It's just another sign that times are changing! When I was growing up, my parents always taught me that swearing was a bad thing. My mom would always say something like "swearing is a sign of a weak mind" or "cussing is a sign of poor vocabulary."

If, out of frustration, I would let a curse word fly freely without guilt from my mouth, not only would I be reminded that there was going to be a bar of Lava in my future and that I was being unladylike, but also that I was probably "never going to find a good husband saying those kinds of words."

Well, if you grew up with wagging fingers of disapproval in your face because of a "bad word" that may have slipped through your lips as a child, here's your chance to give those people a mental middle-finger, and you can thank science! Remember, times have changed. According to research published in the journal Language Sciences, swearing now isn't always a bad thing, it's actually a sign you may have a higher verbal intelligence.

The results from the study conducted by psychologists at Marist College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, concluded that throughout history, it was believed that people who used taboo words to express themselves and their thoughts only did so because they didn't have a large vocabulary of words to choose from.

But the psychologists now believe that just because some may rattle off words that are considered "curse words" to express themselves, it doesn't mean that their vocabulary is limited. After all, the psychologists say - "fluency is fluency".

To test their theory, the psychologists gave a group of people 60 seconds to say as many swear words as they could possible think of. They then gave the same group of people another 60 seconds to list as many items associated with an everyday type of topic - like names of animals.

If swearing is really a bad thing, the researchers found that the people who were able to recite a long list of swear words, shouldn't have been able to recite a long list of everyday words. However, it was just the opposite. The participants that rattled off a long list of curse words "showed an undeniable connection between swearing skills and a larger overall vocabulary."

But it gets better, because after the researchers categorized the list of swear words, those with the larger lists were able to give the definitions of the swear words, proving that - according to the psychologists at Marist College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - "swearing is actually a sign of verbal intelligence, rather than linguistic deficiency."

So if you want to believe that swearing means you are actually more intelligent than those who lean more towards the "safer side" for their word choices, go ahead. But remember, we still live in a society where there are plenty of moms and dads that may give you a disapproving look. Be "smarter" at your own risk.

Source: Distractify (NSFW)


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