Richard Stephens, who was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for his research about swearing and pain, has just won a writing competition for his work about smiling. The Wellcome Trust reports: Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize 2014: The winners are… 22 OCT, 2014 The winners of the fourth Wellcome Trust Science Writing Prize were announced this […]
Tag: swearing
Another twist on swearing in two languages
There’s a new twist (the old twist was pretty twisty, it was) in understanding the power of a multilingual person who swears in one language versus another: “Second Language as an Exemptor from Sociocultural Norms. Emotion-Related Language Choice Revisited,” Marta Gawinkowska [pictured here], Michał B. Paradowski, Michał Bilewicz, PLoS ONE, 8(12), 2013, e81225. (Thanks to […]
Counting curses (on Twitter, in English)
Words can be tallied. Words were. This study gives details: “Cursing in English on Twitter,” Wenbo Wang, Lu Chen, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan [pictured here], and Amit P. Sheth, paper presented at CSCW’14 , February 15-19 2014, Baltimore, MD, USA. The authors, at Wright State University, explain: “In this paper, we examine the characteristics of cursing activity […]
“Swearing – the Language of Life and Death”
Richard Stephens has published a life and death account of research about swearing: “Swearing – the Language of Life and Death,” Richard Stephens, The Psychologist, vol. 26, pt. 9, September 2013, pp. 650-653. In 2010, Professor Stephens and two of his students were awarded the Ig Nobel Peace Prize. The citation reads: Richard Stephens, John Atkins, […]
Ugly and Pretty Paintings, and Laser Beams, and Swearing
Prior to 2008 no one knew, at all precisely, the pain people suffer when they gaze at an ugly painting – relative to what they’d feel if they were looking at a pretty picture – while a stranger shoots them in the back of the hand with a powerful laser beam. Now something is known about the subject. The […]
Swearing Can Repel Emotional Support
A new paper is the first (by other authors) to cite the 2010 Ig Nobel Peace Prize-winning paper by Richard Stephens, et al., about how swearing relieves physical pain. The new study is: “Naturalistically observed swearing, emotional support, and depressive symptoms in women coping with illness,” Megan L Robbins, Elizabeth S Focella, Shelley Kasle, Ana […]
Ig folk: Language explorers on “Planet Word”
The BBC television program “Planet Word“, hosted by Stephen Fry, has featured interviews and demonstrations with at least two prominent Ig Nobel people. Richard Stephens, 2010 Ig Nobel Prize peace prize winner for confirming the widely held belief that swearing relieves pain, demonstrates his work, assisted by Stephen Fry and actor Brian Blessed, on episode 3. […]
The Effect of Swear Words on Referees
Do swear words have predictable effects on football referees? A team of Austrian scientists tackles that question in a study called May I Curse a Referee? Swear Words and Consequences. Stefan Stieger, of the University of Austria, together with Andrea Praschinger and Christine Pomikal, who describe themselves as “independent scientists”, published their report in the Journal of Sports […]
Why Do Women Swear?
A study of distaff ejaculations: “Why Do Women Swear? An Exploration of Reasons for and Perceived Efficacy of Swearing in Dutch Female Students,” Eric Rassin and Peter Muris, Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 38, no. 7, May 2005, pp. 1669–74. (Thanks to Alisa Frith for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, who are at […]
Swearing – a psychological tool
“Offensive language (spoken by medical staff and by patients and their families) is often heard in the general hospital.” But, despite its apparent prevalence, its manifestations and clinical implications have have largely escaped formal examination – until now. Dr. Daniel J. Zimmerman and Professor Theodore A. Stern have between them co-authored what is believed to […]