Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language"Entertaining and thought-provoking…Byrne’s enthusiasm for her esoteric subject is contagious, damn it." —Melissa Dahl, New York Times Book Review In this sparkling debut work of popular science, Emma Byrne examines the latest research to show how swearing can be good for you. She explores every angle of swearing—why we do it, how we do it, and what it tells us about ourselves. Packed with the results of unlikely and often hilarious scientific studies—from the “ice-bucket test” for coping with pain, to the connection between Tourette’s and swearing, to a chimpanzee that curses at her handler in sign language—Swearing Is Good for You presents a lighthearted but convincing case for the foulmouthed. |
Contents
Neuroscience and Swearing | |
Fuck That hurts Pain and Swearing | |
Tourettes Syndrome or Why This Chapter Shouldnt Be in This Book | |
Swearing in the Workplace | |
You damn dirty ape Other Primates that Swear | |
Gender and Swearing | |
Swearing in Other Languages | |
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Common terms and phrases
adolescence aggression Allen Gardner amygdala anger antipsychotics asked Ayçiçeği bad language banter Barbara Behavior Therapy bilingual blancmange CBIT chimpanzees colleagues coprolalia culture cunt curse damage Deep Brain Stimulation Dewaele DIRTY Disorders dopamine effect emotional emotionally English example executive function experience feel Fouts fuck Gage Gage's Gardner gender Ginette Herbert Terrace human humor insults jocular abuse joke Journal Lancker less Linguistics male negative Neuroscience noun patients person Phineas Gage phrenology Piss piss-taking Power Rangers profanity Professor propositional swearing Psychology Pulp Fiction response right hemisphere Roger Roger Fouts second language seems shit sign language social pain society someone sound Spanish speakers speech Stephens Stroop test sufferers swear words taboo words talk tell tend there’s things tics Tourette Syndrome Tourette's translate understand University urges volunteers Washoe woman women swear workplace