According to the Toronto Sun, those who like to throw in a stream of four-letter words, many starting with “f” or “s,” stand a good chance of being smart. This is based on a new study which has found those who swear and curse tend to have a wider vocabulary compared those who tend not to swear or only swear very occasionally.
The research is based on analysis of colloquial speech. This took the form of a laboratory study. With the study, participants were asked to swear, within a defined period of time, using as many swear words as they could come up with.
The outcome is that those who swear regularly have a greater appreciation of the so-called “nuanced distinctions” in their language. This, apparently, is a sign of an increased vocabulary and a better understanding of what the words used actually mean. After this, the subjects were asked to recite as many animals as they could think of. It was found that those who knew the most swear words could name the most animals.
Thus, the researchers conclude “the ability to generate taboo language is not an index of overall language poverty.” But have they proven those who do not swear regularly have poor language skills? It doesn’t seem so.
Moreover, does this study really mean that those who swear regularly have the widest vocabulary? The writer of this article knows enough swear words to make any naval seaman proud, but he doesn’t choose to employ them that often. So, the study may have the foundation for a linguistic association but did doesn’t convince.
The study was conducted by U.S. psychologists (from Marist College) Kristin Jay and Timothy Jay. They have reported their findings to the Language Sciences journal. The paper is titled “Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth.”
