Psychologists Kristin Jay and Timothy Jay have written in the Language Sciences journal about their new study, which proves those who swear more actually have a more proficient vocabulary.
They conducted an experiment based on the “poverty of vocabulary” theory which suggests that those who swear frequently do so because they lack the intellectual capacity to otherwise express themselves.
The psychologist writes: “We cannot help but judge others on the basis of their speech. Unfortunately, when it comes to taboo language, it is a common assumption that people who swear frequently are lazy, do not have an adequate vocabulary, lack education, or simply cannot control themselves.”
However, when asking participants of the study to conjure curse words and general vocabulary, the pair concluded that those with a larger reserve of “taboo” words also had a more extensive knowledge of general vocabulary.
The study concludes: “The overall finding of this set of studies, that taboo fluency is positively correlated with other measures of verbal fluency, undermines the POV [Poverty of Vocabulary] view of swearing. That is, a voluminous taboo lexicon may better be considered an indicator of healthy verbal abilities rather than a cover for their deficiencies.
“Speakers who use taboo words understand their general expressive content as well as nuanced distinctions that must be drawn to use slurs appropriately.”
F****** Deadly.
