holiday cheer

Greetings!  It’s Andy here. I’m taking the reins for today’s blog while Ann is over in Our Little Corner punning it up about bunnies and snowmen with a bit of profanity and a recipe thrown in. It’s not to miss.

My only directive was to focus on something appropriate for the holidays. It was a struggle to find a suitable topic until I came across The Secret Power of Swearing published in the NY Times by Rebecca Roache, a senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of London. Her essay is based on her recent book, “For F*ck’s Sake: Why Swearing Is Shocking, Rude and Fun.”  With a title like that I had little choice other than to get a copy. Once I started reading I knew that swearing had to be the topic for today’s blog. It appears that using the F-Bomb has the potential to bolster our holiday spirits. What could be a more ideal topic?

Until perusing her book I had no notion of the weighty philosophical, ethical, and theoretical issues associated with such words as f*ck, c*nt, and sh*t (some of the heavy hitters in the swearing arena). Nor did I know why I would feel more comfortable using an asterisk for these naughty words rather than spelling them out – even though we all know precisely what they mean. And I certainly had no idea that swearing could be so closely linked to our emotional and physical well-being.

You might be wondering why we should be concerned about bolstering our spirits during “the happiest time of the year.” A national poll conducted this year by the American Psychological Association found that about 89% of American adults feel stressed during the holidays by such issues as not having enough money, missing loved ones, or anticipating family conflict.

It’s no wonder then that the Internet is filled with advice on what to do about our flagging holiday spirit. Take for example these suggestions posted on The McLean Hospital Mental Health website:

• Recognize that you don’t need to force yourself to be happy and that it’s good to acknowledge feelings that aren’t joyful
• Avoid using using alcohol or other substances, which can worsen anxiety and depression
• Surround yourself with people who feel like you do
• Celebrate your traditions or create new ones

While suggestions like these may have some merit, I was surprised to find that not one of the sites I came across suggested using profanity to help shake the holiday doldrums. I realize that to encourage swearing sounds blasphemous, especially during religious-based holidays, but there’s some pretty solid scholarship to justify the lobbing of an f-bomb or two to help make this the jolly time of the year all that it’s cracked up to be.

I’m In addition to Professor Roache’s book, I’ve found a number of informative sites on the b web dealing with the causes and effects of swearing. Three were particularly relevant – “The Power of Swearing: What We Know and What We Don’t (the linguistics journal Lingua), “The Case for Cursing” (NY Times), and “Hell Yes: The 7 Best Reasons for Swearing“ (Psychology Today). Although none of the research specifically addresses the effects of swearing during the holidays, it’s clear to me that we would get the same effects, holidays or not. Here are some of the things that swearing has been shown to do (and I’m not making this up):

• convey positive emotions such as joy or excitement
• communicate humor
• enhance social bonding and solidarity
• signal intimacy and trust
• help with anxiety, depression, anger-management issues
• help suppress the urge to drink, take drugs, or give in to unhealthy food cravings
• elevate the body’s endorphins (which relieves pain, reduces stress and improves mood)
• provide an overall sense of calm, control, and well-being

You’d have to agree that any of these outcomes would lend themselves to a less stressful and less anxiety-ridden holiday. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind if you are considering employing the f-bomb this season. First, you must be aware of your audience. For example, uttering the f-word while attending your kid’s (or grandkid’s) school holiday pageant not only would be inappropriate, it could actually increase your stress level. Second, swearing’s effectiveness tends to diminish when over-used…think about the law of diminishing returns we learned about in our under grad Intro to Econ classes. 

So now you should be able to face the holiday season with the peace of mind that you have an emotional safety net in place. When you’re feeling up tight, frustrated, or stressed, just drop an f-bomb or two – you’ll feel better about yourself, closer to others, less anxious and, importantly, you may regain some of that illusive holiday spirit. But always remember to be selective with your swearing. James Parker in “An Ode to Swearing” (Published in The Atlantic) states it well: