Monday, October 31, 2016

Monday Musings




Thug Kitchen - they so bad. But funny. Last week, our trainer at the gym, David, found out just how much we like to swear. And he loves it. When I'm lying on a giant rubber ball, balancing my body so my core feels like a muthafucka, and lifting weights over my head at the same time, it's all I could do to not shout out a bad word.

From this articleSwearing is beneficial in ways that people may underestimate or take for granted. Swearing is often cathartic — it often frees us of the feelings of anger or frustration we hold and allows expression for them. It can also be a useful substitute to physical violence (who would rather be punched out than to withstand being sworn at?). Swear words can also be used in a more positive manner, in the form of jokes and humor, sex talk, storytelling, self-deprecation or even social commentary. Imagine when you want to emphasize how great you feel something is, a swear words emphasizes the positive feelings you have for that object, situation, person or event (“This concert is fucking awesome!”). Sure, we could just say “This concert is awesome,” but the addition of the swear word emphasizes the emotional reaction we have toward it — and easily conveys that emotional reaction to others. 

Virtually all people swear, and people swear pretty consistently throughout their lifetime — from the moment they can speak to the day they die. Swearing is almost a universal constant in most people’s lives. Research has shown we swear on average from 0.3% to 0.7% of the time — a tiny but significant percentage of our overall speech (frequently-used personal pronouns occur at approximately 1.0% rate in speech). Swearing is more common than you might think. But personality research suggests that people who swear more, not surprisingly, score higher on traits such as extroversion, dominance, hostility and Type A personalities. Swearing is not just for the uneducated or people of a lower socioeconomic class — it knows no social boundaries in its expression.

I'm guessing here, but I imagine that there has been a tad more swearing in the last year or so of this election cycle.  Whaddya think?

I can't wait for this muthafukking shitstorm to be over.  Of course, it won't signal the end of hostilities and we'll have to listen to this pitiful back and forth for years to come. My prediction: the swearing will continue.

6 comments:

  1. I can have a foul mouth, despite my harmless appearance. ;) It isn't really helping, this season. A week from tomorrow cannot arrive soon enough. Every day is some fresh hell, heaped atop the steaming pile. It's torture.

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  2. Well, I swear up a storm, and I am an introvert and definitely not a Type A personality. I think I must be a Type F. Hah! You know me, fuck the fucking fuckers. This election cycle sucks, and I can't wait for it to go the fuck to hell. How's that?

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  3. This would be more colorful, I'm sure, together in person. :)

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