Most children learns to swear, before they can even recite the alphabet.
Usually, a child knows at least one swear word by the age of two.
On average, typical speakers roughly use about 15,000 words per day.
About 75 of those words are swear words.
For comparison, that's about the same amount as words like "we", and "our".
Keep in mind though, that these numbers can differ greatly between individuals
depending on age, nationality, occupation and so on.
When you hurt yourself, swearing can actually help ease the pain.
A study was done where people were told to hold their hand in ice-cold water for as long as they could.
One group was allowed to use one swear word of their choice during the test,
while the other group could only use a non-obscene control word given to them by the researchers.
The study showed, that 73% of the participants kept their hand in the water longer,
if they were allowed to swear.
On average, the swearing group lasted about 30 to 40 seconds longer in the freezing water.
A lot of popular swear words have been around for more than a millennia!
For example, the word "shit" dates back to early 6th century,
from a period in english history called Anglo-Saxon.
Other words, such as "ass" and "fart", can also be traced back to this time period.
However, back then, these words weren't considered as impolite, as they are now.
Surprisingly, the ever so versatile word "fuck" has quite an obscure etymology.
The most probable origin for the word comes from dramatic, norwegian and swedish languages,
*weird noise*
driving from words such as the ones displayed.
And I'm not going to try to pronounce them, because you all know what happened in the last video,
when I mispronounced *idk what is he saying*. God damm it!
Men and women have different habits when it comes to swearing.
For example, men most commonly use the words "fuck", "shit" and "motherfucker",
while women usually prefer the words "bitch", "piss" and "retard".
Men usually swear more often than women,
but reduce the use of profanity when women are around.
Women, however, seem to swear more, when men are around.
But the real difference lies with age, where it peaks during the teenage years, and then declines thereafter.
In comics and other types of text, you can often see a cluster of symbols to substitute for profanity.
These things actually have a name of their own. It's called a "grawlix".
Some of you might be wondering, why I'm not using the word "cursing" or "cussing".
Well, that's because cursing actually has a slightly different meaning than that of swearing.
Cursing literally means to curse someone.
Phrases such as "God damn it!" and "May the devil take you!" would fall on this category,
while swearing more or less means to use profane or indecent language,
such as "shit", "fuck", "bitch" and most of the other words used as swear words.
And if you don't want to use the words "cussing", "cursing" or "swearing", there's also
*I won't write all of this down.*
The gesture of holding up your middle finger has been used as an insult from as far back, as the first century.
It originated in ancient Greece, where the gesture was used in a manner meant to degrade,
intimidate and threaten the individual receiving it.
Much like how we still use it today.
Back then, the gesture was known as "katapugon", and literally means rump or buttocks.
During the middle ages, the gesture went somewhat on the ground, and was seen as something unholy,
so most people stayed away from ever using it.
But in 1886,
baseball pitcher Schultz Radborn slipped his middle finger into the Boston Beaneaters team picture.
Americans everywhere quickly started using the gesture again,
and it is now a universal sign strongly associated with the phrases "fuck off" and "fuck you".
If you happen to live in the state of Utah, you should somehow come across a dead person,
you better watch what you say, as it's illegal to swear around the deceased.
There are tons of reasons, why we swear.
For example, swearing can be used to relieve pain, as mentioned earlier,
or it can be used to inflict pain on someone else.
Not physical, but emotional pain.
Or, it can be used to make something sound funnier, whittier, or more exaggerated, than it really is.
It can be used to fit in or sound cool.
We also perceive swearing as the lack of intelligence.
But just as many, perceive people who swear as more intelligent.
But the biggest reason of all, the reason, why almost all of us use swear words,
is because we don't think, it's such a big deal.
It's part of the language you speak, and it's very useful, so why not use it?
We simply don't have any fucks to give.