Almost Before We Spoke, We Swore

A recent New York Times science article on cursing shakes its head in bemusement at the current American political trend of penalizing obscenity on the air:

. . . researchers who study the evolution of language and the psychology of swearing say that they have no idea what mystic model of linguistic gentility the critics might have in mind. Cursing, they say, is a human universal. Every language, dialect or patois ever studied, living or dead, spoken by millions or by a small tribe, turns out to have its share of forbidden speech, somevariant on comedian George Carlin's famous list of the seven dirty words that are not supposed to be uttered on radio or television.

In fact, the article says, "Some researchers are so impressed by the depth and power of strong language that they are using it as a peephole into the architecture of the brain, as a means of probing the tangled, cryptic bonds between the newer, 'higher' regions of the brain in charge of intellect, reason and planning, andthe older, more 'bestial' neural neighborhoods that give birth to our emotions."

Professor Kate Burridge at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, concludes, "People can feel very passionate about language . . . as though it were a cherished artifact that must be protected at all cost against the depravitiesof barbarians and lexical aliens."