From Psychologies · Nina Parage · · 1m 20s
Swearing might mean you're smart
Two studies say a foul mouth signals a bigger vocabulary and a smaller appetite for lying.
In brief
Two studies say a foul mouth signals a bigger vocabulary and a smaller appetite for lying. Swearing is one more tool in a well-stocked vocabulary, and the people who use it tend to be the more honest ones. Originally reported by Psychologies.
The habit we try to quit
Kids are told swearing is rude, and plenty of adults still chase it out of their speech like smoking or nail biting. Science points the other way.
“ce n'est pas poli de dire des gros mots”
Not a poor vocabulary
The oldest cliche says people swear because they cannot find the right word. Two American researchers decided to actually test it.
One minute, three lists
Kristin Jay and Timothy Jay asked people to name, in a minute each, words starting with a given letter, then animals, then swear words. Published in Language Sciences in 2015.
Best at swearing, best overall
The people who produced the most swear words also scored highest on the other categories. Fluent cursing came packaged with fluency in general.
“le juron n'est pas un pis-aller linguistique”
Liars swear less
Gilad Feldman's team ran lab experiments, millions of Facebook messages, and state-level data in 2017. Every angle gave the same answer: heavy swearers lie less.
“les personnes qui jurent le plus mentent le moins”
Raw beats polite
A swear word exists to push out an emotion with no social filter, which leaves little room for the polite lie. Blunt speech reads as transparency, not vulgarity.
The big picture
Swearing is one more tool in a well-stocked vocabulary, and the people who use it tend to be the more honest ones.
