I was just interviewed for a podcast by HBR's Sarah Green about my post on the Strategic Use of Swearing, which was inspired by HBR editor Dan McGinn's great post on Should Leaders Ever Swear? To prepare for this little interview, I read an article by Timothy Jay published in 2009 (volume 4, number 2, p. 153-161)) in Perspectives on Psychological Science that is called "The Utility and Ubiquity of Taboo Words." This article reviews all sorts of research and theory on "swear words" (which is uses interchangeably with "taboo words), but there were a few sentences that I found especially striking for understanding the functions of swear words:
From an evolutionary standpoint, swearing is a unique human behavior that was developed for a purpose. Taboo words persist because they can intensify emotional communication to a degree that nontaboo words cannot (Jay & Janschewitz, 2007; Potts, 2007). Fuck you! immediately conveys a level of contempt unparalleled by nontaboo words; there is no way to convey Fuck You! with polite speech. p. 155.
Do you love this as much as I do? Or does something bug you about this? I found it most compelling. But it still may not find enough justification for leaders to swear.
Two other gems from this article:
1. I was also interested, but not shocked, to discover that, in the U.S., one-third to one half of all swear words are either "fuck" or "shit."
2. Can you explain why American people with Tourette's syndrome often shout 'fuck" and ""motherfucker" but not "poop?"
P.S. I meant to do a serious post on competition and cheating, but I got distracted. You will see it later in the week.
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