What the F
Page 33
South Park (movie)
censorship and profanity in, 219
MPAA ratings of, 219
revisions of, 219–220
speech errors, 105n16
anticipatory errors as, 104, 110–112, 112 (fig.)
EEG and, 113
examples of, 101
exchange errors as, 101, 110–112, 112 (fig.)
factory analogy for, 106–107
foreign language influence on, 105
Francis and, 99–100, 102, 104–105
Freud and, 102–105
Fromkin study of, 101
internal editor hypothesis and, 106–107
Motley exchange error study of, 107–109, 109 (fig.)
Motley Freudian slip study of, 104–105
perseveratory errors as, 110–111
picture-word interference and, 118–119, 118n31, 119 (fig.)
preplanning contributing to, 101, 102
quantifying, 100
Stroop effect and, 116–118, 117 (fig.)
suppression of thoughts and, 104
spoonerism. See exchange errors
squatitive. See vulgar minimizers
SSA. See the Social Security Administration
the Statue of Liberty, 127–128
stereotype threat, 206
Stone, Matt
censorship response by, 219–220
creating South Park, 219
Stoudemire, Amare, 198
stroke, 83
Stroop effect, 115, 117 (fig.)
example of, 116
taboo, 116–118, 117 (fig.)
subliminal studies, 204–205
Supreme Court (US)
FCC cases at, 10
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation ruling, 217–218, 239n8
free speech limitations by, 228
Holmes of, 228
Suzuki, Ichiro, 24
swearing. See profanity
swive, 163–164, 220
syllables
C and V, 171–172, 172 (fig.)
children pronouncing, 171
See also closed monosyllables
syntacticians, 126–127
testing subjects in grammar by, 130
taboo
in American Sign Language, 73
censorship creating words as, 221
cultural behaviors varying as, 221–222
defecation as, 26
defining, 8–9
dysphemisms and topics as, 162
euphemisms describing, 162
galvanic skin response to, 109–110
homonyms as, 157n
internal editing process and, 107–112, 109 (fig.), 111 (fig.), 112 (fig.)
Janschewitz data on words as, 14–15, 199
mental representation and, 26–27
metaphysical beliefs in, 26–27
minced oaths and, 160–162
nigger as, 8
numbers as, 33–34, 223n
offensiveness of words as, 11–17, 11 (fig.), 13 (fig.), 15 (fig.), 16 (fig.), 200 (fig.), 225
physiological responses to, 7, 109–110, 182–183
picture-word interference, 118–119, 118n, 119 (fig.)
polygamy as, 221–222
profanity and, 26–27
replacement words for, 158–162
speech errors on EEG, 113
Stroop effect and words as, 116–118, 117 (fig.)
subjects as, 26
superstitions regarding, 223n
Tourette’s syndrome and words as, 94
words and actions as, 26, 29–30
words versus things as, 27
See also speech errors
taboo Stroop effect, 117 (fig.)
causes of, 117–118
examples of, 116
taint, 148, 149
tetraphobia, 33
Thumbs-Up, Iran and Afghanistan, 56, 56 (photo)
Tourette’s syndrome
coprolalia and, 93–94, 94n22
copropraxia and, 94
describing, 93
Deuce Bigalo: Male Gigolo and, 93
taboo words and, 94
Trask, Larry, 174
Twain, Mark, 142n
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by, 201
nigger in work of, 201
Up-Yours gesture, 55, 56 (photo)
iconicity of, 60
urbandictionary.com, 148
Venable, Elizabeth, 179–180
verbal abuse
profanity studies of, 183–185
psychological impacts of, 184
Scandinavian study on, 183–184
verbal sparring
the dozens as, 211
flyting and, 211n
rap battles and, 211n
signifying as, 211
snaps as, 211
video games
Keele study on profanity and aggression in, 192–193
ratings of, 218
vocal-tract calisthenics, 49
vulgar minimizers, 126–127, 127n4, 163
positive polarity anymore compared to, 126n
Wernicke’s area, 85–88, 86 (fig.)
Why We Curse (Jay), 8
Wolf, Danielle, 179, 180
word aversions
defining, 40–41
empirical research on, 41
moist as, 41
study, open and closed monosyllables as, 41–42, 42 (fig.)
word completion, experiment, 63–67, 64 (fig.), 65 (fig.), 66 (fig.)
word frequency
bleeping influencing perceived, 219–220
children learning influenced by, 186–188, 187 (fig.)
four-letter words and, 32
multiple meanings of words and, 157
word length and, 31–33, 32 (fig.)
“Work It” (song), 217
yo mama jokes, 211, 211n
You Only Live Twice (movie), 23
zounds, 17, 161, 163, 164 (fig.)
Benjamin K. Bergen is a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego, where he directs the Language and Cognition Laboratory. He is a leading researcher and teacher in the field of language and cognition, regularly publishing in the top journals in the field. He is also an active public scientist, writing for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today and appearing on NPR’s Morning Edition, The Takeaway, and elsewhere. Credit: Keegan Uhl Photography