Word: pinkering
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Psychology Professor Steven Pinker agreed that Americans place more emphasis on Thanksgiving...
...What Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker did for language, [Hauser] is doing for neuroscience,” Kernion said...
That's probably because humans are hardwired to swear cathartically, says Steven Pinker, a Harvard psychologist and author of The Stuff of Thought, an exploration of the psychology of language. Pinker distinguishes cathartic cursing from using profanity descriptively, idiomatically, abusively or for emphasis, and points to similar behavior in animals that suggests its evolutionary roots. If you step on a dog or cat's tail, it will let out a sharp yelp of pain, for example. "Swearing probably comes from a very primitive reflex that evolved in animals," Pinker says. "In humans, our vocal tract has been hijacked...
...before you go yelling four-letter words at every turn, consider this: in Stephens' study, swearing reduced the perception of pain more strongly in women than in men. That may be because in daily life "men swear more than women," says Pinker, which could have the unfortunate side effect of dulling the natural painkiller. "[For women] I suspect that swearing retains more of an emotional punch because it has not been overused," he says...
...That's one of the reasons that I think people should not overuse profanity in their speech and writing," says Pinker. "That's not because I'm a prude, but because it blunts [swear words] of their power when you do need them. You should save them for just the right occasions...