear words also aren't just an effect of being of a lower socioeconomic class, they have deep emotional ties within our brains which allows them to be sustained even throughout the last stages of Dementia and Alzheimers, long after the rest of our vocabulary has been forgotten. Our brains limbic system which is involved with our emotions and fears is activated in a way that isn't when using other standard words from the English language. He did an experiment and found that whilst having your hand in freezing cold water, you could keep it in there for longer whilst uttering a swear word compared to a standard word which is used to describe a table. This demonstrates that swearing can also be beneficial in the fact is lessens our feeling of pain.

Some other positive effects that swearing has in our society is that it can create group identities, group membership, solidarity with others, trust and intimacy, humour and emphasis and they're useful when people wish to camouflage their fears or insecurities. All these factors are essential to provide cohesion in society and this form of language which is usually shunned upon is a big part of that. Finally, Jay (1992) and Foote & Woodward (1973) both came up with similar theories that those who swear successfully are usually mindful of the social restrictions placed on them in most situations. They're sensitive to the status relationship they have with the person they're swearing to/at. And also, they swear among friends where social status isn't a primary worry. They evaluate their listeners and assess whether swearing is appropriate.

 

Alex Thomas