Should is a bad word

Unique means "unlike anything else. It's unique, plain and simple. All of these words without "past" already refer to the past, so you don't need to specify — unless you're writing a science fiction novel and are referring to future and past history via time travel! Of course if you're going to postpone something you're not going to do it until later. What are you going to do otherwise, postpone it until earlier? Always eliminate "until later. These sound long-winded and pretentious.

Summarize means to give a brief overview or statement, so to summarize briefly means "to give a brief statement briefly. It's a modern trend, and one that many people hate: Adding "situation" to describe any event. Take this, which we recently heard on a weather report: "Be prepared for a strong wind situation. This is another example of adding something that isn't necessary. People add the suffix "-wise" onto words to make them have more portent and more weight.

But it can sound pretty ridiculous. In other words, you actually sound a lot worse, grammar-wise, if you tack on this unnecessary suffix!

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How many can you get right? VIDEO You probably have no idea, right? So, why am I making such a big deal over a word? Okay, maybe not evil, but it sure as hell is negative though! This leads to feelings of guilt, anxiety, frustration, and self-hatred. The word makes you basically feel the same way as you felt when your parents lectured you about all the things they thought you should be doing differently.

And those were good times, right? Take five minutes and think about your reasons and write them down. I been thinking bout this for a long-a time…. It would be interesting to study whether people who are more sensitive to sound are also more negatively effected by swear words. Has there ever been a study of honesty versus swearing? I was recently told by an acquaintance that people who swear are more honest. People I know that curse like a Scottish Sailor on a drunken holiday are really stand up people that you can put your trust in.

I think a lot of what you have said is true. I too think that a lot of people who have strong beliefs or ideas just say it as it is. People that swear often do not even realize that they swear as much as they do because they are true to themselves and just speaking the truth with no inhibitions.

I am not saying that everyone should talk like this, but maybe they are just expressing their true self. We are all different and are unique in our own skin. We all need to be true to ourselves.

I agree with your point of view. They swear more than they think they do. I make no such judgement either way myself, being probably inappropriately objective on the matter. In fact they form a vital part of the language. It is possible to talk trash with or without swearing, and possible to be kind or compassionate or to be angry and disrespectful with or without swearing.

Some vulnerable people are indeed in a worse position because of their vulnerability and thus not able to voice their feelings therefore would not be using swearing and might also avoid much else as well perhaps with certain people. Their lack of swearing, indeed lack of conversation, might mean they are vulnerable rather than their ability to speak from the heart demonstrating a lack of vulnerability.

So you mentioned you do not know where children learn swear words?? Are you serious? At home for most of them. The others learn from kids when they get to school. Did you not have kids and learn this? Research may show that the person swearing is more trustworthy, but I would like to see the study on intelligence in those who swear a blue streak.

Speaking for myself, I lose a great deal of respect for a person that uses that type of language when there are so many other words that would work much better. Personally, I find it less trustworthy, also. I found this article in a Google search. I was trying to find the supposed study showing how people who swear tend to be more trust worthy. I do see where some truth would come from it. Simply because people who tend to swear also tend not to care about what others think about them so therefore they have less of reason to tell white lies.

Having incited such violence personally, using utterances primarily constructed with swear words, and having witnessed the same in close proximity on more occasions than I am proud to admit, it strikes me as though the research may have had biases that tainted the results. Swearing at Disney world be expected to result in fewer negative outcomes than f-bombs tossed strategically at a bar, a ballgame, or family reunion.

For as long as I remember, I have considered that folks who use swearwords had not developed sufficient vocabulary to say what they had in mind. This was an article clearly describing explorations into the social mechanics of the use of profanity and it consequences, with what was obviously an exhortation for more investigation into the phenomenon, not liberal propaganda note how this word is spelled correctly.

All that, without a single profanity. Terrific article. Needs expansion. Try to ignore the trolls. Leave those clodhoppers to me. Thanks, James. Have just read the article today and the comments. Keep fighting the good fight against the trolls.

You are guilty of the same logical fallacy. I totally disagree with this finding, if it really is a finding. Half the time the person swearing is swearing because they are covering up a lie, or trying to prove a point that is unrealistic. I notice that people tend to swear just to relieve anxiety and stress. Believe me, my daughter swears like a sailor and so did one of my sisters.

To heck with Behavioral Studies. I spent 45 years in engineering on the shop floor where swearing was the norm, I never got used to it. I compared it to picking your nose in public, i. It will probably become socially unacceptable though time. As well as the example above, if the words were substituted with a loud hand clap, I think that would have a similar effect. As these two words are between 3 and 4 times older than the US they clearly fulfil some type of linguistic need, which must be worthy of a level of attention above the tut-tuttery and value judgements of some of the posters here.

This was apparently a commonly used street name in medieval England. Apparently, so named because of the prostitution which was rife.

This name was actively used until Victorian times when use of what they saw as obscene language came to be frowned upon in polite society — the source of much of our current attitudes towards swearing, not to mention their legacy of sexual hypocrisy which was partially responsible for this stance on linguistic mores. There were at least 3 streets of this name in London, one of which was euphemistically renamed as Threadneedle Street — now the location of the Bank of England.

More research on this rich and interesting linguistic heritage and the role that it seems to have played in human history would seem to be more than justified. According to HBO dramas, ancient Rome and the American frontier West were scenes of far more potty-mouth than contemporary society. SIL strode upstairs and read the three women, the riot act.

If my SIL has a rather irrational approach to a famly member getting easily and emotionally reactive by swearing, then pehaps it is SHE who needs he counseling. At least IMHO. I do have bipolar disorder so there might be some impulse control issues. I am working towards finishing my M.

I promise you there are plenty of intelligent people who swear on a regular basis. It is systematic. Not impulsive. It is not speculation. It is just like you learned in school—do some research on the topic you are targeting, forming a hypothesis, designing an experiment to test that hypothesis, then doing it and finally analyzing the data, drawing a conclusion and writing up your findings.

So FairBairn— you say people who swear when they are hurt are babies. The swearing helps bear the pain. Remember the part where the author mentioned that children start this fairly young?

Not liking swearing does not make it untrue that there is a correlation between wearing and honesty. Have you no understanding at all of the concept of science, or of its methodology? I never used to swear. I have always leaned way to far on the soft heart scale, far to passive when i believe you need to balance between a harder heart, and softer one, somewhere in the middle.

I never have to worry about the balancing act because my tendencies for compassion, and a soft heart i dont think i can lose , so i just try to be as hard as i can , and the balance takes care of itself. I know exactly why I swear. I swear because it is the only way I can find, and feel the aggression I need to meet the aggression that life throws at me.

I not talking about people Im talking about the thing that you wake up to every morning trying to bring you down. Swearin has really made a difference in my aggression of spirit. You have to be harder then life or life will break you. She told me that she has noticed me starting to cuss recently and asked me why.

She also told me, however, that she, in order to determine the continued results of her own study, would have to keep spying, on not only me but also my own husband. I guess there must be more rationale behind the use of profanity in language…. It would be interesting to see more studies about the use of profanity. Interesting article, but in my opinion it is not always a good approach to omit certain findings from similar scientific studies done from a different area of specialization, as they can lend credence to the psychological study done here.

Neurolinguistics, for example, could give some useful background on just why it is that aphasics swear more prolifically than other psychosociological groups. A nurse was bringing hot coffee to a patient in the hospital where we worked; he had had a severe stroke and was unable to speak at all. That incident opened up an area of study in neurolinguistics that has helped many patients, mute for whatever medical reasons, to relearn how to produce speech by repurposing the pathways the brain normally reserves for swearing.

The original patient was taught to speak again after a prolonged period of no doubt frustrated silence, using those neuropathways… His family was beyond grateful and he himself was thrilled to no end. To get back to my original point, what I believe is that overspecialization in a given area of science can sometimes put the blinders on, even to the extent of reinventing the wheel sometimes. Better to cull from several areas of study, to round out your psychological findings and to give them a broader context.

And by the way, the F word came to us from the Latin form, probably through the Norman rule of England for over years. But the description provided by 2manyprojex definitely has a ring of truth to it see the March, comment above. I love this stuff!

Was this a rhetorical question raised for effect to draw attention to the fact the disconnect certainly seems to exist? This is an interesting question that exceedingly relevant in politics. Why such a large disconnect between the folk psychologies of average American communities and the formal communities of the softer sciences known as psychology and sociology?

The subject of this article is interesting, as are some of the questions. After obscene gestures and racial epithets, swearing is likely the biggest precursor no pun intended to violence. Do all people swear? In my experience yes, although frequency varies greatly from person to person. There are exceptions of course — like Tourette Syndrome. Kudos to the people whose entitled moral ground makes them think they know more and better than a Behavioral Science PhD.

Do they really think the world revolves around their own moral values? As for the article. Well written and informative, as much as should be. I would be interested to know how the research progresses. Reference anger to infantile expression shows a lack of connection to our language. I do not choose to revert to anal attachment to feces, when I am frustrated.

Likewise, I do not choose to use a word for intercourse, inviting people who I do not even like to intercourse. That sex and hatred are so intertwined speaks volumes of our inability to differentiate between the two. To reference a woman as a female breeding dog and then teach her to be proud to insult herself, defies all logic.

I could get more into profanities, if they made more sense, raising themselves out of poop, piss, sex, into words that make logical sense. Well, Mac your remarks were hilariously forthright and candidly serious. Your colorful discourse was quite amusing to me, although you appear to be quite sincere with no intention of being comical. I like. Thank you for sharing. Here is a great explanation on how context makes all the difference.