I said: "Shit!" ... And yes, I felt better.

[Maxmars]

It is a 'shareable' idea...

A terrible sudden pain, building from a powerful hurt to an unbearable flaring of pain running through you...
suddenly, explosively, as if a relief valve 'letting go'.... BOOM.... your Mom and Dad would wince and look towards you with disapproval... and even though you had good enough reason.... you kind of are compelled to scan around for an audience to which to apologize.

Or you are expending every ounce of effort to muster your strength to push, pull, carry, or otherwise handle something you probably aren't really confident you can do.... you muster your grip, your footing... you come so close to 'getting it done'.... but you are stalled, slipping away from your goal...  BOOM - one last oomph, one giant soul emptying effort....  and miraculously... that is enough.... no apologies here... only a celebration at having completed the task that was 'almost' impossible.

It's not the profanity... it's the "use" of the profanity... the breaking of a barrier... one that seems logical to presume was 'self-imposed.'   That self-discipline created a reservoir of energy behind it....  

BOOM...

Anyway just a though to add, since the theatrical shock of cursing is too often 'defused' in common use..., shit.

Are we not entertained?

[Caligurl]

George Carlin did a funny performance about this.

Imagine if George Carlin was alive today- the jokes and comments that would spit out his mouth.  I love that guy.

[UltraBudgie]

Are we not entertained?

I heard a parent refer to them "weak words" to their child.

I think that's the correct framing.

There can be power of-the-moment in making the world a little more profane, but it leads to weakness in the long term.

[quintessentone]

It is a 'shareable' idea...

A terrible sudden pain, building from a powerful hurt to an unbearable flaring of pain running through you...
suddenly, explosively, as if a relief valve 'letting go'.... BOOM.... your Mom and Dad would wince and look towards you with disapproval... and even though you had good enough reason.... you kind of are compelled to scan around for an audience to which to apologize.

Or you are expending every ounce of effort to muster your strength to push, pull, carry, or otherwise handle something you probably aren't really confident you can do.... you muster your grip, your footing... you come so close to 'getting it done'.... but you are stalled, slipping away from your goal...  BOOM - one last oomph, one giant soul emptying effort....  and miraculously... that is enough.... no apologies here... only a celebration at having completed the task that was 'almost' impossible.

It's not the profanity... it's the "use" of the profanity... the breaking of a barrier... one that seems logical to presume was 'self-imposed.'   That self-discipline created a reservoir of energy behind it....  

BOOM...

Anyway just a though to add, since the theatrical shock of cursing is too often 'defused' in common use..., shit.

Are we not entertained?

Yes, very entertained. And I took theatrical arts too in high school, so it's all in the performance and timing.

[Maxmars]

I heard a parent refer to them "weak words" to their child.

I think that's the correct framing.

There can be power of-the-moment in making the world a little more profane, but it leads to weakness in the long term.

There's always something that could be said instead of a profanity....

I advised my kids to go that way when their angry... or risk making a lot of people angry at you.

[quintessentone]

There's always something that could be said instead of a profanity....

I advised my kids to go that way when their angry... or risk making a lot of people angry at you.

I noticed this Christmas family get together that when we had enough Christmas cheer and the chit chat wasn't enough that when we got down to knowing each other, that word came up often when trying to describe our most hurtful life's experiences.

[Maxmars]

I noticed this Christmas family get together that when we had enough Christmas cheer and the chit chat wasn't enough that when we got down to knowing each other, that word came up often when trying to describe our most hurtful life's experiences.

It's that "Hypoalgesic" effect... lessening the pain or stress or agitation of a a memory which remains potent in us...

that would be my guess...

I wonder at our verifiable need to communicate pain... and how everything from the individuals, to societies, and even cultures... erect road blocks against the sharing.

[quintessentone]

It's that "Hypoalgesic" effect... lessening the pain or stress or agitation of a a memory which remains potent in us...

that would be my guess...

I wonder at our verifiable need to communicate pain... and how everything from the individuals, to societies, and even cultures... erect road blocks against the sharing.

Well I studied my shit, but the younger kids don't know what to do with it, so I tried to help steer them into the psychological reasons why but they needed to include themselves then and now. It's complicated. Lots of that word interjected though. But in the end, figuring it out and letting it go was the end goal.

[Byrd]

The research paper at the article seems to center around two experiments meant to measure whether the use of swear words impacts strength and or endurance of pain.

Reportedly, the spontaneous disassociation of naturally present restraints of social and even intimate environments provides access to a reservoir of increased tolerances and energies. 

I would think that if one had access to that kind of reserve naturally, swearing would be more of a theatrical social display... than a physical manifestation of 'response' to shock, fear, pain, or maybe even anger.  Some might never really be 'driven' to curse out loud... except for effect.

But, you know me... just a explorer of the words published... and no manner of authority.

Here's the thing, though... they tested on people who usually swear.  They did NOT test on people who had other (non-curse) words.

It's the same kind of dissonance as if you told someone who normally swore about everything that they would be given the pain but could NOT swear and instead use a phrase like "Jimminy Christmas" or "Hemiunu"... words that are not in your usual vocabulary.  Now you're hurting AND you can't say just what normally blurts out.  You've got to stop and THINK "okay, what are words that I can use?"

[Maxmars]

Here's the thing, though... they tested on people who usually swear.  They did NOT test on people who had other (non-curse) words.

It's the same kind of dissonance as if you told someone who normally swore about everything that they would be given the pain but could NOT swear and instead use a phrase like "Jimminy Christmas" or "Hemiunu"... words that are not in your usual vocabulary.  Now you're hurting AND you can't say just what normally blurts out.  You've got to stop and THINK "okay, what are words that I can use?"

It's true... it appears that the focus of the experiments and research seemed to skirt the entire question about similar threshold utterances with language that is 'not' a breach of 'socially acceptable.'

Conclusions
The two experiments presented in this article have repli-
cated the beneficial effect of swearing on physical task
performance, confirming that this is a robust and reliable
outcome. While the individual experiments showed mixed
evidence regarding the role of state disinhibition as the
underlying mechanism, the aggregation of data from these
two and a previous preregistered experiment suggest that
swearing improved performance by increasing psychological
flow, enhancing self-confidence, and reducing distraction.
These data support the contention that swearing functions as
a simple, cheap, widely accessible technique for rapidly
counteracting tendencies to hold back.

Although the effects demonstrated here are specific to
swearing and physical strength, we propose that the under-
lying mechanism will generalize to other situations wherein
success depends on overcoming hesitation. Repeating a
swear word at key moments, particularly when individuals
feel challenged or outside their comfort zone, may serve as a
strategic tool. Our findings suggest that swearing, a simple
and widely accessible form of language, can help coun-
teract the tendency to hold back. In doing so, it empowers
individuals to perform closer to their full potential and,
ultimately, to achieve greater success.

I think these experiments almost beg for a second round, more refined... and perhaps repeating them over a larger collection of subjects.

I have some questions myself about the actual paper... 

“Don’t Hold Back”:
Swearing Improves Strength Through State Disinhibition

I don't understand the need to pepper research documents with head shots of the researchers... seems irrelevant to the research... but that's just me...