No Stupid Questions - 119. J***s C****t, Angela, Why Are You Such a F***ing Potty-Mouth?

Episode Date: October 16, 2022

What’s the purpose of profanity? Why is cursing on the rise? And will Angela finally swear off swearing?

Before we begin, this episode is about swear words. In the course of their discussion, Stephen and Angela say a lot of swear words. We've bleeped out the most objectionable ones, but you'll still hear some unpleasant language. So if you don't like swearing, or you're listening with kids, you might wanna skip this one.

Now, here's our show. Remember, I'm the one with potty mouth. I'm Angela Duckworth. I'm Stephen Dubner. And you're listening to No Stupid Questions. Today on the show, why are people offended by swear words? Whoa, I can't believe someone said that. can't believe someone said that. So, Angie, let me start with a warning to whoever is doing the bleeping on this episode. You are going to be very busy over the next half hour.

This is going to be a lot of censorship. Here's what I want to talk to you about today. There is a lot more swearing or cursing in public these days, including words that didn't used to be spoken at all in most circumstances. Like, mother, people call each other. Hey, mother, how's it going? Is that true, by the way, or is that just Stephen Dumbner's casual observations? The data on more swearing? Yeah. Is that a trend? So there are scholars who've done this. This is one chart I'm looking at where they picked one, two, three, four, five,

six pretty standard words. Hell, ass, shit, damn, and bitch. This is charting essentially the frequency of words that are found in printed sources published between 1900 and 2019. sources published between 1900 and 2019. Hell was always higher than the others. The second highest was ass. Hell just kept rising and it's still much, much, much more common than the others. But all of them rose what looks to be between three and four times the magnitude. According to the printed sources that can be analyzed by Ngram viewer, at least. Oh, yes. I'm a big fan of Google Ngram. I think this partly comes from when Google is still scanning books. Like, let's scan all the books that have ever been written. But it's actually not just books. So the printed word. Yeah. And there's a 2017 paper published

in Sage Open. This is by Jean Twenge, Hannah Van Landingham, and W. Keith Campbell. And they write, we find a steady linear increase in the use of swear words with books published in the years 2005 to 2008, 28 times more likely to include swear words than books published in the early 1950s. In addition to what we think of as those sort of cuss words, there's also the taking of various lords' names in vain. Usually a particular lord, at least in the United States. In Krishna? I don't know. Does that happen? I haven't heard that recently. Maybe I'm not hanging out with the right people.

That bastard Buddha? You haven't heard those? I'm feeling uncomfortable, Stephen. You haven't even gotten to your question, but already you have succeeded in making me feel a little... I think that's a big part of it is how a word might be comfortable in some circumstances and not in others. I'll give you an example. Unfortunately, most of my examples these days come from playing golf. I was playing golf with a guy who seemed like a perfectly nice guy.

He was a lawyer, but he seemed fine. And then he missed a putt and he said something that I didn't even know how to respond. It was so horrible. Wait, are you going to repeat it? Yeah. He was talking to the ball, not going in the hole. And he said, you f***ing whore. And I sat in the kind of very awkward silence you are sitting in right now. I don't know what I'm feeling, Stephen. I didn't know what I was feeling either. It was very cringy.

It changed my opinion of this person, I'll be honest, because it seemed like such a wrong read of the situation. Like, first of all, it was language that made me very uncomfortable. Several layers of, I think, wrongness. Agree. But here's what I was saying about context. The Sopranos, I don't know if you ever watched that show. Never.

But in my family, some of us did. And there's one character whose name is Ralph Cifaretto, who is hilarious, often unintentionally. And he's always calling people, you f***ing hooah. And we repeat it over and over again because it's his Jersey pronunciation that we find kind of... I never heard that particular Jersey pronunciation. Is it hooah? It's you f***ing hooah. And like you, we laugh. There's something about it that's funny. But what I'm saying is context matters. And overall, there does seem to be this societally agreed upon

standard that swearing in certain circumstances and for certain audiences is still very much forbidden or looked down upon. You don't make it in a political speech usually, I guess we should say. Although there was an interesting political swear caught on tape years ago when the Affordable Care Act was being signed and Biden was the vice president. And he whispered into Obama's ear loud enough for someone to hear it. This is a big deal. And that went down as an anomaly, although that's probably not that anomalous. It just happened to be heard. But, you know, although that's probably not that anomalous. It just happened to be heard. But you know, in much of the professional world and among children and among people who have a sensibility,

religious or otherwise, it might be insulted. Swearing is something we just don't do. On this show, for instance, when one of us swears, it's usually you. Today, I'm carrying the load for both of us. I get emails about this, by the way, Stephen. Those emails are what prompted me to want to ask you this question today, because on this show, we do bleep the occasional swear words. But in one recent email, at least that I saw, you used Jesus Christ as an expletive. And some people wrote to say that they found that really offensive and asked us slash you to stop. So I have a few questions for you around swearing. Do you think, Angela, that we should be

swearing less? Maybe we should be swearing more? And I'm curious to know what you can tell us about what swearing actually accomplishes. Well, I have to tell you, Stephen, that because it was more than one email about the episode in which I uttered the Lord's name in vain, I did a little looking into the science of swearing. So I'm not completely naive here to the research on it. That is so Angela, I have to say. That shows a lot of good things about you, though. Not just growth mindset like you always want to learn, but when you have something directed at you that maybe doesn't sit quite right, you go somewhere empirical for an exploration. I like that. Freud did not say on the list of psychological defenses, you know, he had the

immature defenses like repression and avoidance, And then he had the mature defenses like humor and sublimation. He didn't say that Google Scholar was a mature defense, but it is for me. It is where I go when I am feeling confused and criticized. And actually, I have to say, I learned a lot about the science of swearing. I'm going to answer your question before I get into the research, which is, I don't know if we should be swearing less I'm going to answer your question before I get into the research, which is, I don't know if we should be swearing less, we, you and I, we, society, but I feel like Angela Duckworth should be swearing less. Uh-huh. Interesting. So I'm going to make the case for the upside of swearing, but I'm also going to say that net, I think it's unnecessary roughness. I cannot wait for your f***ing explanation.

I'm not going to give this to you. Totally G-rated. Let's begin with the definition. The world expert on swearing, at least from psychological science, is this guy named Timothy Jay, who is a professor emeritus now, but spent a good portion of his long career studying the upside, the downside, the mechanism, swearing in all possible facets.

Is J, it's his last name and it's like his nickname. Does it stand for jackass or jackwad, jagoff? It's just J. I think it's just J-A-Y in case you're wondering. Not a swear. But the way Timothy J defines swearing, and I quote, But the way Timothy Jay defines swearing, and I quote, swearing defined broadly is the use of offensive or taboo words to express our emotions and communicate our emotions to others. They have a function, these swear words. This is a tiny, tiny door into a conversation about a huge thing, which is language and what it means, who it means, what to and how language evolves. And so I'm a big admirer of a linguist named John McWhorter. I think you probably

know his work a bit as well. He's at Columbia. He writes a lot of popular books. Mostly through you because you are really a big admirer of John McWhorter. And in fact, John McWhorter's most recent book, and it's one reason I wanted to ask you this question today, is actually about swearing. It's called Nine Nasty Words, English in the Gutter, Then, Now, and Forever. And I can share with you a few key insights from there that I think are really interesting. He describes essentially three historical eras of what swear words were about. So the first one was really about God and heresy. So someone might damn you to hell or use the name of the Lord in vain. And that for a long time was considered the most serious, let's say, or the most common even. Blasphemous, right?

more leverage than it may in the world today. The second period he writes about is about, as you said, the body. So if you think about the words that are still considered curse words that have something to do with the human body and our relationship to it, or maybe disgust with it, our excitement for it. So there are sexual terms, there's the F word, there's s**t, there is when you call someone an a-hole there are curse words to describe our reproductive organs and so on there are a number of words that stand in for penis that are now kind of i would call them casual curse words like the one that starts with d have you ever called someone said oh that guy's a real oh i'm sure remember i'm the one with potty mouth as my husband likes to say wait wait wait so there's religion.

There's the body. If the first two are religion and the human body, the third, John McWhorter argues, and I find this really interesting, is words that are meant to demean other people, different races or ethnicities or religions, sexual preferences. Like ethnic slurs. So I think he's saying, you know, in the current era, the words against religion and against the human body have been devalued somewhat or declawed,

whereas the words that seem to carry the most potency are the ones about other people that make us really stand up and say, whoa, I can't believe someone said that. What's interesting is that every generation has its own taboos. Somehow we don't move beyond taboos altogether, right? Yeah. I did find recently a good illustration of our current phase. So there's a website I

found called Language Please, which describes itself as a digital journalism style guide. So this is if you're a journalist, if you're writing or speaking for the public and you want to know what language is considered offensive by different groups that you may not have a lot of exposure to. Their purpose, they write, is to give guidance spanning six main categories, borders and populations, class and social standing, disabilities, neurodiversity and chronic illness, gender and sexuality, mental health, trauma and substance standing, disabilities, neurodiversity and chronic illness, gender and sexuality, mental health, trauma and substance abuse, and race and ethnicity. So I found it interesting that as we're getting more sensitive to using or abusing language

in one direction, like the word homeless is no longer used by a lot of journalists. Instead, it might be a person without housing or experiencing homelessness. The phrase drug addict. A lot of people don't say that phrase anymore. They might opt for something like a person experiencing substance abuse disorder. All these things are separating the person's condition from the person. So as not to essentialize. Exactly.

One word that's offended me for a long time is when people say, oh, that's insane. Why were you offended? Because it wasn't literally true? Because there are people who are literally defined as insane, and that is a mental illness. I don't know if McWhorter has a kind of like, this is why every generation invents taboo or, of like, this is why every generation invents taboo or, you know, swear words. But I was pretty convinced by what I found from Timothy Jay and from others. I think the most compelling argument is that human beings are social and therefore there is the need to express and to understand other people's emotion. Swearing enables you to communicate and to express a variety of emotions, most of them negative, but some of them neutral or positive. So anger, frustration, those would

be the negative ones. Think about people swearing at each other in traffic. And then there's what happens when you and I are in conversation, and I'm just surprised. And I let loose with something which apparently is offensive to more than one person. And by the way, Timothy Jay has also pointed out that maybe better to swear than some other things we could do, like shove people into traffic or, you know, hit them. and utterances. And he's not once had evidence that swearing then led to physical violence. So I get that there's a function of this. But when I think of this impolite behavior and my ability to use other words, like, why not? I think I'm just going to buck the trend. I wonder if we should have a call out for listeners and ask them to contribute, what do you think would be the best question to ask for listeners to send us maybe a voice memo on this topic? I guess I might ask them, do you have a story of a time where you swore

and were glad about it or live to regret it? Love that question. Okay. So listeners, if you would, use your phone, send us a voice memo, send it to nsq at freakonomics.com. Tell us your name, if you don't mind, and maybe a little bit about yourself. Keep it short, record it in a quiet place, and if we're entertained by it, we will put it on a future episode. Still to come on No Stupid Questions, Stephen and Angela discuss how swearing can lead to intimacy and friendship. I see a lot of young women my daughter's age, they ask for permission to call another friend, can I call you? Yes. Now, back to Stephen and Angela's conversation about the ethics of swear words.

You do have one phrase that you say when something surprises or delights you, and I love this phrase. You say, holy shmoly. That's very intentional, though, to substitute holy shmoly or, by the way, in lieu of the Lord's name, cheese Louise. Also, somebody suggested to me cheese and rice. There's also Jeepers Creepers. I mean, that goes way back. There's a lot.

Mine is Jiminy Crick Shaft. I'm not quite sure where that came from. Do you use Jiminy Crick Shaft? There's so many syllables in that. I know. It feels so good. I don't like to say the name Jesus Christ as a curse or as an exclamation of distress or even surprise. It's usually distress. If I hit a bad golf shot, there are two that I end up saying. It's not intentional. These are just how my

brain has grabbed on to, because I don't like to swear publicly. Today's conversation not withstanding. So I will say Jiminy Crick Shaft, which is very satisfying. And the other one is instead of saying the SH word, I'll say Sugar Bear. And I have to say that feels good. I think I could also say OMG, which by the way, one could argue is better, or one could argue is no better. You know, we just finished a Freakonomics Radio episode on online prayer apps. Online prayer apps? Yeah, it's a big business and super interesting and a little bit perhaps troubling, in part because the way data online can be shared. So you can imagine that maybe there's some confessionals that may not be as private as one may think.

there's some confessionals that may not be as private as one may think. One of the clergy members whose voices we added to this mentioned, and I thought this was really interesting, he said that when people say, oh my God, as an expression of like you were saying, maybe disbelief or surprise, he didn't mind that. He said, I take it as a prayer. It's an acknowledgement, whether you know it or not, that you're saying, I can't do this on my own. Like, oh my God, I'm calling in support. Or sort of like a recognition that this is God's universe and I can't understand it all. I mean, there could be a variety of things if you're trying to justify yourself. You know, I'm Catholic. I told you I'm Catholic, right? Yes, you have. But you converted to Catholicism. You were not what they call a cradle Catholic. I became Catholic when I was 26. The only person in my family to become Catholic.

But that's when you started swearing, you're saying. No, no, no, no, no. That is not when I started swearing. I did my Catholic conversion when I was at Oxford and I had a PhD monk who was very patient. And so I had all kinds of questions. I was like, why is this? Why is that? What about the people who don't convert? Are they all going to go to hell just because they didn't have the good fortune to be exposed to Catholicism?

I asked all of these questions, but I don't remember asking. Well, I certainly don't remember what the response was, why it is that it is offensive or taboo to take the Lord's name in vain. It's one of the Ten Commandments. That's why. God, I should know that. You know, in moral theory, the theory of moral principles in psychology, John Haidt very prominently has argued for there being certain general principles that underlie moral systems throughout history and across culture and religions. I remember reading this poem by Philip Larkin, Churchgoing. In the poem, Larkin reveals he's more or less an atheist, and he's taking a bike ride, and he pulls over at this abandoned

church, and he walks into the sanctuary. But, you know, immediately had this, like, hush come over him. And this is the idea of, like, there is something sacred or pure. And so I think maybe that's the reason why taking the Lord's name in vain in context in which it is just being used to express surprise at a new fact that Stephen Dubner let loose. I think that's why it's offensive. If that is creating offense and I'm just trying to express surprise, I think I should say something else. Do you think? But the fact is, if you take 10 different people, they may have 10 totally different reckonings of what is sacred and what is profane. For some, that is a religious deity and universe, and others it might be nature, for others it might be whatever. And that's where I think we get into

this very awkward public-private conflict when it comes to curse words, because there is an intimacy about it, too. I can see that one purpose that swearing might accomplish is it creates a deeper intimacy or bonding. You kind of show your disdain or irreverence for a shared enemy. Let's say you hate Joe Biden, and you might say to someone that you know medium well, oh yeah, that sleepy old mother f***er, just to see if they're on your team or not. Or if they are on your team,

then you might be more likely to say it. I do think this recent paper that I've read actually before I was called out on my own potty mouth, because it came out in a pretty prominent journal called Social, Psychological, and Personality Science. And this is a 2017 paper. The authors make the claim that the reason why we swear may be in part that it signals honesty.

Like, I think there's a reason why stand-up comics start swearing a lot. It not only signals, hey, I'm going to be honest here, I'm going to be real, I'm going to talk about things that nobody talks about, but also we're all part of the same in-group, right? You know, I know you're a big fan of John McWhorter. I have a favorite linguist. His name is Mark Lieberman because we're both at University of Pennsylvania. We've been looking at secular changes in language use over the past century. And I have to say this trend of more swearing and cussing goes with what we have also documented as basically a general increase in informality. That the written word was, you know, a lot more buttoned up, maybe with a carnation lapel than it is today, where we have the linguistic

equivalent of sweatpants. Do you think that this embrace of the casual, which translates to language, which translates perhaps to more swearing, how does that relate to less seriousness as a species in general? You could argue that for the first many millennia, we were just so busy trying to not get eaten by the saber-toothed tiger and then not get gored by the ox that we managed to tame and then not starve because we couldn't grow crops, then not die of cholera, etc., that life was more serious. Do you think that our loosening of language, including swearing, is a reflection of the fact that life is easier, prosperity is wider spread. That we use this language to express disbelief or even anger over things that are prima facie, not a big deal.

Like you say, holy s**t, if you tell me that, you know, some celebrity decided to get a facelift. The stakes are almost zero. I'm curious what you think the relationship might be. I don't really vibe to that explanation in particular, but I also don't know. There does seem to be a kind of dissolution of faith in the traditions, in the institutions that were at once in history held sacred. And there is this article that I read by the esteemed Timothy Jay called Swearing Moral Order and Online Communication. He looked at how swear words are appearing with frequency in emails and blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. And he argues, and this is his words, not mine, online swear word use is a function of moral order, as well as users interpersonal characteristics. He made the claim that,

you know, it's by definition impolite, it's by definition offensive, it's by definition taboo. And then when he made that connection to moral order, he had me. But then when he started talking about the characteristics demographically of those who tend to swear online more, I was really convinced. For example, younger people are more likely to swear than older people. Men are more likely to swear online than women. And all this, to me, added up to a kind of immaturity. When I heard that men swear more, I was like, oh, gosh. Well, men and Angela Duckworth. to me after working with Mark Lieberman is that generally language evolves toward youth and women. In other words, if you look in a culture and you hear how teenagers and also how women as opposed to men speak, that is the direction in which the entire language evolves. Now,

if that's true, I don't know that we can understand the trends toward swearing because it's been shown that men swear more than women. Or it could be that when women and girls started swearing more, that men felt also more emboldened to swear more. Men seem to be emboldened. Like, you know, well-born. Do you know? I don't know. When a woman swears, when I swear,

is that more offensive than if a male doppelganger, if somebody who were just like me, but a guy swears? It's so interesting you ask me that question because I mentioned this case earlier of a male golfer that I played with lately who swore in a way that I found particularly just like gross. But then a few days later, I was up at the club where I play golf and I was chatting with a few female golfers about my age. They were getting ready to go out in a group. And this is like such a good example of what John McWhorter was talking about, how we're moving from

the body to people. And they were talking about this tournament that they play in that I'd never heard of. So they were explaining it to me where you're going to play two 18-hole rounds, each individual, and you can play them whenever you want. And then you combine the best holes from those two rounds to make your best combined 18-hole score. Kind of like super scoring the SAT. That's exactly what it is. Super scoring your golf score. So she was explaining this to me. I thought that's really cool. And she said, yeah, but you know, I will tell you, my friends over here, they're pretty sneaky. And she said, what

these ladies do. Then she said, wait, I can't say ladies anymore. What these girls do. No, no, no. What these women do. I can't say anything. She said, what these sneaky motherfuckers do. I can't say anything. She said, what these sneaky motherfuckers do. And then she describes how they go around like looking at the pin placements on the chorus before they decide to play that day. I was so astonished that she felt she couldn't say women, girls or ladies, but motherfuckers was okay. I loved it personally. It just felt like what you were describing before. It creates this sort of intimacy and candor. And I didn't know this woman very well before, but now I think she's awesome. Right. She's a badass. I get that. And yet we have a choice and I've made mine. I wonder if you feel like you should or want to swear less than you do, Stephen. You know, I'll tell you, for many, many, many, many years, I didn't swear at all. Like, maybe if I hit my thumb with a hammer, I'd swear.

Which, by the way, talking about the expression of emotion, there, it's very hard to substitute in cheese and rice. I still would say, honestly, when I hit myself with a hammer today, which doesn't happen very often, even if I'm alone, I probably would still say Jiminy Crick Shaft. Really? Or Sugar Bear. You just whack your shin on the coffee table and you say-

Sugar Bear. Really? Yeah. I almost want to trip you and see what happens. I will say this. In the last few years, I have felt the temperature change. I have felt swearing become a casual and often fun and funny thing that I participate in, as evidenced by this conversation that we've been having today.

Also, I think another reason we swear is because it's fun. There's something about taking control of the language and engaging with someone else in a way that is slightly transgressive, but the stakes are pretty low. Like, I'm gonna say two sentences. Angie, that uptight friend of yours is such a mean guy. I wish he would go away.

Or I could say, you know, Angie, that dipshit friend of yours is such a f***ing a**hole. We should f*** off and die. The second is much, this is like going to the optometrist, number two. Number two. It's definitely more fun. It also does communicate candor and honesty. But I bet you wouldn't say that in front of your kids. So interestingly, my kids and even my wife have just in the last couple years started using words that were forbidden.

But it's done in a totally different spirit. You know, I see a lot of young women my daughter's age, they ask for permission to call another friend, can I call you? Yes. Wait, they ask each other for permission? Yeah, because it would be a little impolite to just say, oh. But once given the permission, it becomes a term of intimacy.

Right. So Angie, you're swearing off swearing. How are you going to do that? Because it seems like it's an impulse. It's almost a habit with you. So how do you trick yourself into not doing it? I'm going to use behavioral science, Stephen. Trick number one would be to identify the trigger situations and to be thoughtful in

advance about what those might be in the future. So it's like, hmm, this happens to me when I'm in a kind of heated but sometimes great conversation, but I want to express surprise. Then having identified those trigger situations. There are certain people you'll never speak with again, are you saying? Well, I don't want to not have great get carried away with type conversations. So I think now I need to come up with a substitute behavior. This comes from behavioral activation therapy, for example, where if you have a smoking habit and you don't want to smoke when you are, for

example, stressed or nervous, you need to come up with a substitute. With smoking, you might change to gum chewing. For me, instead of swearing, that's why I think I do need these verbal substitutes. Jeez Louise, shut the front door. I think I might copy paste sugar bear. It feels good. Try it. Sugar bear. No, no, no.

With more feeling. You said that like as if you actually saw a sugar bear. It's like sugar bear. Sugar bear. Ugh, so good. By the way, is a sugar bear a thing? Is there an actual bear? There is a honey bear. The thing that's made out of plastic that's the shape of a bear, but it contains honey. There's a lot of sugar in honey. So let me ask you this. I don't know how long you've been trying these behavioral science

tricks on yourself. Is it long enough to know whether it's working or not? Are you swearing less around the home? Well, it's only been a few days, Stephen, but I'm going to sneak in my third trick here, right? So identify the trigger situations, come up with a substitute habit. But the third thing, and I need your help with this, I need to be rewarded. Or punished, right? I mean, we could say you have to commit a donation to a cause you dislike. Do those not work as well? Generally speaking, the positive reward of the substitute behavior is better than the punishment of the bad behavior. So what I need you to do, Stephen, is I guess in some way reward me every time you hear sugar bear. I can't do the sugar bear thing. Jeez Louise for sure. So here's my problem. I liked the old potty mouth Angela. You did?

I did. It was a really engaging paradox. Like your brand is about being a good and kind person who's trying to help people in the world. And the fact that you swear like a sailor, that was just somehow a very charming and delightful element of your personality because it was incongruous. So I first came to really like and respect the you that swore. And so now I'm going to have to adjust to like and respect the you that doesn't swear.

So maybe I'm the one that needs the rewards and not you. Yeah, maybe I need to reward you every time I say, geez louise. No Stupid Questions is produced by me, Rebecca Lee Douglas. And now here's a fact check of today's conversation. In the first half of the show, Stephen says that he's uncomfortable hearing the word insane used to describe something shocking, because there are people with mental illness who are, quote, literally defined as insane. It's true that someone who is determined to be legally insane cannot be held responsible for their behavior in a court of law. However, while the term was once used in the psychiatric realm

to describe individuals with symptoms of psychosis, it's no longer used as an official medical diagnosis. Later, Angela promises to stop using the Lord's name in vain. When she wonders why it's offensive, Stephen reminds her that it's listed in Exodus as one of the Ten Commandments. I'd like to point out that, ironically enough, she immediately responds with, God, I should know that. Also, Angela wonders if society as a whole perceives women swearing as more offensive than men swearing. Research has shown that women are judged more harshly for using profanity, likely because of gender norms that suggest women should be less aggressive

and more polite. Finally, Angela wonders if a sugar bear is a real thing. Sugar gliders, also known as sugar bears, are small marsupials that are native to the forests of Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. In addition, sugar bear is the mascot for Post's Golden Crisp cereal. The character was introduced in 1949, and according to the brand's website, he is a, quote, chill bear with a cool swagger who was originally voiced in the style of Bing Crosby or Dean Martin. There's no mention on the website of his feelings on profanity. That's it for the Fact Check. Before we wrap today's show, let's hear some of your thoughts on last week's episode

on how seasonal change affects mood and mental health. We asked listeners to let us know what techniques they use to fight winter blues and seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. Here's what you said.

Hi, this is Rick from Cambridge, New Zealand. I spent the first 50 years of my life in Minnesota, which arguably has the coldest, Here's what you said. the bitter winter. Whether it's ice fishing, pond hockey, snowmobiling, pole or plunging, Minnesotans find a way to look forward to winter. Hi, Stephen and Angela. My name is Isabel and I'm from Mexico City, but I live in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. I personally experience sad in the summer. Although there is a lot of light here, temperatures in the summer go well into the 40th Celsius, and it's also quite humid, making the weather feel even worse. Going outside, even walking in the shade, is truly an ordeal and a half. The way I battle my sad is to make plans with friends so that I can't cancel to meet somewhere air-conditioned and after sunset.

To make it through the long, cold winters in Michigan, I try to practice the Danish lifestyle of hygge, which is all about embracing the mood of coziness and comfort that comes with winter. So what this looks like for me is lighting a candle in the evening for our meals, regularly making fires in our fireplace, having lots of warm fuzzy blankets around, and eating a lot of soups and stews to stay warm. That was, respectively, Rick Bosacker, Isabel Rios, and Jenny Graves. Thanks to them and to everyone who sent us their thoughts. And remember,

we'd still love to hear your swearing stories. Send a voice memo to nsq at Freakonomics.com. Let us know your name or if you'd like to remain anonymous, and you might hear your story on next week's show. Coming up next week on No Stupid Questions, why are the most privileged countries so unhappy? In other words, what the F is wrong with these people? That's next week on No Stupid Questions. That's next week on No Stupid Questions. No Stupid Questions is part of the Freakonomics Radio Network,

which also includes Freakonomics Radio, People I Mostly Admire, and Freakonomics MD. All our shows are produced by Stitcher and Renbud Radio. This episode was mixed by Eleanor Osborne. Our staff also includes Neil Carruth, Gabriel Roth, Greg Rippin, Julie Canfor, Morgan Levy, Zach Lipinski, Ryan Kelly, Catherine Mencure, Jeremy Johnston, Jasmine Klinger, Daria Klenert, Emma Terrell, Lyric Bowditch, and Alina Coleman. Our theme song is And She Was by Talking Heads. Special thanks to David Byrne and Warner Chapel Music. If you'd like to listen to the show ad-free, subscribe to Stitcher Premium. You can follow us on Twitter at NSQ underscore show and on Facebook at NSQ show. If you have a question for a future episode, please email it to NSQ at Freakonomics.com.

To learn more or to read episode transcripts, visit Freakonomics.com slash NSQ. Thanks for listening. I think we should just end this whole of a motherfucking conversation right now. Jiminy Cook, Jeff. That was fun. The Freakonomics Radio Network. The hidden side of everything. Stitcher.