We swear, it’s not the swear words’ fault!

We would urge additional sessions judge Sanjay Sharma of the Tis Hazari courts to read the scientific paper published in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed linguistics journal Lingua, titled, ‘The Power of Swearing: What We Know and What We Don’t’ (bit.ly/3NFZm88). We say this in the context of Sharma upholding a sexual harassment charge in an October 29 hearing, in which a man had allegedly threatened a woman in 2019 and had also used abusive language, including the English term that literally would mean to ‘copulate off’ but, as per dictionary and common knowledge, is used rudely or angrily to tell a person to go away. We are not challenging the judge’s verdict per se. But we do find his reading of the term – in his words, an ‘American vulgar slang’ – as being a ‘sexually-coloured remark’ to be slanted.

Be that as it may, the Lingua study reveals that swearing – when not in anger, but in banter, in regular speech, etc – can make a person not just more persuasive but even fitter and happier. That makes sense as the generous use of swear words brings an informality that makes life less serious, fusty and overbearing. The fact that swear words are also used while hurting people – emotionally or otherwise – should not be the fault of the words. So, while Sharma’s right in his verdict, the literally said abuse should get a clean chit.