Your friends who swear all the time are the most LOYAL and HONEST - science has proved it!
Strange but true!
By Frances Sheen
May 27 2019
We all have that one friend who can drop a swear word into any conversation without a second thought.
Even if the situation doesn’t warrant an f-bomb, this friend can add it in!
Well, it turns out that research has found that those with a 'colourful vocabulary' are seen as very trustworthy individuals, and very loyal friends.
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Researcher Timothy Jay of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the USA said in his study Why we curse: A neuro-psycho-social theory of speech that many people use a well-placed swear word to bring humour to a friendship group or conversation. And that is a key reason why we become friends with people.
Even if you don't like gratuitous swearing, it's thought we are drawn to people who can make others laugh, despite ourselves.
In addition, swearing is one of the key features of a Type A personality, and another study found that we view friends who swear as very honest people.
In Frankly, We Do Give a Damn: The Relationship Between Profanity and Honesty, published in the SAGE journal, by researchers from the University of Cambridge, Maastricht University, Hong Kong University, and Stanford University found that those who swear more are more likely to have a high degree of honesty.
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The authors 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”. Signs of good friends!
When asked about what makes a great friend, the two most common attributes are honesty and humour – so it seems next time your best friends swear like a trucker in front of you, you can trust that they will be loyal and give you very trustworthy advice.
And if you are that friend whose language can get a touch x-rated at times, don't worry. Science has proved that YOU are happier and have a higher IQ than people who don't express themselves quite as graphically!
