woman swearing
Julie Hambleton
Julie Hambleton
March 6, 2024 ·  4 min read

People Who Swear a Lot Have These Unexpected Personality Traits

Think about stereotypes or biases you might have about people who swear a lot. Do the words “intelligent” and “honest” come to mind? According to this research, these two personality traits are common traits of people who have an affinity for cursing.

People Who Swear A Lot Are More Honest

A team of researchers from the Netherland, the UK, the US, and Hong Kong found that people who swear a lot are less likely to be dishonest. Swear words, they say, are used to express emotions: Anger and frustration, for sure, but also to express humor and to bond with friends and coworkers. (1)

People who swear a lot are therefore expressing their emotions quite often. Expressing emotions means making oneself vulnerable. The same goes for being honest. (1)

“The relationship between profanity and dishonesty is a tricky one. Swearing is often inappropriate, but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion. Just as they aren’t filtering their language to be more palatable, they’re also not filtering their views.” says Dr. David Stillwell, a lecturer in Big Data Analytics at the University of Cambridge and a co-author on the paper. (2)

Read: People Who Point Out Grammar Mistakes Are Jerks According To This Study

How the Study Worked

There were two parts to the study. In the first part, 276 participants filled out a questionnaire. (1) In the questionnaire, they indicated(1):

  • Their most commonly used and most favorite swear words
  • Their reasons for using these words

Next, they took a lie test to determine if they were telling the truth or responding based on what they thought was socially acceptable. Sure enough, the people who wrote down more curse words were less likely to be lying. (1)

In a second survey, the researchers collected data from 75,000 Facebook users to measure their use of curse words in their online interactions. Those that used more swear words also used more words associated with honesty and telling the truth. (1)

Interestingly, the researchers also found that people living in the North Eastern States swore more frequently than those in the Southern States. (1)

“We set out to provide an empirical answer to competing views regarding the relationship between profanity and honesty,” the researchers wrote in their paper. “We found a consistent positive relationship between profanity and honesty; profanity was associated with less lying and deception at the individual level, and with higher integrity at the society level.” (1)

People Who Swear A Lot Are More Intelligent

Many of us were told as kids that people who swear a lot do so because they aren’t smart enough to think of another word to use. Some research shows, however, that this may actually be the opposite. 

The researchers found that frequent cursing may be a sign of a more extensive vocabulary, better grasp of the English language (the study was done in the United States on English speakers), and a higher IQ. (3)

They say that fluency is fluency, so people who know more curse words also are more aware of other words and how to use them properly. (3)

How The Study Worked

The researchers put participants through a Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) to test general vocabulary and a similar taboo-word and animal-word test. The taboo and animal word tests were both oral and written. (3)

They found that participants who scored highest on the taboo word test also tended to have higher scores on the general and animal words tests. (3)

They also put the participants through the Big Five Personality test. People who swear a lot tended to score high in the openness category, but also in the neuroticism category. This means that these people are more likely to be moody or experience anxiety, worry, fear, anger, frustration, depression, and loneliness. (3)

The Bottom Line

If you are a firm anti-cure-word person, please do not be offended. Just because you don’t swear doesn’t mean you’re a dumb liar. Also, if you do use them, don’t take this as a reason to swear whenever and wherever. After all, part of the intelligence piece is knowing when it is okay to curse and when you should probably pick a different word.

You’re supposed to have a big vocabulary, so you should have no problems finding an alternative word to use.

Keep Reading: IKEA Buys 11,000 Acres of U.S. Forest to Keep It From Being Developed

Sources

  1. Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty.” GSB. Michal Kosinski. September 1, 2017.
  2. Study finds links between swearing and honesty.” Phys. January 16, 2017.
  3. Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: deconstructing the poverty-of-vocabulary myth.” Science Direct. Kristin L. Jay. November 2015.