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鈥淔IDDLESTICKS!鈥� exclaimed Father Christmas as he overshot the chimney and landed in a cabbage patch. He could have said fiddle-de-dee, foo, fudge or any of a dozen or so decorous corruptions of the f-word. Santa has to avoid bad language because of the children, but for the rest of us the choice of words we can use to vent our frustration when things go wrong is nothing short of dazzling.

Swearing 鈥渞ecruits our expressive faculties to the fullest鈥�, writes Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker in his new book, The Stuff of Thought. Yet despite being a showcase for creativity, swear words are taboo in virtually all societies, even though their subject matter 鈥� usually sex or excretion 鈥� describes activities fundamental to human existence. So why are we such potty-mouths, and what gives certain words the power to shock?

One theory is that cussing is the form of language that comes closest to a physical act of aggression. When you swear at someone, you are forcing an unpleasant thought on them and, lacking earlids, they are helpless to repel this assault. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a substitute for physical violence,鈥� says Timothy Jay, a psychologist at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams. 鈥淔rom an evolutionary point of view, it鈥檚 an advantage for us to be able to say 鈥榝uck you鈥� from across the street,鈥� while not having to worry about getting instantly punched or kicked by the disgruntled recipient.

The idea that swearing packs an emotional punch is supported by neurobiological investigations that show it to have a powerful effect on the brain鈥檚 emotional centre, the limbic system (see 鈥�Mind your language鈥�). Most of us are able to restrain ourselves from launching these linguistic assaults 鈥� at least some of the time 鈥� but studies of people who lack this restraint are revealing.

Individuals with Tourette鈥檚 syndrome have characteristic tics such as blinks and throat-clearing, and between 10 and 20 per cent also exhibit involuntary swearing, otherwise known as coprolalia. Diana Van Lancker Sidtis, a neurolinguist and speech pathologist at New York University, says that coprolalia can be regarded as a kind of vocal limbic tic. People with Tourette鈥檚 have damage to a part of the brain called the basal ganglia 鈥� clusters of neurons buried deep in the front half of the brain that are known to inhibit inappropriate behaviour. Without the basal ganglia to keep it in check, the limbic system is free to produce uncontrollable swearing, she says.

As Pinker sees it, the basal ganglia are responsible for tagging certain thoughts as taboo. When the 鈥渄on鈥檛-go-there鈥� label is no longer applied, as with Tourette鈥檚, taboo thoughts can reassert themselves and the urge to cuss becomes overwhelming. There is even one recorded case of a man with Tourette鈥檚 who was deaf from birth and expressed his coprolalia through sign language. In 2000, doctors at London鈥檚 National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery reported that his swearing was randomly interspersed within his signed speech, just as it is in other people with coprolalia. What鈥檚 more, rather than flipping the finger or making other obscene gestures that hearing people deploy, he used the recognised signs for rude words ().

鈥淥ne man with Tourette鈥檚 who was deaf from birth swore spontaneously through sign language鈥�

Tourette鈥檚 aside, many people fear that bad language is on the increase. Most studies of the subject have found that men swear more than women. But a by Mike Thelwall at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK now suggests that, among young British users of the social networking website MySpace, strong swear words are used by males and females about equally 鈥� and a lot. 鈥淲here once the only swear words young people wrote might have been furtively scribbled on the walls of public toilets, now they type them casually onto a computer screen,鈥� says Thelwall. 鈥淎nd there, they never run out of space.鈥�

Don鈥檛 wear it out

Over the past three decades Jay has recorded 10,000 people swearing spontaneously in public. Though it is difficult to assess overall levels of bad language, he thinks that women and possibly children are swearing more than they used to, and that profanity has become common in various situations where it was once rare, especially recreational ones. Jay believes the widespread use of expletives reflects another important function of swearing: to promote social bonding. Whether swearing is perceived as aggressive or as a social entr茅e depends on the context, he notes. 鈥淚n the locker room, the guy who doesn鈥檛 swear is the weirdo.鈥�

Jay鈥檚 survey reveals that 鈥渇uck鈥� and 鈥渟hit鈥� between them account for about half of all swearing in the US. In 2006, a contestant on the UK鈥檚 Big Brother TV show used the f-word 88 times in 20 minutes (all were bleeped out), leading some pundits to lament that modern society was in danger of wearing it out. Their concern is misplaced, says Jay. He believes that the 眉产别谤 swear words retain their power because their usage is constantly changing as they are adopted by new kinds of users and as we create new domains in which to express them.

Linguist Tony McEnery at the University of Lancaster in the UK, author of Swearing in English, says that the sheer versatility of the f-word should guarantee it enduring appeal. Usually used to express a strong negative emotion, it can also be used positively or ironically, as in 鈥渇ucking marvellous鈥�, or to give emphasis, as in 鈥渁bso-fucking-lutely鈥�, a construction whose ingenuity places it in a linguistic category all its own.

鈥淎s long as we have institutions like the mass media and the government that forbid us to say these things in public, they鈥檙e going to retain their power,鈥� Jay says. Yet the taboo nature of expletives also means that many of us are afraid to explore the full lexicon, which is why Jay and others turned to people with coprolalia to plumb the depths of foul language.

鈥淭ourette鈥檚 unleashes the most socially inappropriate words in a language,鈥� says Jay. It is thanks to this work that we know that languages as far apart as Japanese and Danish have swear words denoting faeces, the female genitals and incestuous sexual relations. It has also turned up some surprising items in the obscenity canon, such as the Italian rognoso (scabby) and the German verfaulte Knochen (rotten bones).

By poring over this rich library of filth, researchers have been able to get a handle on just what makes a good swear word. It is not just its sound, says McEnery: after all, 鈥渟hot鈥�, 鈥渟hip鈥� and 鈥渟pit鈥� are not considered obscene, whereas 鈥渟hit鈥� is. Besides, the German and French equivalents sound quite different and still pack a very satisfactory punch. It cannot just be about semantic content either, because the use of words denoting faeces or sexual matters in a medical context remains acceptable. 鈥淪omething about the pairing of certain meanings and sounds has a potent effect on people鈥檚 emotions,鈥� Pinker says.

Swear words also go in and out of fashion in line with the taboos they breach. 鈥溾�楧amn鈥� was the undisputed king before 鈥榝uck鈥� arrived on the scene,鈥� says McEnery, but lost its piquancy as the fear of burning in hell faded. 鈥淧oxy鈥�, 鈥渓eprous鈥�, 鈥渃anker鈥� and other disease-related words went the same way as hygiene improved. From the 19th century on, English-speakers have mostly vented their frustration by reference to two different classes of taboo: the sexual and the scatological.

Today the f-word reigns supreme, but there is still room for innovation. So, what will be the next big thing in swearing? Most experts decline to predict any winners. 鈥淧aedophile鈥� seems to be an especially offensive thing to call someone today, says McEnery, and therefore a good candidate, but there is no evidence it is gaining ground as a swear word. 鈥淪omething is missing with that word,鈥� he says. Pinker says the word 鈥渃ancer鈥�, while not yet obscene, is acquiring taboo characteristics 鈥� note how it is often referred to as 鈥淭he Big C鈥�.

Jay has road-tested a few contenders of his own. He once muttered 鈥淓xpletive!鈥� on a golf course, and got some strange looks. You can鈥檛 impose swear words on a language, he notes, they arise organically. So if you鈥檙e tempted to cry 鈥淏asting hell!鈥� when you ruin the festive turkey, fine. Just don鈥檛 expect it to catch on.

The Human Brain 鈥� With one hundred billion nerve cells, the complexity is mind-boggling. Learn more in our cutting edge special report.