Stuff You Should Know - How Swearing at Work Works

Episode Date: June 20, 2008

Swear words are usually considered workplace taboos -- yet the debate continues over whether these words are inappropriate, or examples of free speech. Learn more about using swear words at work in this HowStuffWorks podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flooring contractors agree. When looking for the best to care for hardwood floors, use Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. The residue-free, fast drying solution is specially designed for hardwood floors, delivering the safe and effective clean you trust. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner is available at most retailers where floor cleaning products are sold and on Amazon. Also available for your other hard surface floors like Stone, Tile, Laminate, Vinyl, and LVT. For cleaning tips and exclusive offers, visit Bona.com slash Bona Clean. The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call,

like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to the War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Welcome to the HowStuffWorks podcast. I'm editor Candice Gibson joined today by my trusty staff writer, Josh Clark. Josh, how are you today? I'm f***ing great, Candice. How are you? I'm well. Well, that sounds like it can only mean one thing. Today's topic of choice is swearing at work a good thing. Josh, you seem to be a pretty gung-hair advocate of this. Why is that?

Candice, you remember my wear your Hawaiian shirt to work campaign? The whole thing was just a drive to get everybody loosened up and get to know each other. Well, it didn't take as well as I had hoped. So now I'm starting a swear at work campaign. Oh, you s***, I knew exactly where this came from. This article you were at called is swearing at work a good thing. Yeah. Yeah. And this is based on an actual study. We're not just like tossing around words for fun here. This came out of Great Britain, the University of East Anglia, where essentially some researchers looked at what happened to people who swore in the workplace. Yeah, they hung around a mail order warehouse. Yeah. And they were looking to see if swearing at work alienated co-workers or if it actually

brought them closer together with, you know, all the salty language and people really showing their two colors. Sure. Sure. I could see a lot of cheeky Brits running around the mail order warehouse just cursing up the storm. You know, it had to have been a really fun study to do, I imagine. Well, I think so. And it's pretty successful too, because the hypothesis was correct. It really did establish better relationships among employees because they could feel like they were really expressing themselves and really communicating with everyone in an authentic way. Sure. And so it's pretty much basic social bonding theory. The more you share of yourself, the more you can establish social bonds like trust. I mean, how can you truly trust a co-worker if they've never

heard you swear? I mean, think about how much closer you and I are thanks to the word or, son of a bitch, you know, that kind of thing. I know I say this every time you turn an article to me. But what's interesting, especially about this study, is that the mailroom workers, like you were referring to, these sort of lower level employees, yeah, they really let it rip all the time. But when they examined how the executives behaved and spoke to each other, no one really cast that much. It was a little bit more reserved and refined. Right. Well, the study's authors were saying that they hope that while management might not swear, they want to see HR directors maybe look the other way or even encourage it because it does develop social bonds. But,

you know, the East Anglia study really didn't, you know, put the whole thing to rest. This is a pretty, whether or not we should allow swearing in our culture, whether it be on work or television or radio is a pretty big ongoing battle. It really is. And I know, for instance, I was looking at the FCC and some of the rules that they have about swearing and the idea of a fleeting expletive, which is essentially when you just say like hot piece of and it's not really in context with anything relating to sexual content or bathroom humor. Sometimes the FCC will let networks get away with it. But when you're talking about and there's a toilet in the same sentence, that's not going to fly. No, I agree. And the FCC is actually as strict as you might

think their standards are. They're not strict enough for some people. Have you heard of the Parents Television Council? Yes, tell me more. Okay, well, they actually, you may be upset about this. They went after the producers of one of your favorite shows, Gossip Girl. Because they had a, they, wow, you're really getting the hang of the swearing at work campaign. Well, now that I had to take off my Hawaiian shirt and mine as well. Yes, I appreciate that too. So they go after Gossip Girl for this kind of steamy ad promo campaign that they came up with. And they also didn't like 30 Rocks, Milf Island episode. Did you see that one? I missed it. It was a good one. But the Parents Television Council didn't like it. And actually, these people are pretty scientific.

They've released studies of how much of an increase in profanity there's been on television over a set number of years. So for instance, and this is during the family hour, which is eight to nine p.m. There was a 22% increase from 2001 to 2006 in profanity, right? They found 815 foul words in 180 hours of programming, which is 4.53 swears an hour. Wow. The most amazing thing is that somebody actually sat there and watched 180 hours of television programming counted every one of the swears. Well, clearly, I'm in the wrong business. But if you want to check out more of our research, read Josh's article on his swearing at work a good thing on howstuffworks.com. It's f***ing great. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com.

Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at howstuffworks.com. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff, stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the War on Drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, The Turning, Room of Mirrors,

we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balangene. He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you, only I can see you. What you're doing is larger than yourself, almost like a religion. Like he was a god. Listen to The Turning, Room of Mirrors on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.