Swearing is becoming more common in our everyday conversations. Words that used to be considered too harsh are now tossed around casually. Timothy Jay, a retired psychology professor from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, thinks this shift reflects our more relaxed lifestyles.
Dr. Jay has dedicated much of his career to understanding why people curse and what impact it has on communication. Even though he has retired, he remains active in studying profanity and recently weighed in on a legal debate in Michigan about whether the phrase “Let’s go Brandon” qualifies as profane. His conclusion? It doesn’t.
According to Dr. Jay, the rise of casual language can partly be traced to social media. In a 2014 study, researchers found that nearly 8% of posts on Twitter (now X) contained curse words, compared to only 0.5% to 0.7% in spoken conversations. This shows how much we are choosing to express ourselves boldly, at least online.
If you’re concerned about this trend, Dr. Jay suggests ways to reduce swearing. For instance, he jokingly proposed a “F*@%-free February” as a fun challenge to clean up our language, even if just for a month.
So, why is swearing so much more prevalent on social media? Dr. Jay points out that being behind a screen allows people to express aggression without fear of immediate consequences. Many users feel anonymous online, which can lead them to use harsher language than they would face-to-face.
As society evolves, our language reflects this change, signifying a broader shift toward a more casual way of living. In Dr. Jay’s words, the casual dress and attitudes of today’s youth are just part of this cultural transformation.
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Source linkLanguage and Languages,Customs, Etiquette and Manners,Social Media,Slang,your-feed-science
