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There's actually been interesting research done about that idea, that people who swear have a smaller vocabulary or are less fluent. It seems that the opposite

There's actually been interesting research done about that idea, that people who swear have a smaller vocabulary or are less fluent. It seems that the opposite is actually true¹, people who swear are actually demonstrating a broader fluency. Worth a read! ¹ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S038800011400151X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03880...

dylan604 6y ago
I've never given credence to the "cursing == less articulate" either. It's knowing the impact dropping a curse can have to get people's attention. Plus, sometimes, people are just too dense to get how bothered you are, but drop a colorful phrase, and they tend to get the point. Like the George Carlin bit, take a word like "incredible" and it's a nice word. Stick fuck in the middle of it to make "infuckingcredible" and it's an even better word. Fanfuckingtastic > fantastic and is much more impactful than "most fantastic". Having said all of that, I have never told someone FU. That's my line.
- jsjohnst 6y ago
  > Fanfuckingtastic > fantastic and is much more impactful than "most fantastic" I’ve always heard and used that “word” in the sarcastic sense, rather than as meaning more/most fantastic. Using in context to illustrate: Friend: I broke the part we need to finish the project. Me: Fanfuckingtastic, guess I’ll get busy making another one.
  - dylan604 6y ago
    well, people have misused grammar for ages <ducks> Again though, that's the great thing about "swear" word. Shit can be good, shit can be bad, and shit can just be shit. Not being a grammarian, how many words other than curse words be a noun, verb and adjective all at the same time. buffalo comes to mind, but is just non-nonsensical when used.
    - jsjohnst 6y ago
      > Not being a grammarian, how many words other than curse words be a noun, verb and adjective all at the same time. Here’s just a few, there’s a bunch more: - back - best - better - bitter - broadside - clean - clear - close - cod - collect - counter - crisscross - damn - double - down - even - express - fair - fast - fine - firm - flush - forward - free - full - home - jolly - last - light - low - o.k. - okay - out - pat - plain - plumb - plump - pop - prompt - quiet - right - rough - round - second - short - solo - square - steady - still - tiptoe - true - upstage - well - wholesale - worst - wrong - zigzag As an added bonus, the words above aren’t just valid as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, they are also adverbs too. Source: https://onweb3.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/663/ https://onweb3.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/663/
- kortex 6y ago
  I love that there are grammatical rules in how you can and can't infix expletives. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w
jawns 6y ago
It doesn't surprise me that people with larger overall vocabularies also have larger swear vocabularies. But the study you cite deals only with taboo word fluency, not with actual usage. I would be curious whether high-vocab swearers diverge from low-vocab swearers in how they actually use bad language. In my experience, even my high-vocab friends drop f-bombs in substantially the same way that lower-vocab friends do. I don't buy the "lack of vocab" hypothesis, because no one smurfs swear words as a smurfy substitutes for inadequate vocab, but as for the "lazy language" hypothesis, I think it's possible to use curse words as a crutch even if you have the capacity to do otherwise. And fluency doesn't necessarily indicate usage. I could rattle off many taboo words with which I am acquainted, but that doesn't mean I choose to use them.
- a_wild_dandan 6y ago
  I hypothesize that the "swearing => stunted vocabulary" argument is just a post hoc rationalization to give some justification for not liking bad words.
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    I think you're wrong. There are two distinct populations (in UK), those of poor vocabulary who use swearing all the time and don't seem capable of speaking in a nuanced way. And those who have the vocabulary to not swear, can still express themselves without expletives but choose to use them depending on the company/context they're in. I found as a teenager that I'd swear to try and appear cool, and when I lacked sufficient nuance to my vocabulary to clearly express my feelings, and decided I wanted to do better. I don't really care if you swear - except in front of children (because they have to learn not to swear in the wrong context when they can get in trouble from others who are more conservative) - but unless you demonstrate otherwise I'll assume it's lack of decent vocabulary. Almost all people I've worked with who've sworn a lot (amongst general company) have had very low levels of education. I don't really understand the whole "these words are shocking" attitude, eg cunt, people give simple utterances too much power.
- mirimir 6y ago
  Some of my favorites come from the Jargon Lexicon.[0] 0) http://hackersdictionary.com/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon-framed.html http://hackersdictionary.com/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon-framed....
6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
I'd love to see something like the entropy of words actually used by people who use common crutch words (e.g. fucking, literally, whatever) more often (somehow correcting for the fact that people who use any set of words unusually often will have lower entropy).

dylan604 6y ago

I've never given credence to the "cursing == less articulate" either. It's knowing the impact dropping a curse can have to get people's attention. Plus, sometimes, people are just too dense to get how bothered you are, but drop a colorful phrase, and they tend to get the point. Like the George Carlin bit, take a word like "incredible" and it's a nice word. Stick fuck in the middle of it to make "infuckingcredible" and it's an even better word. Fanfuckingtastic > fantastic and is much more impactful than "most fantastic". Having said all of that, I have never told someone FU. That's my line.

jsjohnst 6y ago
> Fanfuckingtastic > fantastic and is much more impactful than "most fantastic" I’ve always heard and used that “word” in the sarcastic sense, rather than as meaning more/most fantastic. Using in context to illustrate: Friend: I broke the part we need to finish the project. Me: Fanfuckingtastic, guess I’ll get busy making another one.
- dylan604 6y ago
  well, people have misused grammar for ages <ducks> Again though, that's the great thing about "swear" word. Shit can be good, shit can be bad, and shit can just be shit. Not being a grammarian, how many words other than curse words be a noun, verb and adjective all at the same time. buffalo comes to mind, but is just non-nonsensical when used.
  - jsjohnst 6y ago
    > Not being a grammarian, how many words other than curse words be a noun, verb and adjective all at the same time. Here’s just a few, there’s a bunch more: - back - best - better - bitter - broadside - clean - clear - close - cod - collect - counter - crisscross - damn - double - down - even - express - fair - fast - fine - firm - flush - forward - free - full - home - jolly - last - light - low - o.k. - okay - out - pat - plain - plumb - plump - pop - prompt - quiet - right - rough - round - second - short - solo - square - steady - still - tiptoe - true - upstage - well - wholesale - worst - wrong - zigzag As an added bonus, the words above aren’t just valid as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, they are also adverbs too. Source: https://onweb3.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/663/ https://onweb3.wordpress.com/2013/08/14/663/
kortex 6y ago
I love that there are grammatical rules in how you can and can't infix expletives. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w

jawns 6y ago

It doesn't surprise me that people with larger overall vocabularies also have larger swear vocabularies. But the study you cite deals only with taboo word fluency, not with actual usage. I would be curious whether high-vocab swearers diverge from low-vocab swearers in how they actually use bad language. In my experience, even my high-vocab friends drop f-bombs in substantially the same way that lower-vocab friends do. I don't buy the "lack of vocab" hypothesis, because no one smurfs swear words as a smurfy substitutes for inadequate vocab, but as for the "lazy language" hypothesis, I think it's possible to use curse words as a crutch even if you have the capacity to do otherwise. And fluency doesn't necessarily indicate usage. I could rattle off many taboo words with which I am acquainted, but that doesn't mean I choose to use them.

a_wild_dandan 6y ago
I hypothesize that the "swearing => stunted vocabulary" argument is just a post hoc rationalization to give some justification for not liking bad words.
- pbhjpbhj 6y ago
  I think you're wrong. There are two distinct populations (in UK), those of poor vocabulary who use swearing all the time and don't seem capable of speaking in a nuanced way. And those who have the vocabulary to not swear, can still express themselves without expletives but choose to use them depending on the company/context they're in. I found as a teenager that I'd swear to try and appear cool, and when I lacked sufficient nuance to my vocabulary to clearly express my feelings, and decided I wanted to do better. I don't really care if you swear - except in front of children (because they have to learn not to swear in the wrong context when they can get in trouble from others who are more conservative) - but unless you demonstrate otherwise I'll assume it's lack of decent vocabulary. Almost all people I've worked with who've sworn a lot (amongst general company) have had very low levels of education. I don't really understand the whole "these words are shocking" attitude, eg cunt, people give simple utterances too much power.
mirimir 6y ago
Some of my favorites come from the Jargon Lexicon.[0] 0) http://hackersdictionary.com/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon-framed.html http://hackersdictionary.com/html/The-Jargon-Lexicon-framed....

6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago

I'd love to see something like the entropy of words actually used by people who use common crutch words (e.g. fucking, literally, whatever) more often (somehow correcting for the fact that people who use any set of words unusually often will have lower entropy).