Politicians seem to be swearing more than ever.
"They call it a skinny budget; I call it a shitty budget." "If we are not helping people, we should go the f*ck home." And of course, on the other side of the aisle, there's the President himself.
"I'm going to bomb the shit out of them. It's true. I don't care." Usually, political speech is designed to win over as many voters as possible, so why risk using language that some might find offensive?
It could be because research shows that swearing can persuade everyone, from voters to your coworkers.
So does cursing make you more likable?
Comedian George Carlin's classic list of words you can't say on TV aren't so rare in public anymore.
"Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits." Recently published books are 28 times more likely to include Carlin's lists than they were in the 1950s.
Part of the appeal of swear words is that they make you sound like you're using a secret code language.
The psychological concept for this is covert prestige.
This is where you try to appeal to a narrow group by using a special language tailored just to them.
