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• From the first televised f-bomb to a man jailed over his use of profanity, we count
ten things you didn’t know about swearing! 10 – First Televised F-Bomb,
• Us HBO fans take televised f-bombs for granted, but it’s important to remember
their history. The first f-bomb in American television history was dropped by Charles
Rocket on Saturday Night Live in 1981. He was, of course, fired for it, but he set the
wheels of change in motion. • Meanwhile, on the other side of the world,
Kenneth Tynan dropped the first British television f-bomb on a BBC programme sixteen years earlier.
It ended up becoming the defining moment of Kenneth’s career, overshadowing his life’s
work as a respected theatre critic. 9 – Brain Function and Tourette’s,
• Tourette’s Syndrome is often called the ‘cursing disease’ because its sufferers
are known to have profanity-filled outbursts that would make a sailor blush. In truth,
though, less than fifteen percent of people diagnosed with the disease experience these
involuntary outbursts. • Why do some Tourette’s sufferers blurt
out swear words? Scientists don’t know for sure, but it’s believed our vocabulary of
swear words is stored in a special part of the brain. When Tourette’s sufferers experience
a seizure, their brain automatically reaches into that part of the brain for the appropriate
words. 8 – Kids Learn to Swear Before Learning
the Alphabet, • Kids grow up so quickly. One minute they’re
learning to speak or taking those precious first steps, the next they’re calling you
a [play ‘censor-beep.mp3’ sound effect] or a [play sound effect again] and stealing
your wallet. • According to research by psychology professor
Timothy Jay, there’s been a noticeable rise in children using swear words. And they aren’t
just swearing more than they were twenty years ago, they’re also picking up bad words sooner.
• Today most children know at least one swear word by age two and their desire to
test boundaries using profanity escalates around three to four.
7 – History of the Grawlix, • A ‘grawlix’ is one of those clusters
of typographical symbols that you often see in comic book dialogue bubbles. They’re
substitutes for profanity, and are used so that the artist can realistically depict a
character’s anger without *** people off.
• The term was coined by American cartoonist Mort Walker in 1964.
6 – Swearing is Pain Relief, • Studies have shown that people can tolerate
pain better if they swear. According to tested averages, those who swear while in agony can
push through pain for almost thirty percent longer than the squeaky clean folk who never
swear. • This explains why some athletes swear
their way through difficult workouts and why women call their partners every swearword
under the sun during childbirth. 5 – Gender Swear-Off,
• In the battle for the title of Sweary-iest Sex, men reign supreme. That’s right: according
to a study, males curse a lot more than women. This is most likely due to social conditioning.
• Interestingly, men swear a lot less when there are women around. However, women who
dare to swear don’t curb their tongues when men happen to be around. In fact, one study
found that women actually swear more when members of the opposite sex are nearby. Stop
being such a *** bad influence, fellas. 4 – Swears Per Capita,
• According to a recent study involving monitored customer service calls, the American
state that swears the most is Ohio. This is by a wide margin. Yes, I’m surprised it
wasn’t New York too. Ohio was also found to be in the top five ‘least courteous states’,
so basically get the *** out of their way. • Conversely, people from Washington, DC
were found to swear the least. This might be because George Washington famously detested
profanity. 3 – Voters Love Politicians Who Swear,
• According to a study published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology,
voters respond positively to politicians who swear.
• The study had test subjects read blog posts by fictional candidates for an imaginary
election. Participants were found to be more likely to vote for candidates if their posts
contained minor vulgarities. • If you think about it, this makes sense.
A good political candidate is relatable and transparent. By lowering their guard and swearing,
a politician comes across as genuine. • According to the study, this only works
for male candidates. Female politicians who swore didn’t win over voters in the same way.
2 – Swearing Hurts Jesus, • In the Middle Ages, many believed that
uttering swear words physically hurt Jesus. That’s right: as they leave your lips, bad
words turn into tiny invisible daggers that tear apart the ascended body of Christ.
• This also happens when you use the Lord’s name in vain.
1 – Convicted Blasphemer, • In the 1600s, swearing wasn’t the mild
finger-wagging offence it is today; it was a deep-seated taboo. In 1676, Englishman John
Taylor was dragged before the Westminster court to illustrate how dangerous coarse language
and blasphemy could be. • Taylor’s potty-mouth was so out of control
that he was committed to an institution to see if he was a blasphemer or outright insane.
When treatment – presumably a bar of soap in the mouth – failed to cure him, he was
ordered to return to court. • During his sentencing, the Lord Chief
Justice declared swearing and blasphemy a crime punishable by a court of law. Taylor
was ordered to pay a hefty fine and stand in the Westminster pillory wearing a piece
of paper on his head that read, ‘For blasphemous words, tending to the subversion of all government’.
• He was then imprisoned until someone would vouch for his good behaviour. There’s no record
of his release, so I guess he was in there awhile.