Opinion piece Ilford Recorder, Romford Recorder, Barking and Dagenham Post March 2025
I’ve been swearing more than usual lately. The mere mention of Trump or Thames Water is enough to set me off. So I was chuffed to discover that swearing may actually be good for you.
One experiment, replicated many times, involves the participant plunging an arm into ice cold water. Swearing, compared to using neutral words, invariably means you can keep your arm submerged for at least half as long again.
This analgesic effect is just one discovery discussed during an event this March staged by Humanists UK. Scientist and patron Emma Byrne was interviewed by broadcaster and patron Samira Ahmed. Its available on YouTube.
Humanists, being non-religious, believe we evolved as part of the natural world, rather than that we were created separately and placed here. Exploring how human idiosyncrasies developed, and the evolutionary ‘purpose’ they serve, is endlessly fascinating.
There is no language that doesn’t contain the concept of swearing. However, it is culturally specific, centring around what is taboo for any particular place or generation. Shock value here formerly took the form of religious oaths. It still does in more religious countries. Gadzooks – as Shakespeare might have said on a bad day! Today bodily functions and sexual acts generally pack more punch.
Chimps have been recorded acting out taboos around bodily functions analogous to human swearing. Scientists conclude that one evolutionary benefit of swearing is that it provides a safer way to resolve conflict. Injury to feelings is hopefully less permanent than physical injury.
Swearing can play a part in social bonding where there is mutual give and take. But there is also a dark side, particularly swearing at or about people – used to sow division and denigrate. It is often not mutually acceptable, and there is unfairness around how swearers are judged, women often being judged more harshly than their male counterparts.
One uplifting thought is that our reaction to pain, frustration and confrontation, all potential prompts for swearing, is part of what makes us human. Emma Byrne, an expert on Artificial Intelligence, described the unbridgeable emotional gulf between us and even the most sophisticated machines.
I learned that swearing too much can diminish any benefit. However, I still feel better knowing there are good evolutionary reasons why shouting expletives is better than kicking the TV.
Paul Kaufman
Chairperson East London Humanists
