What are the new rules around swearing?

Is it OK to swear at work?

A new ruling by the UK employment court said it’s fine, claiming the phrase “I don’t give a f… ” had lost its power, and that such words “no longer have the ‘shock value’ they once did.”

With the f-word less shocking than ever before, do any swear words still have the capacity to offend?

Courtesy of our OMG, WTF, and LMAO-filled text threads, it’s possible that our language use has become so casual that it’s past the point of no return, says Dr Andreea Calude, senior lecturer in linguistics at University of Auckland.

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“There’s been a colloquialisation of English, but not across other cultures – we’re becoming generally more informal,” Dr Calude told Stuff.

In our WTF-heavy world, the impact of a curse word might be less sharp than ever before. Has swearing finally lost its power? Here’s how our attitudes to different swear words are changing.

Do we even give a shit about swearing anymore?

Whether swear words still offend is one for the ages.

According to the Broadcasting Standards Authority’s (BSA) most recent annual report, there has been a shift in public attitudes towards language that offends us.

“Audiences are more relaxed over many swear words, particularly the F-word, but less tolerant of racial or cultural slurs,” said Pete Barnao, communications and engagements lead for the BSA.

The report indicated that, over the last year, we seemed to have softened on as a nation on words word such as bastard, dick, God, hoe, Jesus Christ, shit, w…er).

The BSA notes that the speaker and their relationship with the word and the receiver are also important.

Context, as ever, is key.

So…. it is OK to say “f… ” in the office?

“If you’re representing your company to a client, I would say definitely no,” explained Nicole Griffiths, director at Spice HR.

“If it’s internal, maybe – but it’s about your personal brand as well.”

Offices have a wide range of ages and cultures, and your F-bomb could be an affront to any of them.

”If there’s a wide range of generations that’s when you might need to be a bit more careful – it’s more taboo for the older generation,” Griffiths said.

”When you’re initially in an environment you probably need to not, until you’ve assessed whether it’s OK or not. If no one else is dropping the F-bomb I would recommend not.”

“Generally it’s probably not OK to swear,” suggested Griffiths, “it depends on the industry you are in, whether it’s acceptable.”

Griffiths said that a choice expletive might be appropriate as long as you’re not lobbing it towards any of your colleagues.

Does swearing do us any damn good?

Swearing is commonplace, explains Dr Calude, and can even help increase your pain tolerance.

“They’ve done studies to show that if you are experiencing pain, and you use swear words, you can lessen the perception of the pain that you’re feeling,” Dr Calude explained.

“They’ve done studies where they got people to go on an exercise bike, and they randomly assigned people to swearing and non-swearing groups and increased the intensity. People were able to go longer and harder as a group if they were using swear words.”

The catch? If you are already a potty mouth, the pain reduction effect will be less strong.

“Their effect was mediated by their day-to-day use of the words.”

In these turbulent times, we need to do what we can to get through – that might include using a colourful curse word every now and then.

What makes a curse word?

There are two key traits that determine whether something is likely to be a swear word, and they are unlikely to change: bodily excretions and sexual behaviour.

“Those things haven’t changed in terms of being taboo, they remain taboo and will probably remain so.”

However, our euphemisms for these things are likely to change over time, because language tends to evolve.

“Those things do change because we are always looking for new ways of talking about sensitive topics.”

That’s because the power of the phrase is derived from its rule-breaking effect, explained Dr Calude: “We have to change swear words all the time or the effect wears off.”

So, how do I know when it’s OK to curse?

When trying to decide what the rules are around swear words – where they are acceptable, and in front of whom – Dr Calude explained that both context and intent are key.

“Swearing at someone in anger and having a joke with it are two different activities – that intent is important.”

What determines a swear word is also the sound of the vowels or consonants themselves, which give the speaker a certain degree of satisfaction.

“Some sounds are conducive to the satisfaction of sounding like a swear word. We have a cognitive bias towards these words.”

So, next time you find yourself reaching for a choice f… or shit at workplace, don’t blame yourself – it’s just cognitive bias, and you really can’t help it.