Miramax FilmsHave a dirty mouth? Chances are you’re one hell of an honest person.
If you swear like a sailor and turn the air blue with four letter curse words, you may just be the person to trust.
According to a joint study by Maastricht University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Stanford University and the University of Cambridge, those who swear often are considered more sincere than those who don’t, or who keep their profanity to a minimum.
Cursing is ‘unfiltered, genuine expression of emotions’ – we do it when we’re sad, happy, or most of the time, pissed off.
So it may explain why when, Donald Trump – who liberally uses the word ‘hell’ – promised to ‘knock the shit out of Isis’, he was hailed for his authenticity by those who voted him in as President.
The trait is also seen in suspects innocent of crimes. Those who are innocent have previously been found to swear more than those who are guilty.
The study also found that people who swore more often were least likely to lie (which, if you’re an honest person, isn’t really too hard to figure out).
But interestingly, those who cursed more on Facebook also lied less often online to make themselves look better, Global News reports.
Want to avoid vain people? Comb through their status updates and keep everyone whose timeline reads like a script of Pulp Fiction – bin the rest.
Co-author David Stillwell, from the University of Cambridge, said:
There are two ways of looking at it. You might think if someone is swearing a lot, this is a negative social behaviour seen as a bad thing to do, so if someone swears they are probably a bad person as well.
On the other hand, they are not filtering their language so they are probably also not putting their stories about what is going on through similar filters which might turn them into untruths.
So if you really want to know if you look like complete and utter shit today, ask someone who curses like a sailor.
