Swearing Is
Good for You

Says who? Science, motherfuckers.

"So you listen to me and you listen well. Are you behind on you credit card bills? Good, pick up the phone and start dialing! ... Does your girlfriend think you're fucking worthless loser? Good! Pick up the phone and start dialing! I want you to deal with your problems by becoming rich!"

You often hear it from those prudes who don't swear. That we cuss because we lack the words to make a better point. It's known as the "poverty-of-vocabulary" hypothesis, but is that really true? Hell no. According to research published in Scientific American, those who are fluent in fucks and other curse words are often eloquent and verbose when it comes to appropriate words too.

"Indeed, taboo words hold a particular purpose in our lexicon that other words cannot as effectively accomplish: to deliver intense, succinct and directed emotional expression. So, those who swear frequently might just be more sophisticated in the linguistic resources they can draw from in order to make their point."

Across three tests, researchers discovered that the participants who knew the most swear words were also pretty damn fluent with inoffensive, proper words. Though the study didn't reveal anything about how curse words were used by participants in their daily lives—how often, where or in what context—their vocabularies remained stronger than those who didn't swear.

"This finding can serve as a nice empirical middle-finger from vulgarians everywhere, directed at those who had, until now, been unfairly judging them for their linguistic abilities," writes SA's Piercarlo Valdesolo. "Swearing, it seems, can be creative, smart, and even downright lyrical." And, of course, it pays to be someone who knows words, and has the best words. People with larger vocabularies have been linked to better socioeconomic status, higher educational achievement and are found to be more interesting and impressive. So feel free to swear your fucking face off.

569

The number of f-bombs that were dropped in the record-holding feature film, The Wolf of Wall Street.