Word: swear
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
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...
...part of the brain that accounts for the urge to swear - or yelp, in the case of animals - is deep within, suggesting its primitiveness. Studies of non-human primates show that vocalization is nearly always attributed to subcortical processes in the brain, in those regions that control primal, raw emotions, says Diana Van Lancker Sidtis, a professor of speech language pathology and audiology at New York University. In humans too, the urge to swear likely stems from primitive parts, but it is usually overridden by commands from the brain's more complex cortex - the abundant gray matter on which humans...
...Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, has become a staple of patrols. The hulking personnel carrier is equipped with a V-shaped hull to absorb and disperse the impact of most roadside bombs and keep rolling. Some argue they are too hefty for the Afghan terrain, but many officers swear MRAPs have saved lives. There are plans to introduce a lighter version...
...they're being lauded for it. Last year, Budweiser's advertising agency, DDB in Chicago, won an Emmy for its Internet-only spot "Swear Jar," which depicts office workers having to pay a quarter every time they curse, with the money being used to buy Bud Light. The commercial turns into a bleepfest as the cubicle mates indulge their inner sailors. But is bleeping curse words the same thing as pixelating graphic sexual toys? "Porn is the next logical step," says Solomon...
...engineers to contend with the Soviet engineering corps. Passed in 1958, the National Defense and Education Act aimed to mitigate that gap by providing funding to universities, including cash for student financial aid, but in a hold-over of McCarthy era fears, the act required student recipients to swear a loyalty oath and sign a loyalty affidavit to the United States and its Constitution.‘A VERY UNCONSCIOUS TIME’The radicalism of the 1960s was not brewing at Harvard in 1959. Throughout 1959 headlines announcing steps to pressure Congress to remove the loyalty oath from...