'Women who swear are happier'.

I suppose it depends on the context.

I hear the occasional furious swear word(s) coming from DH's workshop or if he is doing some DIY - usually because something has gone wrong or he has hit his thumb with a hammer. If I burn myself on the oven I may be hear to mutter more than the usual 'oh, sugarlumps'.

However, if swear words are used as adjectives I think they lose their impact.
DH says that if they are used in a heated discussion against someone, then you have lost the argument.

I think a book is being promoted here, and so it would appear is swearing. I was brought up in a family that did not swear and my friends families did"nt swear either, so for me I don"t like to hear it. To me it does not strike as being very literate at all, but lacking in enough vocabulary to hold a proper conversation. What I really dislike is people regardless of their age whose every other word involves foul language.

Another happy soul. Only inside my four walls on my own.I once said oh hells bells and my children,in their teens admonished me for swearing.

I swear all the time, I learnt it from my mother. I love hearing it all over the place cos its time to normalise these words. My ex never swore but he spoke to me in a menacing, frightening way. "you lazy cow!' he's say. 'You're not right down below, no-one else would have you,' & loads more I'm not inclined to remember.
I know which I'd rather have. I taught my grandchildren to swear only when they were around people who wouldn't mind, which is what they'd do anyway.

Sometimes I've thought "this warrants an f-word" and tried using it, but I can't say I feel any the better for it. Quite the opposite: it makes me feel embarrassed and soiled.

A lady (she did behave like one) I worked with would say
sugar!! if something went wrong. I used this at the checkout the other day and the young cashier nearly fell of her chair laughing.

Nicely put, ffinn.

I am not normally a swearer. BUT I find it a good idea to save those words for extreme occasions. Like when I fell and broke my wrist!

I am saying that using asterisks in place of letters in words one doesn't approve of is patronising. One is using the word and one knows what it is, and so do one's readers, so it is a pretence to use asterisks.

If anyone wants to interpret that as me saying they are patronising rather than that the practice of using asterisks is patronising, that's up to them. If I were a user of asterisks and someone said it to me, I might rethink what I was doing and change or I might disregard someone else's opinion and carry on using asterisks. Again, it's up to individuals to decide for themselves. I'm only expressing my own opinion.

I don’t have an blanket dislike of swearing. Depends on the when, where and how it’s used. Also the choice of swear words used.

I haven’t read the article, and even if a link was provided, it would be behind a pay wall, so cannot form an opinion on what she says specifically.

There is though a frisson, or heightening of emphasis that swear words engender in a way that other words cannot, which I find thoroughly enjoyable.

"Sod it" and "Knickers" tend to be my expletives of choice - the F word is out completely. I get really annoyed when people say it on TV, even if it just Eff off.

I'm another happy soul!

bags are you saying I'm patronising (I used xx rather than asterisks)?

My swear word range is not wide; a quiet "bugger" when something goes wrong, a more expletive "shit" when I have done something stupid, and a "Bloody Nora!" when DH is being particularly obtuse. I did once tell my mother that she should not swear at me as my teacher said it was naughty....her reply: "You would make Jesus Christ swear!"

As a child swearing was the backdrop to my life and I hated it. Really hated it. I hated being sworn at or hearing others being sworn at. I hated how it fuelled anger between my raging parents - and I determined that I wouldn't do it. And I haven't. The only time I have ever sworn is when repeating verbatim what others have said; mostly when I was a social worker or, very rarely, when I was teaching.
For a time in her teens it was my daughter's explicit aim to behave badly enough to get me to swear at her, but it didn't happen.
I teach English and I understand that words are just words and their usage and meaning changes over time. For children born today I expect the use of what we consider swear words will be incorporated into everyday language; if you watch the 'Educating' series on iPlayer (Channel 4) you will hear children using what we think of as the 'milder' swear words and teachers don't bat an eye.

Some swear words are so anomatapeaic (sp!) though aren't they. I love 'sh*t' for a good short expletive - never in front of the dgc!

I think I've told before about DH'S nurse who was taught by her 3 older brothers that 'sh*t, b****r, a**e-h**e' was the correct thing to say on your first day at school. It is a satisfying thing to say in extremis but is often shortened to 'sba' which seems to help as much!

And, of course, I feel completely justified in calling the Idiot 'the a***-h**e' most of the time!

Swearing in the right place can be good, after all they are only words... like you Day6 most of my swearing is at myself and done in my own company
Nowadays most people use F...as a normal word as in ‘I had a f.....good time’ or ‘I climbed a f.......big mountain ‘ or an exclamation ‘well f....me’ just in the same way Blimey used to be consider a bad swear word but now means nothing
It’s interesting how swear words change in my Mum and Dads era Blast, Damn, and Bloody hell with the odd Bugger thrown in were around you rarely hear them now ......where do they come from why would damn or blast be swearing I must look the original meanings up I m sure Blimey comes from Blind me but why blind me and not blind you
Now you ve started something ?

What I really dislike are the people who use the 'f' word as their only adjective.
Other than that I say 'oh b----r ' when needs must.
I knew a woman who shouted ' Horlicks' !!!! When she needed to swear. It sounded quite effective ?

I don't think what Byrne argues is bollocks. It's not even new. I can't remember when or where but I've read the arguments she gives before.

I've argued on GN before that swear words can be, and often are, padders and emphasis adders. Also that I think it's patronising to use asterisks in words like bollocks. It's not as if someone using asterisks isn't actually using the word they're 'hiding'.

Teetime, I'd say Dr Emma Byrne has a book to promote and if it's controversial and we discuss it, it's click-bait and good publicity.

Didn't know her name until now.

I too disagree. People have always sworn to let off steam. What's new? She is trying to make a science of the fact.

I can swear and often do, but rarely in public. I am impatient and that is the cause mostly of any bad language I might use. I normally swear to myself and nothing much shocks me. I hate to hear swearing in public though and often tut when I hear people mouthing off.

Lack of sensitivity for the feelings of others is very rude I think. Why should they inflict their cursing on those within their hearing? (I feel the same way about people who play their music too loudly too. Why inflict it on others who might not like it?)

I agree with the non-swearers - DH & I don't swear (apart from very occasional mild words) & our friends don't - the children (grown-up) don't swear in front of us but probably do amongst themselves and their friends - maybe it's a generational thing? Or an age/parental thing? because they certainly do not swear in front of the DGC.
In the town centre yesterday I heard a lot of the F-word - it's so commonplace & I hate to hear it - and I wonder what language & words these people use when they are really angry or exasperated?

I hold my hands up, I do swear but not in general conversation as often heard. I swear when something goes wrong or I break something. My mum would utter the odd b***dy thing or s**t on the same basis.
One word I never use and hate to hear is c**t

I never swear and I dont allow it in my home ,a lot of folk think its odd as swearing is so commonplace now ,its how I was raised .I cringe at some peoples language ,its appalling.

So that's why I am so cheerful!

We were returning from a lovely dinner last night with friends, and had to walk through the town centre to get to the car park.
There were some very drunken people (not really "youths") outside a hotel, and the swearing was something to behold.
I don't think these people were highly literate,fluent and with large vocabularies.
Like Annie I use "sod it", and rarely "b....y h....l" but that's about it really.
Really bad language grates.