by Emma Byrne
We will never know for sure where swearing came from, but we do know that we keep reinventing it, just when it seems to be losing its power. We need swearing and, however we might have invented it, I’m fucking glad that we did.
Acknowledgments
My thanks first go to Team Science Baby, David, Mike, Romilly, and Rosetta, whose patience, support, love, and motivation helped me all the way.
If I have sworn more, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants. Thank you to all of the researchers whose work has intrigued, amazed, and moved me while I’ve been writing this book. Any errors of interpretation are entirely my responsibility. Thank you in particular to Richard Stephens, Barbara Plester, Janet Holmes, Karyn Stapleton, Megan Robbins, James Saunders, and James O’Connor for their fascinating discussions about their research and other work.
Thank you to Gordon Wise and Peter Tallack, who offered early thoughts and critique on the initial proposal. Immense gratitude to Carrie Plitt, for keeping her eye on the left field and for guiding me so diligently through polishing and pitching. Likewise, to Rebecca Gray for the notes that shaped not just the words in the book, but the way that I approach writing. You are the best teachers I could wish for. Thank you to Trevor Horwood who polished, pointed, and perfected throughout.
Thank you to George Lucas for a very enjoyable walking tour of New York, and to Matt Weiland for graciously letting me get my geek on about the WPA.
Thank you to Rhoda Baxter and Dan Smith for sharing their tales from the trenches. And finally to Fred Johnson: “Yes, the book is finished.” Thank you for asking.
Notes
Introduction: What the Fuck Is Swearing?
1. G. Hughes, Swearing: A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English. Blackwell, 1991.
2. E. Byrne and D. Corney, Sweet FA: Sentiment, Soccer and Swearing. In S. P. Papadopoulos et al. (eds.): Proceedings of the SoMuS ICMR 2014 Workshop, Glasgow, Scotland, 01-04-2014, published at http://ceur-ws.org.
3. B. K. Bergen, What the F: What Swearing Reveals about Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves. Basic Books, 2016.
4. E. Welhoffer, Strafe Für Beleidigungen: Wie Teuer Ist Der “Stinkefinger”? Express.de, 15 March 2016. www.express.de/news/politik-und-wirtschaft/recht/beleidigung-beschimpft-strafe-schimpfwort-teuer-anzeige-strafbar-1261268-seite2.
5. Rechtspraak.nl (database of Dutch court cases and rulings): https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/#zoekverfijn/ljn=BD2881.
6. M. Mohr, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing. Oxford University Press, 2013.
7. Hughes, Swearing.
8. Ofcom. Attitudes to Potentially Offensive Language and Gestures on TV and Radio. www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/tv-radio-and-on-demand/tv-research/offensive-language-2016.
9. S. Pinker, What the F***? New Republic, October 8, 2007. https://newrepublic.com/article/63921/what-the-f.
10. K. Sylwester and M. Purver, Twitter Language Use Reflects Psychological Differences between Democrats and Republicans. PLoS ONE 10, 2015, e0137422. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137422.
11. K. L. Jay and T. B. Jay, Taboo Word Fluency and Knowledge of Slurs and General Pejoratives: Deconstructing the Poverty-of-Vocabulary Myth. Language Sciences 52 (2015), 251–259. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2014.12.003.
12. G. Rayner, Sir Winston Churchill Quotes: The Famous Lines That He Never Said. Telegraph, October 13, 2014. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/11155416/Sir-Winston-Churchill-the-famous -lines-that-he-never-said.html.
Chapter 1: The Bad Language Brain: Neuroscience and Swearing
1. P. Ratiu and I.-F. Talos, The Tale of Phineas Gage, Digitally Remastered. New England Journal of Medicine 351 (2004), e21. doi:10.1056/NEJMicm031024.
2. D. Van Lancker and J. Cummings, Expletives: Neurolinguistic and Neurobehavioral Perspectives on Swearing. Brain Research Reviews 31 (1999), 83–104. doi:10.1016/S0165-0173(99)00060-0.
3. D. Van Lancker and K. Klein, Preserved Recognition of Familiar Personal Names in Global Aphasia. Brain and Language 39 (1990), 511–529. doi:10.1016/0093-934X(90)90159-E.
4. L. J. Speedie et al., Disruption of Automatic Speech following a Right Basal Ganglia Lesion. Neurology 43 (1993), 1768–1768. doi:10.1212/WNL.43.9.1768.
5. R. L. Heath and L. X. Blonder, Spontaneous Humor among Right Hemisphere Stroke Survivors. Brain and Language 93 (2005), 267–276. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2004.10.006.
6. P. Shammi and D. T. Stuss, Humour Appreciation: A Role of the Right Frontal Lobe. Brain 122 (1999), 657–666. doi:10.1093/brain/122.4.657.
7. G. Gainotti, Unconscious Processing of Emotions and the Right Hemisphere. Neuropsychologia 50 (2012), 205–218. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.12.005.
8. A. Öhman et al., Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 130 (2001), 466–478. doi:10.1037/AXJ96-3445.130.3.466.
9. T. Indersmitten and R. C. Gur, Emotion Processing in Chimeric Faces: Hemispheric Asymmetries in Expression and Recognition of Emotions. Journal of Neuroscience 23 (2003), 3820–3825.
10. E. Hitchcock and V. Cairns, Amygdalotomy. Postgraduate Medical Journal 49 (1973), 894–904. doi:10.1136/pgmj.49.578.894.
Chapter 2: “Fuck! That hurts.” Pain and Swearing
1. R. Stephens, J. Atkins, and A. Kingston, Swearing as a Response to Pain. Neuroreport 20 (2009), 1056–1060. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e32832e64b1.
2. P. M. Aslaksen et al., The Effect of Experimenter Gender on Autonomic and Subjective Responses to Pain Stimuli. Pain 129 (2007), 260–268. doi:10.1016/j.pain.2006.10.011.
3. J. L. Rhudy and M. W. Meagher, Negative Affect: Effects on an Evaluative Measure of Human Pain. Pain 104 (2003), 617–626. doi:10.1016/S0304-3959(03)00119-2.
4. E. Kandel, J. Schwartz, and T. Jessell, Principles of Neural Science. McGraw-Hill Medical, 2000.
5. N. K. Lowe, The Nature of Labor Pain. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 186 (2002), S16–S24. doi:10.1016/S0002-9378(02)70179-8.
6. T. Saisto et al., Reduced Pain Tolerance during and after Pregnancy in Women Suffering from Fear of Labor. Pain 93 (2001), 123–127. doi:10.1016/S0304-3959(01)00302-5.
7. A. E. Williams and J. L. Rhudy, Emotional Modulation of Autonomic Responses to Painful Trigeminal Stimulation. International Journal of Psychophysiology 71 (2009), 242–247. doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.10.004.
8. R. Stephens and C. Allsop, Effect of Manipulated State Aggression on Pain Tolerance. Psychological Reports 111 (2012), 311–321. doi:10.2466/16.02.20.
9. R. Stephens and C. Umland, Swearing as a Response to Pain—Effect of Daily Swearing Frequency. Journal of Pain 12 (2011), 1274–1281. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2011.09.004.
10. DeWall N. C. et al., Acetaminophen Reduces Social Pain: Behavioral and Neural Evidence. Psychological Science 21 (2010), 931–937. doi:10.1177/0956797610374741.
11. T. Deckman et al., Can Marijuana Reduce Social Pain? Social Psychological and Personality Science 13 (2013), 60–68. doi:10.1177/1948550613488949.
12. Kandel, Schwartz, and Jessell, Principles of Neural Science.
13. M. J. Bernstein and H. M. Claypool, Social Exclusion and Pain Sensitivity: Why Exclusion Sometimes Hurts and Sometimes Numbs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 38 (2012), 185–196. doi:10.1177/0146167211422449.
14. L. Lombardo, Hurt Feelings and Four Letter Words: The Effects of Verbal Swearing on Social Pain. Honors Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, 2012.
15. S. Seymour-Smith, “Blokes Don’t Like That Sort of Thing”: Men’s Negotiation of a “Troubled” Self-help Group Identity. Journal of Health Psychology 13 (2008), 785–797. doi:10.1177/1359105308093862.
16. S. Seymour-Smith, Illness as an Occasion for Storytelling: Social Influences in Narrating the Masculine Self to an Unseen Audience. In C. Horrocks, K. Milnes, and G. Roberts (eds), Narrative, Memory and Life Transitions. Huddersfield University Press, 2002.
17. M. L. Robbins et al., Naturalistically Observed Swe
aring, Emotional Support, and Depressive Symptoms in Women Coping with Illness. Health Psychology 30 (2011), 789–792. doi:10.1037/a0023431.
Chapter 3: Tourette’s Syndrome, or Why This Chapter Shouldn’t Be in This Book
1. T. Jay, Why We Curse: A Neuro-Psycho-Social Theory of Speech. John Benjamins, 2000.
2. www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/diagnosis.html.
3. M. H. Bloch and J. F. Leckman, Clinical Course of Tourette Syndrome. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 67 (2009), 497–501. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2009.09.002.
4. S. Wilhelm et al., Randomized Trial of Behavior Therapy for Adults with Tourette Syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry 69 (2012), 795–803. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.1528.
5. C. A. Conelea, S. A. Franklin, and D. W. Woods, Tic, Tourettes, and Related Disorders. In R. J. R. Levesque (ed.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer New York, 2011, pp. 2976–2983.
6. Jay, Why We Curse, p. 65.
7. A. E. Lang, E. Consky, and P. Sandor, “Signing Tics”—Insights into the Pathophysiology of Symptoms in Tourette’s Syndrome. Annals of Neurology 33 (1993), 212–215. doi:10.1002/ana.410330212.
8. R. M. Kurlan, Treatment of Tourette Syndrome. Neurotherapeutics 11 (2013), 161–165. doi:10.1007/s13311-013-0215-4.
9. K. J. Black et al., Progress in Research on Tourette Syndrome. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 3 (2014), 359–362. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2014.03.005.
10. J. Piacentini et al., Behavior Therapy for Children with Tourette Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association 303 (2010), 1929–1937. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.607.
11. Conelea et al., Tic, Tourettes, and Related Disorders.
12. R. Wadman, V. Tischler, and G. M. Jackson, “Everybody just thinks I’m weird”: A Qualitative Exploration of the Psychosocial Experiences of Adolescents with Tourette Syndrome. Child Care Health and Development 39 (2013), 880–886. doi:10.1111/cch.12033.
13. R. F. Baumeister, K. D. Vohs, and D. M. Tice, The Strength Model of Self-Control. Current Directions in Psychological Science 16 (2007), 351–355. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00534.x.
14. R. Elliott, Executive Functions and Their Disorders: Imaging in Clinical Neuroscience. British Medical Bulletin 65 (2003), 49–59. doi:10.1093/bmb/65.1.49.
15. J. R. Stroop, Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology 18 (1935), 643–662. doi:10.1037/h0054651.
16. S. Palminteri et al., Dopamine-Dependent Reinforcement of Motor Skill Learning: Evidence from Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome. Brain 134 (2011), 2287–2301. doi:10.1093/brain/awr147.
17. Kurlan, Treatment of Tourette Syndrome.
18. R. P. Michael, Treatment of a Case of Compulsive Swearing. British Medical Journal 1 (1957), 1506–1508.
19. D. Van Lancker and J. Cummings, Expletives: Neurolinguistic and Neurobehavioral Perspectives on Swearing. Brain Research Reviews 31 (1999), 83–104. doi:10.1016/S0165-0173(99)00060-0.
20. A. Clempson, S. Dobson, and Judith S. Stern, P7 Dentists Treating Tourette Syndrome. Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 83 (2012). doi:10.1136/jnnp-2012-303538.24.
21. R. J. Maciunas et al., Prospective Randomized Double-Blind Trial of Bilateral Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation in Adults with Tourette Syndrome. Journal of Neurosurgery 107 (2007), 1004–1014. doi:10.3171/JNS-07/11/1004; M. S. Okun, K. D. Foote, and S. S. Wu, A Trial of Scheduled Deep Brain Stimulation for Tourette Syndrome: Moving Away from Continuous Deep Brain Stimulation Paradigms. Archives of Neurology 70 (2013), 85–94. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2013.580.
22. L. Ackermans et al., Double-Blind Clinical Trial of Thalamic Stimulation in Patients with Tourette Syndrome. Brain 134 (2011), 832–844. doi:10.1093/brain/awq380.
23. A. Duits et al., Unfavourable Outcome of Deep Brain Stimulation in a Tourette Patient with Severe Comorbidity. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 21 (2012), 529–531. doi:10.1007/s00787-012-0285-6.
24. Kurlan, Treatment of Tourette Syndrome.
25. Wilhelm et al., Randomized Trial of Behavior Therapy for Adults with Tourette Syndrome.
26. Peterson was discussing Black et al., Progress in Research on Tourette Syndrome.
27. Piacentini et al., Behavior Therapy for Children with Tourette Disorder.
28. Wilhelm et al., Randomized Trial of Behavior Therapy for Adults with Tourette Syndrome.
29. H. Smith et al., Investigating Young People’s Experiences of Successful or Helpful Psychological Interventions for Tic Disorders: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Study. Journal of Health Psychology 21 (2016), 1787–1798. doi:10.1177/1359105314566647.
Chapter 4: Disciplinary Offense: Swearing in the Workplace
1. B. Plester and J. Sayer, “Taking the Piss”: Functions of Banter in the IT Industry. Humor 20 (2007), 157–187. doi:10.1515/HUMOR.2007.008.
2. J. V. O’Connor, Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing. Three Rivers Press, 2000.
3. N. Daly et al., Expletives as Solidarity Signals in FTAs on the Factory Floor. Journal of Pragmatics 36 (2004), 945–964. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2003.12.004.
4. M. Haugh and D. Bousfield, Mock Impoliteness, Jocular Mockery and Jocular Abuse in Australian and British English. Journal of Pragmatics 44 (2012), 1099–1114. doi:10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.003.
5. Kate Fox, Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. Hodder & Stoughton, 2004.
6. C. Scherer and B. Sagarin, Indecent Influence: The Positive Effects of Obscenity on Persuasion. Social Influence 1 (2006), 138–146. doi:10.1080/15534510600747597.
7. G. Feldman et al., We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship between Profanity and Honesty. Social Psychological and Personality Science (published online January 2017). doi:10.1177/1948550616681055.
8. M. L. Newman et al., Lying Words: Predicting Deception from Linguistic Styles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (2003), 665–675. doi:10.1177/0146167203029005010.
9. E. Rassin and S. van der Heijden, Appearing Credible? Swearing Helps! Psychology, Crime and Law 11 (2005), 177–182. doi:10.1080/106831605160512331329952.
10. K. L. Jay and T. B. Jay, Taboo Word Fluency and Knowledge of Slurs and General Pejoratives: Deconstructing the Poverty-of-Vocabulary Myth. Language Sciences 52 (2015), 251–259. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2014.12.003.
Chapter 5: “You damn dirty ape.” (Other) Primates that Swear
1. G. J. Romanes, Mental Evolution in Man. D. Appleton and Co., 1889.
2. R. M. Yerkes, Almost Human. Jonathan Cape, 1925.
3. W. Kellogg and L. Kellogg, The Ape and the Child. Hafner Publishing, 1933.
4. H. S. Terrace, Nim: A Chimpanzee Who Learned Sign Language. Columbia University Press, 1986, p. 137.
5. M. R. Lepper, D. Greene, and R. E. Nisbett, Undermining Children’s Intrinsic Interest with Extrinsic Reward: A Test of the “Overjustification” Hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 28 (1973), 129–137. doi:10.1037/h0035519.
6. D. Morris, The Biology of Art: A Study of the Picture-Making Behaviour of the Great Apes and Its Relationship to Human Art. Methuen, 1962, pp. 158–159.
7. R. A. Gardner and B. Gardner, The Structure of Learning: From Sign Stimuli to Sign Language. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998.
8. Ibid., p. 292.
9. R. Fouts and S. Mills, Next of Kin: What My Conversations with Chimpanzees Have Taught Me about Intelligence, Compassion and Being Human. Michael Joseph, 1997, p. 25.
10. Gardner and Gardner, The Structure of Learning, p. 296.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Fouts and Mills, Next of Kin, p. 30.
14. M. D. Bodamar and R. Allen, How Cross-Fostered Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Initiate and Maintain Conversations. Journal of Comparative Psychology 116 (2002), 12–26. doi:10.1037/0735-7036.116.1.12.
15. Gardner and Gardner, The Structure of Learning, p. 298.
16. Fouts and Mills, Next of Kin, pp. 30–90.
> 17. Gardner and Gardner, The Structure of Learning, p. 294.
18. Ibid., p. 306.
19. Ibid., pp. 31–32.
20. J. Foer, The Truth about Chimps. National Geographic, February 2010.
21. Gardner and Gardner, The Structure of Learning, p. 291.
22. Fouts and Mills, Next of Kin, p. 30.
23. Bodamar and Allen, How Cross-Fostered Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Initiate and Maintain Conversations.
24. Gardner and Gardner, The Structure of Learning, pp. 321–322.
25. R. Fouts and D. Fouts, Conversations with Chimpanzees: A Review of Recent Research, Research Methods and Enrichment Techniques. In Proceedings of the Annual ChimpanZoo Conference, Individuality and Intelligence of Chimpanzees. Tucson, Arizona, 1995, pp. 51–53.
26. Fouts and Mills, Next of Kin, p. 291.
Chapter 6: No Language for a Lady: Gender and Swearing
1. K. Stapleton, Swearing. In M. Locher and S. Graham (eds), Interpersonal Pragmatics (Handbooks of Pragmatics 6). Mouton de Gruyter, 2010, pp. 289–306.
2. Peter Trudgill, Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society, 4th ed. Penguin Books, 2000.
3. O. Jespersen, Language; Its Nature, Development and Origin. George Allen & Unwin, 1922.
4. E. Gordon, Sex, Speech, and Stereotypes: Why Women Use Prestige Speech Forms More Than Men. Language in Society 26 (1997), 47–63. doi:10.1017/S0047404500019400.
5. T. McEnery, Swearing in English: Bad Language, Purity and Power from 1586 to the Present. Routledge, 2006.
6. J. Collier, A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage; Together with the Sense of Antiquity upon this Argument, 2nd ed. S. Keble, 1698.
7. V. de Klerk, How Taboo are Taboo Words for Girls? Language in Society 21 (1992), 277–289. doi:10.1017/S0047404500015293.
8. T. Jay, Why We Curse: A Neuro-Psycho-Social Theory of Speech. John Benjamins, 2000.
9. R. O’Neil, Sexual Profanity and Interpersonal Judgment. PhD dissertation, Louisiana State University, 2002.
10. T. Jay, The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words. Perspectives on Psychological Science 4 (2009), 153–161. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01115.x.