Imagine this – a paperweight falls on your feet. Or even better – you stub your toe against a piece of furniture. What do you do instantly? You SWEAR!
Somehow, whatever disgustingly painful life throws at you, saying the F-word loud and clear makes everything better. And here’s a study that has a very good scientific explanation behind it!
According to a recent study by a group of language and psychology experts in the United Kingdom, swearing during painful situations increases your tolerance and threshold for pain!
In 2009, Dr. Richard Stephens, a senior lecturer in psychology at Keele University found that swearing can increase one’s pain tolerance for a short amount of time. However, the new UK study tried finding out if there were other words which can be used that weren’t abusive per se but had the same effect.
Hence, Stephens along with 2 other language experts created two swear words for the study – “twizpipe” and “fouch”.
“They were the best socially acceptable swear words, as they mimic real swear words quite closely. ‘Twizpipe’ mirrors the humorous element of swearing and is fun to say, whereas ‘fouch’ is harsh-sounding and concise, similar to the existing four-letter swear word”, the language experts said.
To conduct the study, volunteers were recruited and their hands were submerged in ice water. They found that ‘Twizpipe’ and ‘fouch’ did not work and raise any kind of pain tolerance. But the good old F-word did!
“From a young age we typically learn to associate them with high-stress situations and that they are forbidden. The study found that these strong sentiments cannot be mimicked by newly created swear words,” says Dr. Stephens.
“Repeating the F-word was the best option for increasing tolerance to pain”, he added.
The volunteers claimed that the emotional impact of the F-word as one and a half times more emotional than the new words.
Now that we have received scientific validation for using the F-word, let the unapologetic cursing begin!