I Swear, Therefore I am

Most expletives are used for psychological reasons. Cussing makes us feel better. Swearing gives us a channel to express our rage or pain thus relieving some of the pressure. There are some who believe that cursing replaces the crying we did as infants. As we grow out of infancy and begin to mature we are taught that crying is not acceptable. But pain, rage, and discomfort are part of the human experience all through our lives, and our psychology hammers us with the notion that we still need instant expression of our rage. Short words that have the natural phonetics which can be accentuated or exaggerated seem to be best suited for such blow-off valves.

Go ahead and try to pronounce letter combinations such as these without some degree of exaggeration: ck, it, co, fu, ss. I bet most of you laughed because I was right.

Although swearing out of pain or rage is the most common reason we swear, we also swear as a form of expression. We want to draw attention to something we are saying
or projecting. The shock value is still effective socially as humor or a statement of unity.

Why does cursing work as a form expression? That is all due to how we react when we hear certain words.

Steven Pinker, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University has written a wonderful essay about swearing . In particular he teaches us why we react to certain words the way we do as well as gives a history of where certain expletives come from, and how those words have manifested into being taboo words.

In a nutshell, Pinker talks about the fact that words have both denotation an connotation. Denotation would represent the actual meaning of the word whereas connotation is the emotion we tag to it. For example: We hear 'wooden cross' and what that means to us is a wooden cross, but emotionally we process this as a meaning for Christianity. Even though we don't know what the words mean, we learn early on that certain words are taboo. The construction of the word (denotation) is stored in the left side of the brain where the emotion (connotation) is stored in the right. The words or images are processed, we can't escape, we react involuntarily. As Pinker points out,"We have no earlids."

Strangely, the birth of swear words in most languages can be found in Religion. The words profanity, blasphemy, and oath all relate to invocation of some deity or another. At one point in our history we believed that God was hearing every word we uttered, so promises were sealed with phrases such as May God strike me down or God blind me (which, as Pinker points out, is the origin of Blimey).

As secularism grew, these phrases were watered down and shifted into swear words and phrases that we know as taboo today. Yet, as taboo as they are, our reactions are becoming less severe. This is due in large part to the fact that we in general believe less and less that God is listening.

I swear. I cuss. I will paint a room with expletives. But I do so mostly for effect (telling a joke, or to draw attention to a point I'm making when the audience seems to be lost), although there is an occasion to vent with a more than mild oath. I am after all, a big clumsy oaf.

Swearing is primordial and to believe that we have grown out of our saber tooth skins and atlatl days is pure fantasy. Those meager beginnings make the foundation that we have built our progression upon. We would be nothing if we didn't feel the need to grunt about our needs of food, shelter, and procreation. As a firm believer in Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs, I'm certain that once we climb to the next level in the hierarchy, we don't discard the previous one.

The ways we learn about taboo words are through expressions and phonetics. We see how people behave when they use certain words and these words are cataloged as connotation along with the actions associated with that word. And the phonetics of most taboo words are halting, as expressed in my exercise above.

In short, swearing is lashed to our basic existence, at least as far as the right half of our brain sees it.

WARNING! Two of the the three following videos contain vulgar language. I felt the material was excellent and relevant to this discussion. If in fact that you do not agree, please let me know in the guest book.

Enjoy!

Bess Truman was asked by staffers to try and get her husband, President Harry S.Truman, to use the word 'fertilizer' in stead of 'manure'. Her reaction was..........

1. You can be &*%@ faced, be &*%@ out of luck, or have &*%@ for brains.
2. With a little effort you can get your &*%@ together, find a place for your &*%@ or decide to &*%@ or get off the pot.
3. You can smoke &*%@, buy &*%@, sell &*%@, lose &*%@, find &*%@, forget &*%@, and tell others to eat &*%@ and die.
4. You can &*%@ or go blind, have a &*%@ fit or just &*%@ your life away.
5. People can be &*%@ headed, &*%@ brained, &*%@ blinded, and &*%@ over.
6. Some people know their &*%@ while others can't tell the difference between &*%@ and shineola.
7. There are lucky &*%@s, dumb &*%@s, crazy &*%@s, and sweet &*%@s.
8. There is bull &*%@, and horse &*%@ and chicken &*%@.
9. You can throw &*%@, sling &*%@, catch &*%@, or duck when the &*%@ hits the fan.
10. You can take a &*%@, give a &*%@, or serve &*%@ on a shingle.
11. You can find yourself in deep &*%@, or be happier than a pig in &*%@.
12. Some days are colder than &*%@, some days are hotter than &*%@, and some days are just plain &*%@ty.
13. Some music sounds like &*%@, things can look like &*%@, and there are times when you feel like &*%@.
14. You can have too much &*%@, not enough &*%@, the right &*%@, the wrong &*%@ or a lot of weird &*%@.
15. You can carry &*%@, have a mountain of &*%@, or find yourself up &*%@ creek without a paddle.
16. Sometimes you really need this &*%@ and sometimes you don't want any &*%@ at all.
17. Sometimes everything you touch turns to &*%@ and other times you swim in a lake of &*%@ and come out smelling like a rose.
18. When you stop to consider all the facts, it's the basic building block of creation.
19. And remember, once you know your &*%@, you don't need to know anything else!

Professor Steven Pinker has made a lifetime of studies in the field of Psychology. His specialties are linguistics and cognitive thought. He has a fresh and exciting view on a myriad of topics. I strongly recommend watching some of engaging lectures at YouTube.

The essay I quote from is called What The F*** and can be read at The New Republic

You know, Writer's Block ain't no #$@%! joke. Read how one author (me) washed himself clean of a particularly nasty case of Writer's Block at Writer's Block; The Walnut, The Squirrel, The Muskie And Me.

While you're at it, you can check out some funny as heck lens reviews at Joker Squid. Put plastic up, you'll be spewing coffee!
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