Swearing at Work is Bleeping Good For You

coondoggie writes "This is the kind of news that your HR folks don't want to hear, but researchers today said letting workers swear at will in the workplace can benefit employees and employers. The study found regular use of profanity to express and reinforce solidarity among staff, enabling them to express their feelings, such as frustration, and develop social relationships, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UES). Researchers said their aim was to challenge leadership styles and suggest ideas for best practice. "Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner. Swearing was as a social phenomenon to reflect solidarity and enhance group cohesiveness, or as a psychological phenomenon to release stress, " the study stated." I'm sure the discussion and tags on this story will be completely G Rated ;)

Comments

Actual news release

[peipas]

Here's the actual release from the source, rather than a Network World recap.

Re:It is called open communication

[h4rm0ny]

If I could say "fucking insensitive cunt" at school, I would be soooo happy...

I'll take a guess that you're american, seeing as at the schools here in the UK, it's only the word 'insensitive' that gets omitted. And as I understand it, the USA does not like the French due to opposition to the Iraq invasion, cheese-jealousy, etc. Hence 'freedom fries' and so forth. (Stick with me, I'm going somewhere with this). So if you wish to say fucking and cunt, you can justify it as resisting French oppression. You see both Fuck and Cunt are genuine English words with a long history and weren't always considered vulgar. This all changed with the Norman invasion of England, when the French speaking invaders turned everything upside down and the language of the court and nobility became French (the Lingua Franca, if you'll forgive me). Not only did the sycophantic nobility of England use French, but the aspiring well-to-do also put on airs and graces and adopted french. And the use of English words became looked down on and a sign that one was lower class. Indeed, the word vulgar is actually just Latin for common. The entire prejudice against these words is, essentially, a class thing.

As a country with a good solid founding in patriotism and Francophobia, I believe that you should embrace such words and I encourage you to boldy explain such to your tutors, denouncing them as French-loving sycophants if they disagree; and declare that all americans should be proud of their cunts and generous with their fucks. If you are criticised for use of either of these words, the correct response is not sorry, but "WHY DO YOU HATE CHAUCER?"

So good luck with the fucking and the cunt. I'm afraid I'm not much good on the insensitive, but I don't let that stop me.

Regards,
-H.