“Welcome to the Consortium for Research About Profanity,” says the Consortium for Research About Profanity, then pausing ever so slightly before explaining: “The Consortium for Research About Profanity is a collection of researchers working on understanding how profanity functions in minds, between people, and across societies.” Who are they? They are a lively bunch:
Tag: swearing
Effect of swearing on strength and power performance (study)
Dr Richard Stephens, of Keele University, UK, was a co-recipient of the 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain. Since then, his work on swearing has continued, and he’s the lead author of a 2018 paper for the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise (Volume 35, March 2018, Pages […]
The inconsistencies of animal-based insults in German and English
If you call an English person ‘a mole’ will it carry the same weight as if you call a German person ‘ein Maulwurf’? The power of insults that are based on the names of animal species can vary quite dramatically across different languages and cultures. Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schmauks who is a supernumerary professor at […]
Chris Christie’s “Analysis of the Indexical Values of Swearwords”
To study how people deploy swear words, there are always more depths to be plumbed. This study plumbs: “The Relevance of Taboo Language: An Analysis of the Indexical Values of Swearwords,” Christine Christie, Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 58, 2013, pp. 152-169. The author explains: “The assumption that the use of a particular word or linguistic […]
“Swearing helps us battle pain – no matter what language we curse in”
A replication (with Japanese-language speakers and English-language speakers) of the Ig Nobel Peace Prize-winning experiment (with only English-language speakers) about swearing and pain, described by one of the researchers, in The Conversation: Swearing helps us battle pain – no matter what language we curse in The new study is “Swearing as a response to pain: A […]
Shouting and Cursing while Driving (a new study)
Researchers Francisco Alonso, Cristina Esteban, Andrea Serge and Mª Luisa Ballestar at INTRAS (University Research Institute on Traffic and Road Safety), University of Valencia, Spain, have performed a new study on shouting and cursing whilst driving. “The aim of this study was to describe the factors and perceptions related to aggressive behavior of verbally insulting […]
Ig Nobel Prize-winning swearing research wins best science book prize
Black Sheep: The Hidden Benefits of Being Bad, a new book by Richard Stephens, is the British Psychological Society’s Book Award winner — in the category Popular Science. The BPS’s Book Awards have just been announced. In the year 2010, Richard Stephens and two colleagues were awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing […]
“Being fluent at swearing is a sign of healthy verbal ability”
Richard Stephens, who won an Ig Nobel Prize for his research on swearing, writes about a new discovery. His essay, in BPS Research Digest, has the headline “Being fluent at swearing is a sign of healthy verbal ability“. It says: “there remains a very commonly held belief that swearing is a sign of inarticulateness and […]
The analgesic-sparing benefits of texting
Texting may be an adequate substitute for swearing, suggests a study. The 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Richard Stephens, John Atkins, and Andrew Kingston of Keele University, UK, for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain. [They published a paper describing their research: “Swearing as a Response to Pain”, in […]
Ig Nobel winner’s damn!’s-good book on bad behavior
Richard Stephens, who was awarded the 2010 Ig Nobel peace prize for demonstrating that swearing helps relieve pain, has written a book about the good sides of bad behavior. The book, to which I delightedly contributed a cover blurb (‘Richard Stephens demonstrates that the bad (“NEVER DO THAT!”) things in life do have their good, practical […]