Nifty little piece in the current issue of Wired.
Harvard professor Steven Pinker has written a book and language and argues in one chapter that swearing is actually an ancient form of communication.
To back up his argument, he points out that people who suffer brain injuries to the language centre of their brain and lose most of their communication skills can still curse people out.
According to the Wired article, Pinker also suggests that animals have their own form of swearing. I’m inclined to agree there - I’m positive I’ve been told off by several cats and had one that I swear gave me “the paw.”
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