'Women who swear are happier'.

I think it means that by using asterisks one is supposedly being more polite and righteous than someone who just writes the word. That strikes me as adopting a somewhat 'superior' attitude, one that says "See, I'm too nice even to write such dreadful words even though both you and I know them and know what letters the asterisks stand for."

So why not just write the word instead of pussyfooting around like that? As I said up thread, it strikes me as a pretence of superior virtuousness.

Psychologists interested in when and why people swear try to look past the stereotype that swearing is the language of the unintelligent and illiterate.

In fact, various studies have found links between how fluent a person is in the English language and how fluent they are in swearing.

The former - verbal fluency - can be measured by asking volunteers to think of as many words beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet as they can in 1 minute.

People with greater language skills can generally think of more examples in the allotted time. Based on this approach, the researchers created the swearing fluency task. This task requires volunteers to list as many different swear words as they can think of in 1 minute.

By comparing scores from both the verbal and swearing fluency tasks, it was found that the people who scored highest on the verbal fluency test also tended to do best on the swearing fluency task. The weakest in the verbal fluency test also did poorly on the swearing fluency task.

What this correlation suggests is that swearing isn’t simply a sign of language poverty, lack of general vocabulary, or low intelligence.

Instead, swearing appears to be a feature of language that an articulate speaker can use in order to communicate with maximum effectiveness. And actually, some uses of swearing go beyond just communication.

Isn’t the use of “Sugar or Sausages” or punctuations showing the same intention? Suggesting we think we are superior or more polite?

What do regular swearers say when they really need to let off steam?
I find that words like 'sugar' if said with enough force, is very satisfying.

For those who claim never to swear:

in the privacy of your own kitchen, in that instant when the roasting tin full of hot fat and roasties drops to the floor as you take it out of the oven would you really say, horlicks, blast, dearie me, sugar, knickers, puddings ??

Hand on heart

I have been known to use bad language when something goes wrong but when something dramatic happens the words that come out are “oh my” lol. When my son followed me down a flume in Portugal he was amused to tell me that I’d had come out with “oh my” at every bend!!!

Riverwalk ?....it just comes out naturally ( swearing) in a case like that, quite involuntary really.
Swear words are stress words, but if they just pepper the general conversation it simply sounds coarse.
It’s all to do with the household you were brought up in and the job you did though.I never heard anybody in my entire family use swear words ( around me) when growing up, or neighbours either.I certainly didn’t grow up in charmed surroundings, so it wasn’t that.

I think the story of Baroness Trumpington shouting bollox often in the Lords at 95 is wonderful. I'm sure I would too.

I must admit I do swear, especially when I've lost something which happens more often these days. If I have to pick things up and put them down again too many times I'll let out a FFS (uninhibited) but that's all right as I live alone and the cat isn't going to copy me. I'm sure he can tell by my demeanour (perhaps stomping about) that I'm annoyed.
However I try not to swear in company as I feel that it sounds as if I've let myself down by stooping to swearing. I can well understand that it sounds awful to the listener.

My lovely dad could, I am told, swear like a trooper when on the golf course with his male friends ((he was not a natural golfer and would get very frustrated by his poor shots) - he was a very intelligent man and had a swearing vocabulary that would take some beating, but that was also highly amusing! In polite company, or a family setting, he was known instead for his creative curses - his range of perfectly innocent and simple word combinations such as 'curse my boots' were said with such feeling that more than one grandchild grew up thinking that such oft-heard expressions were also genuine swearing. In his case, both the swearing and the 'cursing' were the product of a very sharp and creative mind.

like when a gull swipes your sandwich right out of your hand; vicious beasts, gulls, so quite scary when they get so close
When that happened to me I was stunned into silence.

All the old people enjoying their sunshine in the park were tittering behind their hands; obviously many of them had seen it all before.

You might not believe me Riverwalk but I really wouldn't swear even if on my own! I might go so far as 'Damn!' But it would probably be 'Oh no', 'Knickers!', or even 'Oh God'! Nothing stronger ever occurs to me. And by using euphemisms such as 'sugar' or 'the f word' I'm NOT thinking myself superior or patronising anyone, , I really cannot bring myself to use these words (and dont want to anyway.) I suppose I'm a prude but I can't help it!

dh swears occsionally but not in public; however, if I said 'Oh God' he would be down on me like a ton of bricks.

My mother always said that swearing meant lack of vocabulary. Even if you want to swear you should consider other people!

DD tells me 'It's just words, mum! Thy don't hurt anyone!' But I can't agree!

I am quite sure that even people who pepper every sentence with swear words also know words such as sugar, gosh, knickers etc., so i really don't think that the argument about lack of vocabulary is valid.

I dropped a nine egg cake mix on the kitchen floor ..and I didn't swear.I usually say silly woman because it was me who dropped it or where's your brain today but I dont swear.I swore ONCE when I was two,my sister who was 7 learned the word at school so I repeated it at the dinner table.My aunt who knew fine well what I had said insisted on me repeating it until my lovely Dad heard.He would never have used that word himself,so I was removed from the table taken to the bedroom and smacked.Just once ,but he had never smacked any of us before and didn't again.He was so upset about it he sat beside me on the bed and cried with me .It has lived with me all my life ,I would never have disappointed him agian by swearing.Even when I'm on my own .

I must be very happy,luckily my dog and horse don't mind.

There's a time and a place for swearing. Never in front of gcs. I was telling my dd about someone and described them as an a.r.s.e. ( spelled out) 5 yo gd immediately piped up "who's an arse? What does arse mean?" Forgot she's learning to spell and has an excellent grasp of phonics!

The use of asterisks on web forums is sometimes done out of caution, because some forums have an auto-correct system that turns the offending word into something mundane like "cauliflower" or "stuff".

With this in mind, I will add my thoughts, modestly edited:

These words don't have an absolute value. They're only as bad as the speaker or the listener feels them to be. If you are someone who uses the f-word as an intensifier in every sentence, it won't feel like anything special if you use it in extreme circumstances. The chosen expletive will only "work" for you if it's one you save for occasions such as extreme pain or provocation. There's nothing intrinsic in the word itself that makes any difference. You may as well use "Knickers!" or "Holy Moly!" or anything you care to choose - why not be inventive?

Another thought: there's a big difference between using a strong word to express strong feelings and directing this language towards another person. If your trap your finger in the door, the profanities that escape your lips may be acceptable in that context, but would not be so if you applied them to the person who had accidentally pulled the door shut.

I find blaspheming really upsetting and offensive but can cope with mild swearing.

Hear, hear ticktock!

Smacking a toddler for saying a word they've heard their sibling say but probably don't know the meaning of is far worse, in my opinion, than swearing or blaspheming.

Riverwalk, I've tried to imagine an awful and private occasion both past and possible and I find myself with Pollyperkins in that I simply wouldn't swear. It's not a big deal: just how it is. I might let out some frustrated screamy grunt at my utter carelessness but that's it. (honestly......)

Re using asterisks in written swear words being "(supposedly) more polite".

I'll take that, thank you .