The results of a new survey suggest men have considerably reduced their use of the word f*** since the 1990s, while women have used it far more often. Any patterns of swearing will have cultural, geographical and demographic variances, and the new trend relates to the U.K., based on findings reported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The survey was undertaken by Lancaster University and Cambridge University Press, and it examined the speaking patterns of 376 people.
The F-word is an Old English word. As well as referring to sexual intercourse it also, and seemingly more commonly, refers to disdain. The earliest use of the word traces back to the fifteenth century. Over time the word has, depending upon one’s social circle, become increasingly less vulgar and more publicly acceptable.
For the study, representative adults were selected and recording made each day for three hours, over the course of a few weeks. The recordings were transcribed and analyzed, and the verbal patterns trended. According to The Independent, women use the F-word 546 times per million words and men use it 540 times.
The lead researcher, Professor Tony McEnery, director at the ESRC, told The Times that swearing appeared to be losing its masculine image and becoming more gender neutral.“It looks like there were a set of men who said it a lot in the early Nineties, and they influenced the women to do it, and then it levelled down,” he told the news outlet.
Further analysis of the transcripts, for a variety of speech patterns and word usage, is continuing and the final results are not expected to be published until 2018. The final assessment will be the biggest review of word use ever conducted.
