Expletives might not be suitable at school or in the workplace, but a good swear can also feel extremely cathartic.
Using swear words can actually indicate that you have a large vocabulary, and may lessen physical pain (a study that asked participants to utter a swear word and a neutral, non-taboo word after submerging a hand in ice-cold water found that swearing decreased physical pain).
In Psychology Today, a psychologist wrote that swearing could boost confidence, bond groups, act as a surrogate for physical violence, and even had physical benefits.
Another expert noted how swear words were used in hate speech, verbal abuse and sexual harassment, and that their use in humour, social commentary, sex talk, storytelling, in-group slang, and self-deprecation or ironic sarcasm improved social harmony.
But there are cases when swearing can be harmful, particularly when words are directed at specific individuals, rather than used to disparage experiences. (Source: attn.com. Read more here.)
Armchair philosophy
Question: What is the best habit you've taken up from another person?
Answer: While it is clear the advantage of a wife who, after so many years of marriage, still smiles to me every morning, it's not so intuitive that taking this habit from your spouse is infinitely effective.
If I had started smiling years ago just because I had decided to, I could have easily ended up with a fake smile on my face. Which, let me say, is even worse than a genuinely frowny face.
What happened, instead, is that I took up this habit unintentionally, just by watching her do so. Technically speaking, I haven't taken that habit up. I have been progressively infected. (Via: Elizabeth Simmons on quora.com)
Selective memory
A reader writes: "It's amazing how a person can twist a situation to make themselves out to be victims by leaving out key pieces of information. The first thing the 'Stick To Your Lane' reader conveniently omitted is that left-turning traffic (from Pitt St into Nelson St in Auckland's CBD) is held up by pedestrians resulting in straight-heading traffic staying in right lanes to avoid an obvious log jam.
"The second thing they've misled other readers about is, in gridlock, traffic ends up merging like a zipper, with no one in effect being cut off, other than this person's ego.
"And their final omission is that hardly any traffic heading straight is silly enough to follow the path that reader does, as otherwise they'd block left-turning traffic (and themselves) back on to the motorway."
Picture this: You may have seen chihuahua or muffin, but have you seen puppy or bagel? Or Labradoodle or fried chicken? Go here y'all!
Good read: The politics of the hoodie deconstructed - everything from racial profiling to sexism in the tech industry, all communicated by a piece of casual wear...
Video: Trailer for the pop idol parody (his name is Connor4real) from Judd Apatow, Popstar, Never Stop Never Stopping looks pretty funny (NSFW language and a teeny bit of nudity, so be warned!)...
