“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 […]