By Edha Singh
Back in middle school, we all thought we were cool if we could swear and we all had that one friend who would censor themselves by saying things like ‘cow’. In fact, in one my not-so-cool moments my friend and I used to say- swearing is caring. We often did it only to get a reaction out of our non-swearing friends, but by the time I entered high school, I realised how normal it was and how widespread it was. The same adults who would not let us swear would be the ones swearing in traffic jams.
So what is it about swearing that makes it so alluring?
As a child, it provides a sense of rebellion and control that the teenage mind craves. It is a new way of expressing emotions that provides more entertainment than normal words.
It also connects people. Swearing often spreads like wildfire across groups acting as a source of bonding between young children. It rolls off the tongue in an interesting way because swearing comes from an emotional place while other words don’t carry the same weight. People who swear are also more attractive to certain people.
For a mature mind, it provides a sense of power over a bad situation. When things aren’t going your way and you want to let out your frustration in a non-violent way, swearing is a great resort. Venting is known to be good for mental health and swearing offers a feasible medium. It shows that an individual is more confident in expressing themselves the way they wish to.
Swearing in fact is an unfiltered, realistic expression of your feelings. It doesn’t necessarily indicate bad social behaviour. It could just mean you’re honest and straightforward. A study indicates that fluent swearing can be a sign of higher intelligence and command over vocabulary.
If there isn’t much wrong with swearing and all kids end up swearing anyway, why do we stop children from swearing? On a poll conducted by us we found out that while 81% of our viewers thought swearing was okay, only 13% thought that children below ten years should be allowed to swear.
For those that say it leads to violence, the sheer number of adults who swear is proof against that. Psychologists believe putting limits on behaviour is moral policing that comes from religious institutions. Genuine self- expression should be a right and adults should allow children to express themselves however they want. Dealing with emotions is important for growth and if your focus lies on surface words which don’t display true emotion, what’s the point?
I do understand the worry of it overtaking your vocabulary. If every second word that comes out of your mouth is a cuss word then you lose the impact and value behind it. There are better ways to express things and enough words in a language to form sentences without swearing. I think it comes down to the 5 types of usage of profanity-abusive, cathartic, dysphemistic(to think negatively of a matter), empathetic and idiomatic. Idiomatic swearing is the kind done for no purpose and just in informal conversation. This is what is looked down upon the most. While the others are validated, this has no reason. Yet, it’s worth wondering whether this is part of self-expression and free speech. Should an individual not be allowed to swear regularly even if it is for no reason, just because they want to? There is bears similarity to our other mannerisms like saying ‘literally or basically or um’.
But all said and done if there was no stigma associated with swearing would we even find it alluring? The shock, the catharsis that it carries would not be there. Perhaps it is a sign of breaking boundaries and truly letting yourself be free, but for you to feel the same way each time you swear, the stigma has to exist. Weirdly enough some of the words existing today are dated back to the 13th century and yet are censored and on the last poll we conducted we found that despite 81% of our viewers swore, only 63% thought that it should be normalised.
The words won’t mean much if they were normalised. Imagine saying- ‘Oh bottles!’.
In conclusion, I think my cringy tagline from middle school turned out to be relevant. Next time you find yourself censoring or censored, say it with me- swearing is caring!
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