Remember the friend you swore off, because he/she well, swore? Guess what, he/she may be a better friend than your other non-potty mouthed buds. And don’t believe us, believe science instead…

A bud who loves to swear more is for keeps

According to a multilevel study done by a collaborative team from the Maastricht University  in Netherlands, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology as well as Stanford and the University of Cambridge, potty mouthed people tend to have lower deception levels and higher integrity at a personal as well as a societal level!^[1]

The results of the study indicate that people who let loose with a string of obscenities tend to let off steam this way and are less likely to harm themselves or others when under pressure. They swear more to destress and this makes them more honest and dependable than a person who doesn’t. Since swearing is basically an honest representation of one’s feelings, people who swear more are likely to be honest, so make better friends.

A license to swear more

So what society (and your mom) may find offensive or uncouth is actually paving a way for everyone to destress and make for a more honest and integrity-rich populace. So there, ma – keep that soap aside! Previous studies have also proven that swearing is an effective pain relief method, so you can start cultivating obscenities into an art form.^[2]

That said, do keep in mind that swearing at somebody does hurt their feelings and in no way should one start swearing and behaving badly just because science says certain things. The people on whom this research has been conducted are the ones with a rather colorful vocabulary but they do not purposefully swear at people, they just tend to use swear words in their spoken or written language more than others.