Swearing proven to have a 'pain-lessening effect'

[TrevorW]

(http://www.gizmag.com/swearing-proven-pain-lessening-effect/12348/picture/87886/)
Swearing proven to have a 'pain-lessening effect'
Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon. Now researchers have determined that swearing can have a ‘pain-lessening effect.’ Swearing taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. The research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists.
While swearing is often a common response to pain, Richard Stephens and his Keele University (http://www.keele.ac.uk/) colleagues, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston, were surprised to discover that no links had been established between swearing and the actual experience of physical pain.
Since swearing often has a ‘catastrophising’ or exaggerating effect, serving to embellish or overstate the severity of pain, Stephens and his team hypothesized that swearing would actually decrease the individual’s tolerance of pain. “Swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon” says Dr Richard Stephens “It taps into emotional brain centers and appears to arise in the right brain, whereas most language production occurs in the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain. Our research shows one potential reason why swearing developed and why it persists.”
Enlisting the help of 64 undergraduate volunteers, the team set out to test their theory. Each individual was asked to submerge their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as possible while repeating a swear word of their choice; they were then asked to repeat the experiment, this time using a more commonplace word that they would use to describe a table. Despite their initial expectations, the researchers found that the volunteers were able to keep their hands submerged in the ice water for a longer period of time when repeating the swear word, establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance.
While it isn’t clear how or why this link exists, the team believes that the pain-lessening effect occurs because swearing triggers our natural ‘fight-or-flight’ response. They suggest that the accelerated heart rates of the volunteers repeating the swear word may indicate an increase in aggression, in a classic fight-or-flight response of ‘downplaying feebleness in favor of a more pain-tolerant machismo.’ What is clear is that swearing triggers not only an emotional response, but a physical one too, which may explain why the centuries-old practise of cursing developed and still persists today.
The study was published in the NeuroReport (http://www.neuroreport.com/) journal.
If this subject appeals to you, might we suggest this excellent article on swearing at Howstuffworks (http://people.howstuffworks.com/swearing.htm/printable) and though we suggest you never be discourteous when a guest in a foreign country, as it can sometimes result in premature death, the Little Book of Essential Foreign Insults (http://www.summersdale.com/product_info.php?products_id=271) is an essential phrase book to ensure you can authentically deliver the message when you absolutely need to, wherever you might be.

[DavidU]

My wife should be pretty much pain free then LOL

[Ric]

I dropped a concrete block on my big toe once. The choice words and there was plenty of them helped.:tasdevil:

My toe still went black though and the nail fell off.:P

[Gallifreyboy]

If only Michael Jackson had hung out with Eddie Murphy more.......he wouldn't have needed those injected anaesthetic painkillers........

[BerrieK]

Wish I had known this when giving birth (yes I know, waaay too much information there) - the first words my kids ever heard may have ended up being rather less gentle but it wouldnt have hurt as much!!

Kerrie

[DeanoNZL]

Or as Spock would say, more "colourful metaphors" :lol:

[JimmyH155]

Quote from Desmond Bagley---- "Swearing and the use of foul language is the prop of an ignorant mind unable to utilise the full and noble resources of English invective.":P I agree - it is NEVER acceptable

[toryglen-boy]

from Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home ..... i am such a geek


;)

[toryglen-boy]

i cant tell if your joking, you have a smiley, then strong words?

[mozzie]

being a brickie things get pretty colorful at work and on building sites swearing is like a second language it doesnt sound good if there is ladies and kids around time and place for everything
mozzie

[Rhino1980]

Ahh, so that's why I'm dropping F-Bombs all the time. I better get wifey to read this so she understands me better :rofl:

[TrevorW]

Swearing to me is being human just another way of expressing emotions

[dpastern]

Yup. It always amazes me how people can get offended. It's JUST a word.

Dave

[OneOfOne]

I don't have a problem with swearing, as long as it is in context.

If some guy has just cut you off on the road almost causing an accident, you can swear at them, being inside your car you are unlikely to cause any offense anyway, but it will reduce the pain of having to swerve.

If you have just hit your thumb with a hammer...swear your head off! If there are little kids around though, show some control. If there are teenagers around, I am sure they will offer some better adjectival phrases...and laugh at you.

If your mum has given you something for dinner you don't like, kindly tell her so, but if you swear, don't expect to get anything different.

[kinetic]

My brother and I used to ride our bikes the 10 or so blocks
up to Grandma and Grandpa's house on weekends as little kids.
My Grandpa never ever swore.
I had never heard him swear all my life.

One day, my brother and I knocked on his shed door where he was
inside trying to weld.
He was welding cast iron and apparently it was not going so well.
He didn't know we were there at the door.

What entered our tender ears that morning was a long lost artform.
Not just superbly crafted and delivered swearing but
the most colourful sailor's language we had ever heard :eyepop:.

When he looked up and saw us he said, "hey kids, how long
have you two been standing there ?"

Steve

[TheDecepticon]

"Oh, goodness! I've just cut my jolly finger off, Roger, old chap!! What a ninny am I! Can't think of what the Major will say, what ho!!"
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[White Rabbit]

Yeah, sometimes shouting "ouch" just doesnt cut it, lol.

[TrevorW]

or

"Excreta, I've cut my bodily interchange of feelings finger off"

[JimmyH155]

Swearing is never a joke, Duncan. It is offensive language, and people these days use it in front of women and even little children, polluting their minds from birth. Never giving them an innocent childhood. If we want to change our society for the better, then dont use foul language. "Oh, it is only human nature" I hear you say.
Another quote for you from that masterpiece, "The African Queen" Kathleen Hepburn says to Mr Altnark when he used that excuse, "Human nature, Mr Altnark, is what we are put on this Earth to rise above!"

[TrevorW]

Once limited to blasphemy, 'bad language' has evolved over many thousands of years to represent both the lowest and the highest forms of human expression. Such words can cause the greatest offence if used casually and repeatedly, at an inappropriate time or place, or in the wrong company.

Yet often, a well-timed swear-word can make people laugh. Among friends, almost any word might be considered acceptable, while even the mildest of curses might be distressing if heard coming from the mouth of a child.

Even something as simple as the type of voice a person has can affect how the word is received. Should a British Royal swear it might be considered witty, while the exact same phrase coming from an East-end garage mechanic might be interpreted as crude and base and words that might once have been commonplace are nowadays considered entirely unacceptable.

Refer this link for an insight into the background of swearing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A753527

No as I said before it's what makes us human :thumbsup:

[pgc hunter]

No wonder I don't feel pain when I use physical violence against my computer when it freezes up, when it's cloudy or when someone cuts me off :lol:

[AstralTraveller]

At a place I used to work someone bought in a document that would prevent us from having to swear in front of members of the 'public'. (Just why we shouldn't swear in front of a bunch of truckies was never made clear, but anyway...) This had all the offensive words and phrases listed by theme and each one with a code number. So people would say something like "502 you 607" to which I would go over to the counter with the sheet on it, work out what had been said then shout back "well 417 you, you 627 128). This provided a few days amusement until we all went back to just swearing at each other, the foreman, the job etc etc. I supposed you could say that swearing by numbers helped lessen the pain of a boring tedious job.

[Outbackmanyep]

Why do we need Uni people to tell us something that we already know! They could have just got Mythbusters in!

[GrahamL]

A couple I can remember went both ways , my eldest son always around from an early age when friends and I where trying to make an old car go faster or longer with heat an a hammer :).. on his second birthday was presented with one of those little wood blocks with pegs and a hammer.He happily started knocking down the pegs but every now and then would go ar****. My mother looked at him alittle funny and then to me and said whats he saying:whistle:

Work x-mass party /golf day my first tee off sliced I blurt out ar ****
My superviser reminds me of the many ladys present (fair call)and suggests I try and control my outbursts , done , but we get to the last hole he tees off with a small island in front with 3 rocks in the middle , his ball skys and land right between the 3 rocks :)
Gets feet wet and tries again, ball again lands between the 3 rocks.. wow never heard
so many f bombs going off at once , lucky i was there to remind him there were ladies
present.:)

[renormalised]

That means that when I have a heap of assignments to do, all I have to do is swear and cus', and I'll be feeling perfectly fine:P:P:D:D

[TrevorW]

Exactly

[astro744]

It saddens me that language standards have dropped to the gutter level where swearing thrives.

Why is it that television media now show close-up slow motion replays of foul mouth footballers where in the past they would not promote such offensive behaviour? Some of our kids want to watch the footy and unfortunately do not have a say in whether they want to be subjected bad language or not. We as parents cannot censor the video footage unless we turn the entire broadcast off.

You can blame the footballer for the bad language and really I dont expect any better from most (not all) footballers given their continual public trouble they manage to get themselves in, but I think the TV station is ultimately responsible for what is broadcast and in my opinion should be just that; more responsible.

Also, why is it that so called comedians can't get a laugh unless they swear? Is their material that poorly written? Well I'm not laughing. I used to like Tim Allen in Home Improvement but then I saw his stand-up routine and it was full of swearing and just NOT funny. Jerry Seinfeld doesn't swear in his routines and he is one funny comedians around.

I saw a local comedian on stage once many years ago and he was quite funny. He was selling audio tapes of his act after the show and I bought one. After the show I played the tape in my car and I was not impressed since the tape was full of swearing and not what I just heard on stage. I turned the car around and went back to the club and luckily saw the comedian outside waiting for a cab. He exchanged the tape for a non-offensive one and it is much funnier. I'm sure he too remembers this story.

I agree with JimmyH155 and have no time for swearing. I am sick of listening to it in the workplace, media and sometimes even in public. It is the lowest form of language and should never be allowed to enter our normal everyday vocabulary. The media just want ratings and they believe that promoting offensive behavour will appeal to their viewer base and that is the most saddening thing.

As everyone gets older and retires from their jobs youger people fill the position. I believe that standards in the censorship bureau have fallen because the younger censors have a lower bar and know no better. I'm sure there are some with higher standards but probably never enough win a vote.

Well I've had my say, "serenity now!". For the record I am in my 40's.

[TrevorW]

Sorry you've missed the point swearing is historically inherent to all our cultures. !!!!

[pgc hunter]

Using profuse swearing, the pain rendered by this extremely cloudy weather is less severe than if I were to be "patient" and "calm" ;)

[JimmyH155]

Have you noticed that on the tele, when promoting the next programme, the announcer says "This programme contains "Coarse language"" Why dont they speak the truth and call it foul, obscene, offensive - no, to water it down it is just coarse. Another downward trip for the human race to the gutter. At least I have one supporter - thanks astro 744.

[pgc hunter]

probably because it IS "Coarse" language.

[JimmyH155]

Because "Coarse Language" is an euphemism for "offensive, obscene, foul"
Euphamism - a mild term for a harsh reality:P

[astroron]

Hear Hear astro 744

[Rhino1980]

Agreed, watch your mouth around women and children. Astro744, the blokes I work with on the railway would make your toes curl up. But truly I have never met a better bunch of human beings, despite their supposedly "subhuman behaviour". We spend all day working hard and do it in fits of laughter. I never used to swear but before the railway I was a walloper for nearly 8 years, and 8 years of getting abuse hurled at you by the public rubs off on you eventually. Having been in the reserves too, you can bet I got a lot of pratice in there aswell. I do not consider myself a gutter dweller just because I have a swear. I have done more for this country than some of the "pure" people. Lighten up dude.

Peace out. :thumbsup:

[Jen]

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:
These two comments cracked me up :lol::lol::lol:
Opps i just dropped the F_BOMB :lol:
:whistle:

[marki]

Interesting discussion I must say :). I will add my bit as I believe swearing is essential for the well being of educators (which I am) as well as the well being of the children we teach. Yes swearing has a time and place but to state that the fairer sex may be overly sensitive to the use of said expletives is quite frankly the biggest load of horse manure I have heard in a long time. As an educator I am predominantly surrounded by the fairer sex all day. There would not be one day I can remember in the last ten years when one of the girls has not come bursting into the office after a difficult class using language that would make a sailor blush. How is this good for the kids??? Simple, if we did not have such an outlet then I imagine many students would suffer physical harm at the hands of a lunatic without any other outlet. Yes it makes us feel better and is often very entertaining :D.

Mark

[TrevorW]

All in context !!!

a time and place for everything

[JimmyH155]

Swearing is so completely boring. I worked with a person who made it a habit to string as many f words together as possible. Swear words are nearly all 4 letters and there is only a handful of them. The use of them over and over and over again in a conversation shows a moronic pathetic dull intellect that cannot even begin to understand the English language.
As I said in my first post, the use of English invective is so much richer, completely harmless, usually funny, and there is a huge selection to choose from.
I give an example.......
"I hate that **?!!X # wit, he is a f (f*#@!**xx)^&*##!?>**, f**^%##@, f**^%##@!**xx?>, f**^%##@"

"I detest that ugly looking moron, he is a half-witted spawney eyed parrot-faced wazzock!"
THAT'S invective:D

[TrevorW]

or more succinctly

"He looks like the north end of a south bound Camel"

[JimmyH155]

SPLENDID:) You've got it, Mate:D

[marki]

Jimmy, you must indeed have worked with some dullards if their ability to swear only encompassed a hand full of four letter words which they had to repeat. My collegues tend to be a whole lot more innovative than that and I can asure you very witty as well.

Mark

[GrahamL]

My take is that while a few in this thread are pretty happy to ride the moral high ground on what standards are acceptable to THEM in the perfect world the possible inclusion of a measure of tollerance to others who "allegedly" don't measure up wouldn't go astray:thumbsup:

[Rhino1980]

Right the f%^# on man. Whoops :D