Psychologists Say You Should Definitely Be Friends With People Who Swear A Lot

Since childhood we’ve been taught that it is wrong to swear. That people only resort to name calling when they don’t have anything better to say. When they are not intelligent enough to throw a well researched counter-argument at you- they swear. That is all that sailor talk is about. There is nothing more to it. It is the language of stupid and uncouth people and so on and so forth.

But is all of this really true? Is swearing really that bad, considering we catch ourselves swearing quite a lot in our adulthood. Surely it can be reconsidered now that we have grown up. Well it seems like reconsideration of this truth is already under way and might give quite a shock to our parents and other adults who did their best that we don’t swear.

It seems that the age old social stereotype is not quite up to the mark as we always thought. Psychologists from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts would definitely beg to differ. The studies conducted by them have come to two important conclusions:

Firstly, people who swear a lot are actually quite smart. And secondly, the ones who have a foul mouth are also more loyal and straightforward. The first study was a survey in which more than 300 people participated. The first level of the study involved a basic questionnaire about how often do they swear during an average day.

The second level questionnaire was based on ‘Lie scale’ which is used to measure how honest a person is. It was found that people who admitted to swearing more were also the ones who fared better on the lie scale. They were found to be much more honest than the ones who said they steer clear of swearing.

Another study which observed the behavioral patterns of people over social media too came to more or less similar findings. More than thousands statuses over Facebook were analyzed for taboo words and words which indicate or imply deception, and again, people who swear a lot were also the ones who were found to be more honest and trustworthy.

The reason behind the connection between swearing and intellect can also be easily explained. Although it is assumed that swearing is taken up as a last resort, in fact it takes a lot of practical knowledge to use a swear word correctly. This is because usually swear words have many nuanced meaning, and using them at the best time, where they can deliver the best impact of the intended connotation is not a mean feat.

So forget what you’ve been told all your life. It is not a bad thing if you are friends with a person who swears a lot. Firstly, there would never be a dull moment around them. Secondly, you know that deep beneath that sailor mouth is an above average intellectual. And finally, you can always trust them to tell you the truth, not sugar coat things, and never resort to deception. What more can one want in a friend, right?