At a deeper level, it is possible that Sorry! This sentiment resonates in wider circles than those middle-aged bachelors who still live with their parents. In a strange way, their story had parallels with that of Tim, who, like them, demonstrated that with patience, resilience, and perseverance, oppressive situations can be overcome. Remaining with this theme, it is perhaps no accident that in Soviet-influenced Eastern European countries, dissident playwrights, film directors, and writers used the subtle device of humour to conceal criticism of authority.
Am I adopting too far fetched an analogy in this last paragraph and stretching credibility? Enjoy Sorry! An interesting, thought-provoking piece as always, Phil. As you say, the characters do come across as one-dimensional cartoon caricatures rather than real people which stretches credibility somewhat.
However, it was quite a funny show and like so many other comedies drew its humour from a depressing, seemingly hopeless situation. I never saw Sorry as an allegory of the Communist oppression in Eastern Europe, but now that you mention it, you could have a point there! Thanks for the comment, Ciaran. Yes, freedom in Eastern Europe is all down to the inspiration of Timothy Lumsden!
What an ass! Seriously, though, what is shown on TV, as you know, can have a profound effect on how people think, and what they think. This would thereby make them grateful for the great benefits and wonderful advances which his benign and civilized rule brought them. Having little else to entertain them in their drab existence, many Romanians tuned in to see it.
All this talk has made me nostalgic for my pre-teenage and middle-teenage days when the great struggle of the Cold War was still unfinished, for the days of Solidarity and Havel, of Pope John Paul II, Reagan, and Gorbachev.
The whole thing, in retrospect, seemed such a simple moral choice, between oppression and freedom, whereas now it appears to me that many of us in the West have given up on the idea that human rights and liberation from oppression, the free press, and freedom of expression are the birthright of all human beings, including the people of Iran.
Surely it is our responsibilty to insist on this? I have to say, I nevr join the herd in proclaiming sitcom classics — or any other classics, and Sorry! I found it sometimes darkly surreal — the episodes in which Mrs Lumsden told Timothy his father was dead, for instance, in order to keep him under her thumb, and always enjoyable. Were we oppressed by free market orthodoxy in the UK, Ciaran?
I do remember Sorry being a popular show from my teens. While not a huge comedy great, Sorry always passed the time for me in the eighties and would watch repeats now. They made use of the exact same innovative science to create Adiphene as they did Phen, and this wound up developing a fantastically safe, unbelievably effective dietary fat burning supplement that other business envy.
Glucomannan has a particular means to soak up water and swell inside the stomach. Try to ignore the trolls. Leave those clodhoppers to me. Thanks, James. Have just read the article today and the comments. Keep fighting the good fight against the trolls. You are guilty of the same logical fallacy. I totally disagree with this finding, if it really is a finding. Half the time the person swearing is swearing because they are covering up a lie, or trying to prove a point that is unrealistic.
I notice that people tend to swear just to relieve anxiety and stress. Believe me, my daughter swears like a sailor and so did one of my sisters. To heck with Behavioral Studies. I spent 45 years in engineering on the shop floor where swearing was the norm, I never got used to it. I compared it to picking your nose in public, i. It will probably become socially unacceptable though time. As well as the example above, if the words were substituted with a loud hand clap, I think that would have a similar effect.
As these two words are between 3 and 4 times older than the US they clearly fulfil some type of linguistic need, which must be worthy of a level of attention above the tut-tuttery and value judgements of some of the posters here. This was apparently a commonly used street name in medieval England. Apparently, so named because of the prostitution which was rife.
This name was actively used until Victorian times when use of what they saw as obscene language came to be frowned upon in polite society — the source of much of our current attitudes towards swearing, not to mention their legacy of sexual hypocrisy which was partially responsible for this stance on linguistic mores.
There were at least 3 streets of this name in London, one of which was euphemistically renamed as Threadneedle Street — now the location of the Bank of England. More research on this rich and interesting linguistic heritage and the role that it seems to have played in human history would seem to be more than justified.
According to HBO dramas, ancient Rome and the American frontier West were scenes of far more potty-mouth than contemporary society. SIL strode upstairs and read the three women, the riot act. If my SIL has a rather irrational approach to a famly member getting easily and emotionally reactive by swearing, then pehaps it is SHE who needs he counseling. At least IMHO. I do have bipolar disorder so there might be some impulse control issues. I am working towards finishing my M. I promise you there are plenty of intelligent people who swear on a regular basis.
It is systematic. Not impulsive. It is not speculation. It is just like you learned in school—do some research on the topic you are targeting, forming a hypothesis, designing an experiment to test that hypothesis, then doing it and finally analyzing the data, drawing a conclusion and writing up your findings.
So FairBairn— you say people who swear when they are hurt are babies. The swearing helps bear the pain. Remember the part where the author mentioned that children start this fairly young? Not liking swearing does not make it untrue that there is a correlation between wearing and honesty. Have you no understanding at all of the concept of science, or of its methodology?
I never used to swear. I have always leaned way to far on the soft heart scale, far to passive when i believe you need to balance between a harder heart, and softer one, somewhere in the middle. I never have to worry about the balancing act because my tendencies for compassion, and a soft heart i dont think i can lose , so i just try to be as hard as i can , and the balance takes care of itself.
I know exactly why I swear. I swear because it is the only way I can find, and feel the aggression I need to meet the aggression that life throws at me. I not talking about people Im talking about the thing that you wake up to every morning trying to bring you down. Swearin has really made a difference in my aggression of spirit. You have to be harder then life or life will break you.
She told me that she has noticed me starting to cuss recently and asked me why. She also told me, however, that she, in order to determine the continued results of her own study, would have to keep spying, on not only me but also my own husband. I guess there must be more rationale behind the use of profanity in language….
It would be interesting to see more studies about the use of profanity. Interesting article, but in my opinion it is not always a good approach to omit certain findings from similar scientific studies done from a different area of specialization, as they can lend credence to the psychological study done here. Neurolinguistics, for example, could give some useful background on just why it is that aphasics swear more prolifically than other psychosociological groups.
A nurse was bringing hot coffee to a patient in the hospital where we worked; he had had a severe stroke and was unable to speak at all. That incident opened up an area of study in neurolinguistics that has helped many patients, mute for whatever medical reasons, to relearn how to produce speech by repurposing the pathways the brain normally reserves for swearing. The original patient was taught to speak again after a prolonged period of no doubt frustrated silence, using those neuropathways… His family was beyond grateful and he himself was thrilled to no end.
To get back to my original point, what I believe is that overspecialization in a given area of science can sometimes put the blinders on, even to the extent of reinventing the wheel sometimes. Better to cull from several areas of study, to round out your psychological findings and to give them a broader context. And by the way, the F word came to us from the Latin form, probably through the Norman rule of England for over years. But the description provided by 2manyprojex definitely has a ring of truth to it see the March, comment above.
I love this stuff! Was this a rhetorical question raised for effect to draw attention to the fact the disconnect certainly seems to exist?
This is an interesting question that exceedingly relevant in politics. Why such a large disconnect between the folk psychologies of average American communities and the formal communities of the softer sciences known as psychology and sociology?
The subject of this article is interesting, as are some of the questions. After obscene gestures and racial epithets, swearing is likely the biggest precursor no pun intended to violence.
Do all people swear? In my experience yes, although frequency varies greatly from person to person. There are exceptions of course — like Tourette Syndrome.
Kudos to the people whose entitled moral ground makes them think they know more and better than a Behavioral Science PhD. Do they really think the world revolves around their own moral values?
As for the article. Well written and informative, as much as should be. I would be interested to know how the research progresses. Reference anger to infantile expression shows a lack of connection to our language. I do not choose to revert to anal attachment to feces, when I am frustrated. Likewise, I do not choose to use a word for intercourse, inviting people who I do not even like to intercourse.
That sex and hatred are so intertwined speaks volumes of our inability to differentiate between the two. To reference a woman as a female breeding dog and then teach her to be proud to insult herself, defies all logic. I could get more into profanities, if they made more sense, raising themselves out of poop, piss, sex, into words that make logical sense.
Well, Mac your remarks were hilariously forthright and candidly serious. Your colorful discourse was quite amusing to me, although you appear to be quite sincere with no intention of being comical. I like. Thank you for sharing. Here is a great explanation on how context makes all the difference. Of course saying words with negative associations, are going to give rise to negative feelings and stress. This does not apply to light-hearted situations in which the swear words are being used for dramatic effect.
A cleverly placed swear word in a funny situation can be very amusing. There is no credible evidence to back up your preconceived notions. Perhaps those who are more reserved with their use of language are fraudulent, and limit themselves as to who or what they can be due to fear of judgement. Cry babies. Get over it. I grew up in a home with parents who swear.
What happened? My repertoire is just more extensive and colorful than some. Cry me a river…. When I was going to school I had a woeful stammer in my speech and had great difficulty conversing socially and answering questions at school. Found that when I swore before starting to recite a poem especially in class it got the first word out easier especially if the poem began with a broad consenant.
If the poem began with a vowel it made it that bit easier to start the recitation. I had to swear under my breath of course as swearing might not go down well if expressed loudly. Stammer is hardly noticeable nowadays. Thanks for your inspirational findings.
I cringe at the sound of it, or any of the other curse words that people use. It is offensive in mixed company. I personally feel that when someone swears, they are displaying the fact that they do not have a good vocabulary.
Most of the people in my school swear just for fun. For example, one of the sentences I overheard in the lunch-line contained at least 10 swears, in like a 20 or so word sentence.
This problem has to stop. Swear words are designated in the dictionary as swear words. When they are used, you, by definition, are swearing. If used in a different context, of course, they are not swearing, but that does not excuse the offensive nature of swear words. This is supposed to be a psychology oriented site, yet the authors of the article seem to be focusing with predilection on the linguistic aspect of the issue. By the time I read the passage where the authors claim we do not know how our children learn to swear, though, I was looking for a disclaimer announcing this is only for entertainment and that it is a fake news site.
Not only do they offer very little data in support of their claims, their claims defy rational logic, which is probably the reason we find no significant data in the article, other than the claim that the authors were interviewed 3, times regarding this issue, which is obviously not true. This kind of articles explain why according to recent studies, a vast majority of the population of America does not trust scientists and science journalists.
What is even more depressing is the fact that the authors teach in our colleges and universities, which seems to account for the state of profound ignorance of our society. On that note, as a personal observation, I noticed that most of the swearing is done by individuals that are poorly educated on the subjects they discussed, and that swearing it is used as a cover for their lack of knowledge, as a form of defense mechanism against those who expose them for making false claims.
Through my Sophomore year of High school, I never cussed. A higher shock value, you know? I found it to be a burden, as it lessened some humor, so I took it up my senior year. No one noticed. It would be really nice if any of the studies the authors consulted were cited in this article. In a way it is: it describes someone who speaks a particularly large number of foreign languages, someone whose all-consuming passion for words and systems can lead them to spend many long hours alone with a grammar book.
Fluency is another craft altogether. I began my language education at age thirteen. I became interested in the Middle East and started studying Hebrew on my own. At the end of a month, I had memorized about twenty of their songs by heart — even though I had no clue what they meant. I decided to experiment.
Sometimes, I would even get up the courage to introduce myself, rearranging all of the song lyrics in my head into new, awkward and occasionally correct sentences. As it turned out, I was on to something.
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