Emma Byrne: “Swearing is a pain killer”

The author of Swearing is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language, Byrne did her PhD in Expectation Violation Analysis at University College London’s Department of Computer Science in 2005. She went on to work at the University of Aberystwyth and was part of a team that created an AI-powered robot scientist. Her training in AI and computational neuroscience sparked a fascination with the decidedly divergent thinking that runs our minds. Drawing on her research-driven mind and science-backed training, she decided to take an irreverent look at our dirtiest words. The scientist says swearing is likely to have been one of the first forms of language that we developed and, since then, has been “helping humans deal with pain, work together, manage our emotions and improve our minds”.

Byrne’s research, which included neuroscientists, psychologists, and sociologists, revealed that swear words, curses, and oaths – when used judiciously – can have surprising benefits.

Keen to give swearing “the respect it fX&%$#g deserves”, she wrote about how swearing has evolved from a “linguistic shortcut” into a “powerful instrument” with physiological benefits. Her takeaways from numerous experiments in neuroscience reveal that swearing can help lessen physical and social suffering, and that “stronger swear words are stronger painkillers”.

“I was fascinated by the role that pain plays in shaping human and animal intelligence, and astounded by the research that shows how effective swearing is as a pain killer,” Byrne says. She adds that for many people swearing is “ a means of expressing sympathy, or a way of building social bonds. But there’s still a sense that swearing is taboo”.

Science and research back the facts that swearing increases electrical conductance across the skin, increases the heart rate, and measurably ups resistance to pain. Swearing has always been around, but in Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, which looks at the Western context, Melissa Mohr wrote that there was an increase in profanity after WWI and WWII because using taboo words was nothing compared to the horrors of war. Saying powerfully bad words helped, especially, the men at war deal with intense experiences, and they then brought these “bad” words back home to their families.

But profanity, which has been on the rise for decades, peaked post-pandemic.

A report from the financial intelligence platform, Sentieo, which researched a database of global conference call transcripts from 2021, showed a soaring increase in the amount of swearing – a rise of 60 percent from 2020, and an 80 percent increase from 2018. Cooped up in homes and angry at our collective lot, there’s no surprise that we saw a marked rise in swearing.

Despite the rise of profanity, Byrne isn’t sure that most of us do swear “at the drop of a hat”.

“I think that some of the words that were considered very offensive 20 years ago now seem milder. The F word, for example. But other words, other taboos have come to take their place. Language about race and sexuality, for example, is used far more carefully now than it was 20 years ago,” she says.

“I don’t think we’ve become totally lax about taboos. I think we’ve changed what those taboos are as we come to understand the harm some words can cause,” says the co-host and executive producer of NonFicPod.

The scientist does agree, however, that there has been a surge in women’s use of foul language and swearing in the workplace. In Britain, women are as likely to swear as men and women’s use of “fuck” has increased fivefold since 1990.

What about swearing in front of children? The scientist, who is also the author of Build a Human, says kids tend to learn, from a surprisingly early age, that swearing isn’t all negative. “Research shows that swearing is linked with all kinds of emotional states, including joy, surprise and fear. By learning to swear, children learn to understand other people’s feelings in a more nuanced way,” she writes.

When she became a parent, Byrne turned for advice to the best guide: Science. She believes that having a baby and being a scientist is very similar. “You have no idea what you’re doing most of the time and there’s always the danger of a messy explosion if you get things wrong!” While most parenting books stick to the right and wrong, focusing on instructions and advice, Byrne’s books suggests parenting like a scientist. This means gathering all available evidence-based information, and studying how it relates to your unique child.

“Your child is unique. If the parenting manuals say your child should behave in a certain way, treat that with a great deal of suspicion. Just keep observing the child in front of you,” she says, adding that it’s important to focus on “the variance, not the mean”.

She believes we do our children a disservice if we try to shield them from “bad” language. “Whether they use it often or rarely, they will need it as part of their emotional lexicon. There are some feelings that ordinary words just can’t do justice to. Children get a better handle on swearing when they learn it from responsible adults rather than picking it up in the playground. It’s a bit like the French approach to drinking: a bit of watered-down wine with dinner teaches children the appropriate way to enjoy it,” she writes.

A new book is on the card. “I’m currently writing a book on deceit and why, like swearing, it may be far more necessary than we realise,” she says.

Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.

Today, the F-word is routinely used to describe how we feel, how objectionable someone is, what a bad day it is, or simply to wish someone a Happy AF Birthday. We may all frown upon swearing and profanity, but scientist Emma Byrne believes that we wouldn’t have “made it as the world’s most populous primate if we hadn’t learned to swear”.

The author of Swearing is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language, Byrne did her PhD in Expectation Violation Analysis at University College London’s Department of Computer Science in 2005. She went on to work at the University of Aberystwyth and was part of a team that created an AI-powered robot scientist. Her training in AI and computational neuroscience sparked a fascination with the decidedly divergent thinking that runs our minds. Drawing on her research-driven mind and science-backed training, she decided to take an irreverent look at our dirtiest words. The scientist says swearing is likely to have been one of the first forms of language that we developed and, since then, has been “helping humans deal with pain, work together, manage our emotions and improve our minds”.

Byrne’s research, which included neuroscientists, psychologists, and sociologists, revealed that swear words, curses, and oaths – when used judiciously – can have surprising benefits.

Keen to give swearing “the respect it fX&%$#g deserves”, she wrote about how swearing has evolved from a “linguistic shortcut” into a “powerful instrument” with physiological benefits. Her takeaways from numerous experiments in neuroscience reveal that swearing can help lessen physical and social suffering, and that “stronger swear words are stronger painkillers”.

“I was fascinated by the role that pain plays in shaping human and animal intelligence, and astounded by the research that shows how effective swearing is as a pain killer,” Byrne says. She adds that for many people swearing is “ a means of expressing sympathy, or a way of building social bonds. But there’s still a sense that swearing is taboo”.

Science and research back the facts that swearing increases electrical conductance across the skin, increases the heart rate, and measurably ups resistance to pain. Swearing has always been around, but in Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, which looks at the Western context, Melissa Mohr wrote that there was an increase in profanity after WWI and WWII because using taboo words was nothing compared to the horrors of war. Saying powerfully bad words helped, especially, the men at war deal with intense experiences, and they then brought these “bad” words back home to their families.

But profanity, which has been on the rise for decades, peaked post-pandemic.

A report from the financial intelligence platform, Sentieo, which researched a database of global conference call transcripts from 2021, showed a soaring increase in the amount of swearing – a rise of 60 percent from 2020, and an 80 percent increase from 2018. Cooped up in homes and angry at our collective lot, there’s no surprise that we saw a marked rise in swearing.

Despite the rise of profanity, Byrne isn’t sure that most of us do swear “at the drop of a hat”.

“I think that some of the words that were considered very offensive 20 years ago now seem milder. The F word, for example. But other words, other taboos have come to take their place. Language about race and sexuality, for example, is used far more carefully now than it was 20 years ago,” she says.

“I don’t think we’ve become totally lax about taboos. I think we’ve changed what those taboos are as we come to understand the harm some words can cause,” says the co-host and executive producer of NonFicPod.

The scientist does agree, however, that there has been a surge in women’s use of foul language and swearing in the workplace. In Britain, women are as likely to swear as men and women’s use of “fuck” has increased fivefold since 1990.

What about swearing in front of children? The scientist, who is also the author of Build a Human, says kids tend to learn, from a surprisingly early age, that swearing isn’t all negative. “Research shows that swearing is linked with all kinds of emotional states, including joy, surprise and fear. By learning to swear, children learn to understand other people’s feelings in a more nuanced way,” she writes.

When she became a parent, Byrne turned for advice to the best guide: Science. She believes that having a baby and being a scientist is very similar. “You have no idea what you’re doing most of the time and there’s always the danger of a messy explosion if you get things wrong!” While most parenting books stick to the right and wrong, focusing on instructions and advice, Byrne’s books suggests parenting like a scientist. This means gathering all available evidence-based information, and studying how it relates to your unique child.

“Your child is unique. If the parenting manuals say your child should behave in a certain way, treat that with a great deal of suspicion. Just keep observing the child in front of you,” she says, adding that it’s important to focus on “the variance, not the mean”.

She believes we do our children a disservice if we try to shield them from “bad” language. “Whether they use it often or rarely, they will need it as part of their emotional lexicon. There are some feelings that ordinary words just can’t do justice to. Children get a better handle on swearing when they learn it from responsible adults rather than picking it up in the playground. It’s a bit like the French approach to drinking: a bit of watered-down wine with dinner teaches children the appropriate way to enjoy it,” she writes.

A new book is on the card. “I’m currently writing a book on deceit and why, like swearing, it may be far more necessary than we realise,” she says.

Teja Lele is an independent editor and writes on books, travel and lifestyle.