Swearing Cuts Pain, Dammit

Coarse words help us deal with painful stimuli

(NEWSER) - If your reaction to slamming your finger in a door is to curse the air blue, you might be onto something: A new study shows that swearing relieves pain. Intrigued by the fact that people seem to swear in painful situations, UK researchers put the idea to the test: they had subjects submerge their hands in frigid water while either swearing or saying neutral words. Those who swore, whether men or women, were able to stand the cold much longer, and reported less pain, the Boston Globe reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The feel of green can make people more resistant to low-level pain, NPR reports. Building on earlier research about the psychological power of money, experts in China conducted a study asking subjects to dip their fingers in water heated to 122 degrees Fahrenheit; those who had counted money ahead of time felt less pain. "We think money works as a substitute for another pain buffer—love," says researcher Xinyue Zhou. More»

Language influences perception, study finds

(NEWSER) - Think of the Golden Gate Bridge. Would you describe it as fragile, elegant, and slender? Or strong, dangerous, and sturdy? When they pictured a bridge, a group of German speakers offered the first group of words, while Spanish speakers offered the second, NPR reports. The difference, believes the psychologist behind the study, is language. For Germans, “bridge” is the feminine noun “die brucke”; in Spanish, it’s the masculine “el puente.” More»

F-bombs a popular way to react to your 401(k) statement

(NEWSER) - The state of the economy has made for a lot of bad news, and bad news makes for a lot of cussing, MSNBC reports. “I’ve been dropping the F-bomb every time I look at the Dow,” said one 35-year-old writer. “You see that number and you say a few choice words.” Psychologists say two-thirds of all swearing is related to frustration or anger—and there’s a lot of that going around. More»

'Near-dirty' term deserves a trip to the showers

(NEWSER) - The word douchebag is in danger of losing its bite thanks to rampant overuse, writes Richard Dorment in Esquire. It's not that the "toxic mess of a man" population has increased, he observes. It may seem that way, what with reality TV and cable punditry promoting unsavory characters. But it's really that the term's literal meaning makes it clean enough to use on network TV. More»