Forget I'm sorry, you a sponsored by a meagre insurance when it comes to auto home and life insurance. You want a company, that's on your side like a mika. They take the time to understand what you need and tailor a policy to meet your needs when you need a meagre A representative put you first and let you know what you can expect from them. As amicus says, empathy is our best policy so by. using a meagre. You know, you'll have someone in your corner when you need it most: hey, I'm Zachary crockett, here at the freak economics, radio network I host or new podcast called the economics of everyday things each week with zero win on one thing and ask what's the deal with that things like use? Hotel hopes. The song my shown up or weirder. Yet how many times you get to meet the world's foremost expert on dinosaur vomit, its truly and honour,

check out the economics of everyday things from the freakonomics radio network peter stephen dubner. This episode of freakonomics radio is about swearing, Therefore, it contains a lot of swearing. As is our custom. We ve bleak these where words out, so this episode contains a lot of leaping. If you don't want to hear those curse words. Even bleat now is a good time to find a different episode of economics, radio to listen to poor, Maybe you want to hear the curse words without the sleeping, in which case you should go too far. Economics dot com, for you will find the Bleat version of this episode, as always thanks for listening, wait, I've been using my phone a lot for dictation. I will dictate emails texts and occasionally a no,

to myself like when I think of a question. I want to ask in an interview for this show the other day. For instance, I dictated into my phone, something like about the first time you did such as such, but the phone didn't run my dictation is talk about. It said well since, when did that This recognition on my phone start using the f word. It struck me that swearing whatever you want to call it Andy blasphemy, curses slurs expletive in vulgarity. It struck me there. seems be more of it now than ever often in places you wouldn't expect. So today, on freakonomics radio is, true that there's more swearing than ever, and if so, what does it mean? We will you're a little history. These are like people. And the kings revenue will learn We don't know much about swearing, as you might think you know that swearing researcher doing is not a good idea. For ten year will find.

What these words are meant to accomplish swear where its have this very particular set of. illogical and emotional effects, I will ask the big question: should we all me swearing even more the I'm happy This is really ex radio, the podcast, but explores the hidden side of everything. With your host in dublin are, let's start by hearing from a few of our listeners page, how many kids they need to save those were it's for when

Something really bad happens instead of saying I'm so f unhappy because of when you have no language laughed to express extreme frustration or sadness or grief Point mean myriads ass. My language was a conversation with a spanish boy who always dating. He told me that usually people that you swear words do so because they lack the vocabulary to express themselves better. I thought to myself this mother tells me my english is poor. Needless to say, we are no longer dating in love cursing? I think it adds some dear language. I think that is awesome. I do have an eighteen month also sometime soon. I'm gonna have to stop cursing, but for now In my view, that was, respectively, kristen, olga and rebecca,

parent, let none of our male listeners of ever sworn, but we did find one man who swears mecca My name is John MC water. I teach linguistics and some other things at columbia, university, right, I'll call him for the new york times, and my most recent too books were nine nasty words about profanity and racism about race and cultural issues. So John, how would you summarize role of cursing in language. One thing that it's important to realise with cursing and profanity is that it is in words in the sense that ironing border yesterday or therefore are words pro kennedy when you're talking about real profanity real cursing is irruptions. There's the left side, the brain where most people process language as in the boy kicked. The red ball the right side of the brain is more dionysian is more about the melody,

is more about the tone and therefore also where profanity is generated from profanity comes from, such a different place. Emotionally then, vanilla language to the point that it often doesn't make any grammatical sense. If I say what the hell is that try parsing what hell is in that sentence other than just a kind of a dog barked in here's. Another expert, with a slightly different perspective, swearing is the use of a man finally offensive language too Van our emotions and convey our emotions to other people? His knee Is Timothy J I may professor of psychology emeritus from me, massachusetts college of liberal arts, would you call yourself

swearing scholar or is it to reductive. I've been called worse. I like to think of myself is pioneering the psychological research on american cursing having written, spoke on this and publish dozens of professional articles? Yes, I'm a scholar. What would you say, the chief things that you ve learned about swearing. Then it a normal behaviour. It's not abnormal. It's part of language, a freak, competent speaker of a language knows what they're not supposed to say. One of the myths. come up about control, although swears just can't control themselves Why does J called this amidst the idea that swearing represents a loss of control? Well, this goes back,

to research from the early nineteen eighties, when J set out to document the use of swearing and other taboo words we recorded over ten thousand people swearing in public with different means in public meeting places like schools and stores and at sporting events. I cod dray of research, assistants- and we had these pre printed field cards, they had categories. the speaker, the listener, their age is what was said and was the emotional surround. Was this joking it anger. We ve also use voice activated tape recorder. and put them in various places. This recording and note taking was all done covertly without the subjects. Knowledge, but J also asked people directly about swearing. I've surveyed, hundreds thousands of students having them filled

surveys on how frequently these words are used and how offensive they are. When you started this research. I'm curious how you're academic pier and or elders responded negatively added dean. Pull me aside at a social event I'm right out of college twenty six years old. I've got a wife and kid. You know that swearing researcher doing is not a good idea for tenure, so I swear gears for a while, and I became a guru of computer assisted instruction wow, that is big gear switch. Actually, I won the g stanley hall award for excellence in education by incorporating computers into psychology, and about the same time I got tenure

now you can do what you wanted to do. In the first place, yeah one of my bodies set TIM everybody's doing this computer stuff nobody's doing the taboo word research. The first analysis I did. I had a nike sneaker box that was filled up with these cards. I said: ok, we gotta go through an endless, although this we wanted to document the whole arc of this. What hat and in the pre school years, what happens in the school years? Sir, May there are age differences? There are gender differences. You have boys and girls, men and women. A modem with save anger or aggression and their use. indifferent language, you can make of these agents, gender related comparisons. ok. Here are a few comparisons. First, gender men do curse

more often than women. They use a larger variety of swear words and more hard core swear words. This holds true for the internet era is well men and women both swear more when in the presence of their own gender and what about age dark is adolescence. Preschoolers have the vocabulary that teenager stube by the time you're at twelve thirteen fourteen you ve got a pretty Don't like vocabulary. What happens after depends on the setting is this person? a structured corporate setting or they working outside as a laborer. Are they plank sports? It becomes very, textual ice after that. As to the why the purpose of swearing and obviously diversion and a person situation a situation, even I can think of a lot of different reason,

as you might be, angry you might be disgusted. You might be trying to elicit humor from someone else who might be trying to bond. You might be trying to show that you are your own person and I won't be bound by society's rules. If I ask you to give the answer to the title of this one book of yours, why we curse? Why do we? How answerable is that question you just answered it? still need just elaborated a lot of the reasons why people swear now we're the only animal with emotional architecture in the eighth physiological, illogical. can express our emotions abstractly with words. I regard this an evolutionary leap that, instead of five ding tooth and nail when were angry with someone weaken say I hate you were a variety of other word, ok, and what about the common

leave. That swearing is more popular among the less educated, the lower classes. Then the upper Timothy J says that this too is somewhat mythical: the data that been collected. Turning generate did this. In england, he collected phone conversations that are much more class oriented to her than ours peace, able to see that yeah there's more. swearing in the working class, but their swearing, everywhere there swearing in every class, this class oriented view of swearing is snobbery its away too. but the working person down to lower classes down J has seen. Further evidence in his own research. We gave people a task, see other words. You can think of that begin. With the letter f sale, words that begin with the letter a than you give them a minute to do. That is a major fluency. Then I ask them

All right, namely the animals you can in a minute and then name all the swear words you can in a minute which, if you try to do this, you can get out about ten quickly. The p. or who generated the most swear. Words were the people who generated the most, let her words and animals. It's the opposite of what people think people that A high vocabulary are also have a high swearing vocabulary. There really doesn't make any sense there if you couldn't think of a because it wasn't in your lexicon. You would say I swear word that doesn't make any sense, John. Warder agrees that the class based swearing theory is bankrupt. Any notion that being a classy person is to not curse, has fallen completely apart. I would say: that as a very bourgeois upper middle class person, who has no interest in shock Can anybody nor my trying to take

down in order to indicate that, despite the fact that I'm not poor, I'm still down with everybody else, I say probably a dozen times a day and I think I'm ordinary for people of my- u no place and station. That was not true in nineteen fifty, but that's the way it is now cursing is no longer about sailor. And bar stools. Sir John, there is a sense that there's more swearing today than in the past, I'm curious to know other. That's at all. True. There is definitely today in public language, more use of words that used to be considered, blasphemous against god or blasphemous against the authorities that say that you're not supposed to talk about sex and excrete. I mean the way language is used on a tv. No, even like parks and recreation. And then certainly in shows like the wire, that's new. That's public language

but then, on the other hand, I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that those words just don't have the meaning that they used to. I asked Timothy J, the same question, is there more swearing now than in the past. Unanswerable question. Proceeding. My work there aren't collections of swearing. So there's no way to tell history is written. the literate you have no oh idea what language was like in a tavern or a brothel and wait a minute. You just told us that swearing is not necessarily the province of the uneducated. So why wouldn't the literate swear as well censorship, the written documents at night included the language except maybe chaucer, for he just having Apples and those are frequency counts, that's also a certain kind of boy. Cardenas more than defaming a deity, let's say yes, remember having to read the miller's tail in high school and not understanding what I was reading about absalomed using the word

the q. U e n t e and there's my english teachers having us read this stuff out loud and I'm gonna like she could go home and laugh it off The whether the frequency of swearing is up or down over time. John MC warders as we are currently living through the third major phase of swearing in human history. That's coming up after the break. Also, what does wearing due to you. If you can Someone of immediate your heart rate increases I'm stupid dominant. This is for economics, radio. We will be right back freedom through EU sponsored by mint mobile from the gas pump to the grocery store your utility bills and favorite streaming services. Inflation is everywhere, thankfully

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hey it's stephen again. If you are a fan of economics radio, I suspect you enjoy unexpected stories in the unique lessons that come out of them, which is why you should check out the chart topping podcast masters of scale each. It features iconic leaders and top business minds like air bnb he's Brian chaskey inter scopes, Jimmy I have been in spanx founder, SARA Blakely, all of whom share surprising insights from their paths. to scale so whether you are an entrepreneur or just a curious person who loves a good story. Follow mass. Of scale on your favorite listening. the? What have we learned so far about swearing? First, it's hard to know whether there's more of it today than before. It's even hard to know whether swearing is a normal, albeit heightened part of language, or not a regular part of language at all

to add one more complication swearing like all of language refuses. it still here again is the columbia linguists john mcwhirter language. Changes just like cloud patterns change its never not changed, and you just can't stop it since language is always evolving. Swearing is always evolving as well the neatest thing about the evolution of profanity is how differently people indifferent feel about certain kinds of worth, and this brings us to what MC warder describes as the three major areas of swearing over the history of humankind. So it used to be that profanity was about religion whose about god and Jesus you are allowed to swear to god. If you meant it, it was a form signature in a society where most people couldn't write. So I swear it. God that I will do ex wires or what you weren't supposed to do with sweat. in vain, because that was the disrespect god and therefore you

euphemisms for by god, etc. When you weren't gonna, We sincerely that's why we say swearing, it used to be the actually worth swearing to something, and then it becomes shorthand for using bad words in what Some of those euphemisms gad, dukes, bodkins e gad by george jeez. Gee purse. Creepers g will occurs. Ok, so phase one of swearing had to do with Listen? Then there comes a time around the rents, when their develops a sense of privacy that wasn't before and along with that sense of privacy and perhaps the visual ism due to the reformation. You have this new sense that what's profane is talk. to freely about the body and soul. Sex and excretion goes from being a giggle to be

something that you absolutely don't put down in writing and that you don't use it public in all of this gets worse with the development of bourgeois society and so that, when get the idea that, And- and the like are very, very bad words, rather than just mundane things that are part of being human being so that phase ass for a while. It's not that the god word suddenly are okay. You have two layers, but it certainly the case that throughout that time, I am and have become less potent as profanity whilst an become so unspeakable that as late as the Kennedy administration, there dictionaries being published and big ones. Where is not in it then there's a new phase that were in where what considered profane slurring subordinate groups? That's why they're such a difference between the way the end word was used in popular culture,

and as recently as the seventies, whence it gone, characters could within reason use it, especially if they were black and today, where the utterance of the two syllables in any way is often thought of as a transgression of legitimate humanity? So we go from religion to the body slurring against groups, and you can see that as this is no disrespect intended against religion. But it's intellectual and moral development of our society, we're going to be sacred about something. My personal feeling is that it's better for it to be about slurs against groups than about Jesus or your. But okay, let me ask you so you happen to be the I happened to be here. Do you ever find yourself in writing? As you do quite a bit about yes and racism in language. Do you ever find yourself having to signal overtly that you are black yeah? Sometimes I'm running about language and especially

if I'm writing about the end word. Sometimes. I do feel like I have to slip it in because there are different tacit rule As far as that words of as much as MC warders cares about contemporary language and as much as he knows and cares about language from the distant past you get the scent. at his most tickled by the rules of language during the second of the three eras of swearing, when the words considered the most taboo had to do with the human body, for instance, food. Oh food is amazing and you see it popping up in early middle english, not improved but in names there were actually people too. can seriously with name like roger by the naval and henry beggar literally and this is not in some funny poem. These are people in the kings revenue and their work, so called grove, and you know what that was for, but it was on a sign

wasn't something that people said among themselves and then there comes time when you're not supposed to use the word that way, any more and there's all evidence that people were using it, but they weren't supposed to write it down. If they did, they wrote it in code. The idea, It is a profane word, but just started as a vulgar, but common and accepted word for sexual intercourse. You write about a monk in fifteen. Twenty eight he's talking about an abbot, he calls him, abbott. So that's meant to be just a general. I think he's an idiot kind of thing. what you see on the page is oh, then, a space than d. And then at it- and you think what he's writing is old. Abbott, and because it's an old document, somebody smudged out the el, but no is no else smudged out what he's writing

oh and he's abbreviating, damned abbot, and so for him. You don't write damn because that's blasphemy, but then with and he puts that in with this kind of beavis and butthead snicker. Let's hear some more about this middle era of swearing, so there were a lot of names for plants and animals which I think are so funny you had a plant called tore. There was a hair in the This word for heron with euro area, then wines that was a good one, That's a wind finger was a bird kestrel but is melissa more and I am a writer I gotta figure out, to explain what I do. I maria my name is melissa. More now, I'm a writer more is the author of a book called wholly a brief history of swearing, she had planned on being an academic and she got a phd

in medieval and renaissance english literature, but somehow she got sidetracked by swearing, Yes, sir, when I was getting my ph d, I was Reading a lot of medieval and renaissance tax, stubby say, as one does as one does, and I notice that this ring was really different and the kinds of language that people were getting upset about was in a religious in nature and the kinds of language that they weren't getting upset about were the things we do get upset about, and so I got interested in How and why that transition happened. If you ve been paying attention I notice that Melissa more is now talking about the same transition that John mc order was telling us about a new tab. Boo onwards concerning sex and excretion. Now, why did this new abu arise more things. It was driven

only by the new found personal privacy, but by the technologies that made such privacy increasingly possible. So you know the bedroom, actually it needed in innovation in fireplace technology. Before we go in the because in those time of beowulf, you just had a big central fire pit and people slept in the hall. Eight in the hall peed and decade in the hall. Under the straw I mean it was really. It was like a barn and eventually, twelve thirty, century. You got better, fireplaces aristocrats could get bedrooms and it just took a law long time before people had a sense of space that they could serve me enough. E private, original, even privies, weren't private you'd have Malta seat produce and just go in there together.

they actually solitude. Was it a sort of suspicious thing like what were you doing by yourself? It's like you and the devil, if you're, not with other people in her book more sites, a pamphlet written in fifteen thirty the philosopher and theologian, and desirous erasmus advisor young boys, that it is impolite to greece, one who is urinating or deprecating court regulation, from the same era. Said quote: one should not like rustics who have not been to court. lived among refined and honourable people relieve one health without shame or reserve in front of ladys ass people got wealthier, you could become solitary and it started to be. You know not such a bad thing once you could be solitary, you could take care of your bodily functions in private. Meanwhile, there was a change in the practice of religious oath, taken what John MC warder described as I swear to god that I will do exe

why or z, Melissa more argues that the spread of trade and capitalism meant that this sort of oath, taking with no longer practical or necessary seventeenth century? These owes we're just coming so thick and fast that you couldn't No, it's like one. You swear, there's! No, no! You swear that and, as trades, Bread and people became involved in more more transactions with people who they hadn't blown up with his people moved in commerce opened up what became a guarantee of your honesty was not your swearing, but the fact that you continued to do business this decline in oath taking may have you been helped boost the abu index of all those newly dirty words about the human body and then came the victorians. Yes, the victorian era, was the sort of high point of power for the

seen words that are you know, based in body parts and actions, so trousers, for instance, with very taboo word, because as I mean it sounds ridiculous, but it really was because of you, them down. You were naked and they had come to reveal the shape of your leg and say you couldn't say trousers, and so there are all these crazy you from it, comes for trousers people. Would you like? et cetera, rose inexpressibles, it's easy to Now from this distance at the notion of trousers being, it Abu word among those long ago prudes, but we may be sure, laugh to quickly John mcwhirter, again people Can the twenties and thirties thought that it was profane to say belly, he's talking about the nineteen twenties and thirties in movie musical forty second street, there's a lyric where there is a reference to with a shot gun at his belly.

And then she changes it to tommy, instead of saying belly, despite the fact that belly rhymes with nellie on the next line, you just kind of weren't supposed to say it coming up after the break These days, while belly, in other words, have become accepted, a long list of long accepted. Words is being challenged, there can say, wait, I'm stephen Dublin. This is reconfirm. Its radio will be right back The. oh fr radio sponsored by capital, one capital, one offers partial solutions. You can bank on now more than ever, your business faces specific challenges and unique opportunities. That's why capital one offers a comprehensive suite of financial. Sir,

customs tailored to your short and long term goals, backed by the expertise strata, and resources of the top ten commercial bank. A dedicated team works with you to support your success and help achieve your goals, explore the possibilities at capital, one dot, com, slash commercial for radio sponsored by supper over here, expression out with the old in with new. That's exactly the strategy most mattress companies employ when they cut their prices. The goal to move out of their old mattresses to make room for their new models. The lower price is the carrot to get you to take the old ones, but that raises the question Why settle for an older mattress when you can have a brand new freshly made sought the luxury mattress for considerably less sought? Those are famously comes people and because their sold online there me to order cost half the price of the top retail brains. So it come

down to this an old mattress. It's been sitting around or a freshly made luxury mattress that costs way less some I have no brainer written all over them. Right now say two hundred dollars on one thousand dollars or more sought, but that come slashed freak anomalies. That's s. Double tv, a dot com, slash freak o narcotics. When we swear. What are we trying to accomplish? Here's a clue. In twenty seventeen, an international group of researchers ran a series of experiments to analyze the relationship between profanity and honesty. We found that people who swear are perceived as more authentic, here, again is John MC warder, part of becoming close to people, part of becoming part of a group,

is to be able to let your hair down is to show that you don't think you're better than other people and one of the best ways to do. That is to use salty language? That is normal human behaviour in here, Timothy J, on the various uses of swearing. its humor, its bonding its defended yourself. It's pudding, people down itself denigrate in its storytelling J is written about swearing. Research that shows physiological benefits is melissa, more is also a fan of this research. Well, yes, sir, it's basically If you're swearing or hearings swear words, your skin conducted responds changes. So you know the way you're askin conducts electricity. There is a famous ice bucket challenge where you can stick your hand in ice water longer if you're, using a swear word than if you're, not using its word

Someone also did a grip challenging. You know, holder, gripper, with more strengthened for longer. If you're swearing, that's interesting, it be funded. Try that with courage Your words versus the morgue toothless old swear. Words, what do you think is more common over time for words that are taboo to become less taboo or vice versa. That's interesting question. you ve got this kind of euphemism treadmill that steven pinker talks about? Where starts off as a bad word button People use it more and more and then you get used to it and then it falls away, and then you need to come up with another bad word and you seen that with the religious words were seeing it with food and gluten but on the other hand, homeless person becomes taboo, yes, right now. We are in a new new, victorian ism in that way, and of course, that's very culturally specific in the united states, like

among my relatives in wisconsin who didn't go to college they're, not I say the unhoused, but in academia and cambridge, its I share with you this story, something that happened. I think just illustrated where we are now. I happen to play golf, so I hope you don't judge you hate golf and I belong to this club very nice people. And I was up there not long ago- and there were these three lady he's getting ready to tee off and one of them was describing this tournament. That they're playing in was one where you could play the eighteen holes any time you wanted and register your score. So another you can choose when to play it based on the conditions, the weather and so on, but also based on where, on again, day the holes were cut on the green because they move around in some days. They easier and sundays harder, so she's describing how

the two women she was playing with that they it's a game. The system to like drive up to the course one day and if they saw the flags were in a bad place, they would choose not to register their score that day, and so she used grabbing, how they were being a little bit like you know, sir tj jager sneaky was a word she was using, but as she was saying it using will these sneaky Ladys await we wake. I can't use outwardly these sneaking howls and no I can't say GAO's and these sneaky mother preservation in what world. is like mother or now ok, but it was wow. So what is that? mean yes that is really funny. Well, I don't think that the whole world will move in that direction, but

people are preemptively worried about causing offence. Like I'm sure, no one would have been offended by ladys bet. You wanted just make sure that whatever you say has no possibility of offending anyone. Did you see this stanford university? I t list. If word bono, the people couldn't say yeah, it was meant to make. technology, more inclusive and had very good aims. But it was, you know, don't say american use, u s! Citizen, because if you say american, you know there are so many countries in the americas. Your disrespecting them I say: I'm seeing I looked it up. No, you can't say white paper, white paper right, yeah cause can say, wait yet. So what do you think about use? Do you think it's a good idea that that word be restricted? I don't think it's a good idea. I don't know it is funny cause. I know

MC warder is a very powerful advocate, for you know not bowing to these wins. I think I probably quietly bout the winds yeah. I think we overdo it today, and that is the end. Bowing John mc order, the idea somebody can lose their jobs because they use the inward, and this is the important thing we're losing the difference between using it and referring to it somebody to lose their jobs because they talk about the inward that's going into treating that sequence of sounds as taboo, which is frankly the way people acted about the excretion words, and I think we could beyond that, but you know: when did people not overdo thing

in general. If we are gonna, be pious about something for it to be about disrespecting minority groups. I fully get that that's an advance, that's a moral advance, but because this is language we're talking about, Things are always changing and there are always complications. We often talk about how groups candy nature, a slur by taking it on themselves, but that doesn't mean that the thing doesn't remain when its applied by people from the outside. You can witness this with the edward. You can witness this with the word. I think It's one thing for women to use it as an in group term, but for the rest of us. casually use it when we happen to be upset with someone who's, a woman that was much more common say the seventies and eighties than now. That's a good thing. We need to stop that now. What's your position on bleating curse, words is

just a charade. Yes, or is it a good idea, the only ones that should be bleep are that slurs against groups. However, that's just me I know many people would rather their children, not here the salty. At least not until a certain point. I frankly disagree because I think we're living in a different world if your chin, run around the age of nine, are gonna start hearing pop songs that are full of shit was profanity, and I have now watch that happen with my two little girls not sure why they should ever have listened to anything where words were bleep out, because I think we don't give kids enough credit for understanding context very early on my girls notice that daddy says they in instantly knew. He does that that's funny, but we're not supposed to do it, and I cannot prescribe for other people and how they raise their kids, but mike it's a bit is listening to fluent profanity, not the slurs but the other ones since

birth. I may be reading too much into what you just said, but it sounds as though you're saying that profanity can help develop a sort of linguistic sophistication, in that it's a set of words that one is allowed or even encouraged, to use in some circumstances- probably private ones and not in others, probably public ones, and so on. Can you talk about that notion, whether profanity really does help us become better at our language. Frankly, yes, because the way profanity is used is often not just colorful, and it's not just independent eruptions, but there is subtlety to it there is wit to it. You have to learn when to hit the no not to hit the note too many times is one way of being articulate, which Chris where it in english would you say, is the most flexible, astonishing gimme, the fur like seven sentences that come to mind with serving as different functions. Every thing

then there was that get your hands. The food off of me I don't have any more left kid. He didn't do all I am broke as this person- other person or mother and you're not really talking about king at all Melissa more is also fairly fluent with the where'd. You can stick it in the middle of words that abs of not gonna work intensifier that's amazing. I can be a person near a dumb. I never cease to be amazed by how many different ways you can use it and how the people who use the most off considered inarticulate, vulgar, easy. When really a grammarians could spend days feasting and figuring out exactly what each usage of was doing what is it doing there? What's the meaning of that

What about realms, rude precincts in which swearing prevent is still really not welcome. I guess I'm thinking mostly public realms the mean look. There are some people who just don't sweat I don't like it right. We agree on that, but then, like in politics, for instance, you're pretty much supposed to not swear still. What do you think about that? I think that in all languages there is a high kind of language that might be about religion. It might be about a battle cries of Joe Biden says when mama cares being signed. This is a big deal it's gonna be. Can sitting remarkable we're not going be a society with no sense of ceremony and profanity amidst ceremony, is always gonna seem a little bit out of place, except very judiciously applaud so, for instance, you would not be in favour of buying let's say during televised addressed a nation saying: look america vladimir p

is a real tool. It would sound. Trivializing yeah I wouldn't find it immoral? I would not clutch my pearls I think that would be better ways of explaining what a terrible force he is that would have a gun, a task other than using a towel snapping work. It's interesting say trivializing? Doesn't it have a power that could convey some usefulness, the problem with tall or the related motherfucker in that usage is that we tend to use those terms for every day sorts of things you get caught, often traffic. Somebody takes the last slice of pizza, whereas with putin we're talking about, somebody who's monstrous. You want to bring out words that connote that he's not cutting you often traffic, that he's gonna committing an atrocity as grave is genocide that's not tall with Putin? It's beyond it.

So you're saying. If I'm hearing it right, is it profanity performs a lot of different roles, but among them are that there's a playfulness, but all so a sort of trips our duty to it, and If I'm reading you re, then I'm gonna go Next step and say- and that probably me, we should all be. Swearing a little bit more than we do is at a logical conclusion, not quaint it is That's where we're dealing with this dividing line between salty and profane because we're using those salty words more, it's a more honest rendition of how we actually feel about life. But we're using them so commonly that we can't say that were profaning against anything now how gonna play out in terms of our slurs against groups. That's gonna be interesting where the next angle of profit- haiti is gonna go, but where you ve got things that are especially on that fine line between salty and profane, and even when

profane you're, gonna them sometimes and its part of the general tool kit of being a whole human being. I also asked melissa more if we should be swearing, more self seen words like then, should we be swearing more, I mean they can be useful It's funny that some studies, though, that even the people who have done the ice bucket study- you know that says you can keep your hand in longer. If you're swearing, if you're a habitual sway over that effect goes away, Oh, I wouldn't say we should be swearing more, I think, should swearing appropriate amount. You swear constantly it kind of loses its oomph ooh. I asked Timothy J the same question wish,

be more aware of what swearing is where its valuable, the, where its harmful think about your toolbox, I'd. Rather, somebody swear at me than ram me with her car or pull a gun on me. I had it. I threw a hammer at me once in a car why I passed him so he got angry because I passed him. I thought he was dried too slow, and then he got her, hamper and threw it off I'd rather this gimme the finger before we Let's hear from a few more of our listeners here First is Alison a lot of women, especially dont like using the sea word, but I decided to embrace it because I had a former french That really did me wrong, and so I started, calling her you're gonna want to believe that and it really made me feel good. It was cathartic to call her that, and I did

for many months, and then I realized one day that I did not mean to use that word anymore. I didn't, have a need for it and, I think, being able to express that anger through the use of that's where word, was really helpful to beat and hears alex. Finally, EL listener, who at least knows what's hearing, is and isn't when my mother was a hundred years old we were sit around the table. One night talking in someone said something very interesting and my mother look up and said, shut the front. door. We have no idea. Why should learn that expression, but we laughed for hours and with the final word here is jennifer when I was a teenager. I was not the nicest to my mother and one morning when I was rushing to leave the house she, became very upset with my attitude and said, I need to stop being a little which

which shirley was not her best parenting moment, but I heard about instead of a w- and I turned around and screamed- know you're the bin and proceeded to slam the door right under my pinky finger and broke it, so in the end, I learned that karma. Not my mom, thanks to all listeners for sending in tape and thanks to John MC warder, Timothy, J and melissa, more for so capable walking through the thorny and fascinating landscape of wearing coming up

time on the show. You ever wonder why all of your projects were always lead over budget overtime over and over again, and why do we procrastinate hook hush? What is the primary root cause of procrastination like get the heart of everything, I've thought about the last fifteen years and one question why your projects are late: What to do about it? That's next time on the show until then take care of yourself, and if you can, someone else to the freakonomics radio is produced by stitcher and Ren, but radio. This episode was produced by katherine mon cure and mixed by greg ribbon with help from Jeremy Johnston. Our staff also includes zach lipinski morgan levy. ryan, Kelly, Lena coleman, rebecca the Douglas Julie, camphor, Sarah lily ellador osborne, jasmine, cleaner Dario, Lennart immaterial lyric about it and elsa Fernandez, the for economics, radio networks, executive team- is

Ruth Gabriel wroth and may even double our theme. Song is MR fortune by the hitchhikers. All the other music was, posed by luis scared. I dont If swearing was invented for golf, a golf was invented for swearing. What's your favorite on course curse? It starts out like oh Jesus, god damn and then the motherfucker. For me, it depends how bad is here and who I am with the economics radio network. They head inside of everything the. chicago's auburn gresham community, suffered through decades of disinvestment today, with help from J p morgan chase. New investment is breathing life back into the community, bringing jobs and access to essential services for residents learn more at jp morgan chase. Stockholm, slash impact

elsewhere, someone is spinning their family vacation stuck in a cab listening to gridlock traffic. In north carolina for richer exe Variances get real experiences for real visit insight.