**Warning** Next post is not safe for the kiddies or the wimpy who don't like a good F-bomb every now and then.
Ahh yes being kinda... well super girly it is often quite a surprise to people when they find out just how much I curse in a days time. I don't mean to say the F-word so much it just comes out so naturally and any word that is a noun, verb and adjective should be used more often than just a regular word right??
Like when you are driving along and are soon-to-be really late for work and some idiot in a sedan gets in front of you in the left lane and starts going 55 mph when you are used to going 80 it feels fabulous to scream "GET OUTTA MY WAY YOU FUCKIN ASSHAT!!!" right? Well for me it does anyway so that's why when I was driving to work this morning and heard about this on radio I felt comforted to know that my brain is making me curse to help me with the pain of having to deal with a really horrible driver. If this is not the case for you, you can keep going along with your life saying things like "darn" and "sugar" when you are walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night and smash your toe into the nightstand.
Swearing Makes Pain More Tolerable
That muttered curse word that reflexively comes out when you stub your toe could actually make it easier to bear the throbbing pain, a new study suggests.
Swearing is a common response to pain, but no previous research has connected the uttering of an expletive to the actual physical experience of pain.
"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," said Richard Stephens of Keele University in England and one of the authors of the new study. "It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain."
Stephens and his fellow Keele researchers John Atkins and Andrew Kingston sought to test how swearing would affect an individual's tolerance to pain. Because swearing often has an exaggerating effect that can overstate the severity of pain, the team thought that swearing would lessen a person's tolerance.
As it turned out, the opposite seems to be true.
The researchers enlisted 64 undergraduate volunteers and had them submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. The experiment was then repeated with the volunteer repeating a more common word that they would use to describe a table.
Contrary to what the researcher expected, the volunteers kept their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word.
The researchers think that the increase in pain tolerance occurs because swearing triggers the body's natural "fight-or-flight" response. Stephens and his colleagues suggest that swearing may increase aggression (seen in accelerated heart rates), which downplays weakness to appear stronger or more macho.
"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists," Stephens said.
Swearing is a common response to pain, but no previous research has connected the uttering of an expletive to the actual physical experience of pain.
"Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon," said Richard Stephens of Keele University in England and one of the authors of the new study. "It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain."
Stephens and his fellow Keele researchers John Atkins and Andrew Kingston sought to test how swearing would affect an individual's tolerance to pain. Because swearing often has an exaggerating effect that can overstate the severity of pain, the team thought that swearing would lessen a person's tolerance.
As it turned out, the opposite seems to be true.
The researchers enlisted 64 undergraduate volunteers and had them submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice. The experiment was then repeated with the volunteer repeating a more common word that they would use to describe a table.
Contrary to what the researcher expected, the volunteers kept their hands submerged longer while repeating the swear word.
The researchers think that the increase in pain tolerance occurs because swearing triggers the body's natural "fight-or-flight" response. Stephens and his colleagues suggest that swearing may increase aggression (seen in accelerated heart rates), which downplays weakness to appear stronger or more macho.
"Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists," Stephens said.
Sometimes I need to say it. I just can't help myself.
ReplyDeleteI am totally that driver who curses.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm the same way...I wish I didn't curse as much, but sometimes there is just no other word that works.
ReplyDeleteAsshat- what a funny word. Actually, for no reason at all the other day, a guy passed me on highway off-ramp (yep) and I let out a "That piece of shit!" My girlfriend stared at me and wondered where in the world that came from.
ReplyDeleteI told her it just felt like a natural response.
Now I'm vindicated.
I curse like a sailor all the time! I can't help it, it just comes out.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing I'm not around children all day huh?
I have a truckers mouth on me. But I do know when and where to lock it up!
ReplyDelete