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Howstuffworks People Channel has an article about How Swearing Works. It is an interesting read, particularly the part about how the brain stores swear words:

Many studies suggest that the brain processes swearing in the lower regions, along with emotion and instinct. Scientists theorize that instead of processing a swearword as a series of phonemes, or units of sound that must be combined to form a word, the brain stores swear words as whole units [ref]. So, the brain doesn’t need the left hemisphere’s help to process them.

Over the years, I have been able to craft rather complex swears. If I get into a swearing fit, I can just spit them out without much thought. I now know why I don’t really have to think about swearing when I do it; I used to think that perhaps I just swore too much.

I wonder what I would do when I first hear my children swear. I have often wondered about that. Would I scold them? Would making it taboo just make my children do it more? I think that at the very least I would teach my children how to use swear words properly. Swearing at inappropriate times is bad enough, but saying things that don’t make sense is worse to me. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see since kids are not on the horizon just yet.