Why the F*** Do We Swear?

Blogger:

One of my intriguing essays. My teacher laugh when he read my essay, she said its pretty interesting. I researched for it and I'm proud to say its all true. Well its it all depends on you! Enjoy!

Why the F*** Do We Swear?
Dropping the F-bomb may not be an expression at agony, but also a means to alleviate it.

Why do teens swear? Why does swearing make us feel better and offer relief? How do we choose the word we use?

Timothy Jay said that swear words (or taboo words, as he calls them) can include sexual references (fu**), those that are profane or blasphemous (goddamn), scatological or disgusting objects (sh**), animal names (pig, a**), ethnic/racial/gender slurs (fa*), ancestral allusions (bas****), substandard vulgar terms and offensive slang. These words can be mildly offensive or extremely offensive.

Swears are often expressed because of frustrations, anger, happiness, surprise, or amazement. Psychologists have found that swearing may serve as relief for pain. One study measured how long students could keep their hands immersed in cold water. During the chilly experiment, they could repeat an expletive of their choice or chant a neutral word. 67 students volunteers who used this strategy reported less pain and on average endured about 40 seconds longer.

Research shows that brain circuits linked to emotions is involved in swearing. Earlier studies have shown that unlike normal language, which relies on the outer few millimeters in the left hemisphere of the brain, one such structure is the “amygdala”, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight-or-flight response in which our heart rate climbs and we become less sensitive to pain. Indeed, the students' heart rates rose when they swore, a fact the researchers say suggests that the amygdala was activated.

We all know what "bad words" are. Unlike most other language we learn about swear words and how to use them without any real study or classroom instruction. Even young children today know words that are naughty, although they don’t know exactly what those words are. But swear words are not quite as simple as they seem. They are paradoxical (self-contradictory and false proposition) --- saying them is taboos in nearly every culture but instead of avoiding them as with other taboos, people use them.

But words can also be used in a form of jokes and humor, sex talk, storytelling, self-deprecation, or even social commentary. Swear words are also used to emphasize how great things are. Take these for example “These shoes are beautiful” but now a days, it is delivered as “These shoes are F**king beautiful”. By this way, teens may think they are cool or grown up using swear words. Swearing is more common now that you might not even know you used it.

I ask few people “Why do you swear?” and these are what they said:
“I used to swear when I can not think of anything better to say” said by 25 yrs old Lois. “To show anger” Earl, 21 yrs old. “To emphasize sentences I use” Letlet, 25 yrs old. “No control of their emotions” Lady, 16 yrs old. “They want attention” Paul, 17 yrs old

Swearing is not just for uneducated or people of lower social economic class – it knows no social boundaries in its expression.

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My Magazine Article(English Project) by Bryan R. Mesias