既然提到privilege，那就来说说脏话的高傲在哪。

Well-educated people with plenty of words at their disposal, a 2015 study found, were better at coming up with curse words than those who were less verbally fluent.

2015年的一项研究表明，受过良好教育的人往往口齿伶俐，比起语言能力欠佳的人来说，他们可能会想到更多的骂人方式。

Participants were asked to list as many words that start with F, A or S in one minute. Another minute was devoted to coming up with curse words that start with those three letters. The study found those who came up with the most F, A and S words also produced the most swear words.

这项研究要求参与者在一分钟内尽可能多地罗列出以F、A、S开头的词，然后再在一分钟内罗列出以这三个字母开头的脏话。研究结果显示，前一个测试中想到更多词的人，后面想到的脏话也更多。

That's a sign of intelligence "to the degree that language is correlated with intelligence," said Jay, who authored the study. "People that are good at language are good at generating a swearing vocabulary."

这是智力水平高的表现。Jay说：“语言能力和智力水平息息相关，语言能力优秀的人嘴里的脏话也更加丰富。”

Swearing can also be associated with social intelligence, Jay added.

Jay补充道，说脏话可能也是社交能力出众的表现。

"Having the strategies to know where and when it's appropriate to swear, and when it's not," Jay said, "is a social cognitive skill like picking the right clothes for the right occasion. That's a pretty sophisticated social tool."

Jay说：“知道什么场合能说脏话，什么时候不能说，说明这个人很有眼力见儿，就好像为特定场合挑选合适的衣服一样，这是一项非常高级的社交利器。”

Science has also found a positive link between profanity and honesty. People who cursed lied less on an interpersonal level, and had higher levels of integrity overall, a series of three studies published in 2017 found. 

科学研究还发现了说脏话和诚实之间的明确联系。2017年发表的三项研究发现，说脏话的人在人际交往中不常说谎，整体上具有较高的可信度。

"When you're honestly expressing your emotions with powerful words, then you're going to come across as more honest," said Jay, who was not involved in the studies.

“当你用脏话这种强有力的话语真诚地去表达自己的情感时，这也意味着你就会更诚实。”未参与该项研究的Jay说道。

Want to push through that workout? Go ahead and drop an F-bomb.

想提高忍耐能力吗？那你可能就要爆出脏话炸弹。

People on bikes who swore while pedaling against resistance had more power and strength than people who used "neutral" words, studies have shown.

研究表明，一边骑自行车一边说脏话的人相较于那些不说脏话的人有更大的力量。

Research also found that people who cursed while squeezing a hand vice were able to squeeze harder and longer.

此外，在挤压手虎钳的同时说脏话的人挤压的时间更长，力气越大。

Spouting obscenitiesdoesn't just help your endurance: If you pinch your finger in the car door, you may well feel less pain if you say "sh*t" instead of "shoot."

说脏话不只是能提高耐力：如果你的手指不小心被车门夹住，你如果不由自主地说“ sh * t”而不是“shoot”，可能会减轻疼痛感 。

People who cursed as they plunged their hand into icy water, another study found, felt less pain and were able to keep their hands in the water longer than those who said a neutral word.

另一项研究发现，在将手伸入冰水中时，相比于不说脏话的人，说的人不会感到那么痛苦，并且在冷水停留更长时间。

"The headline message is that swearing helps you cope with pain," said lead author and psychologist Richard Stephens, in a prior CNN interview.

 “最重要的一点是骂人可以帮助你缓解疼痛。”心理学家Stephen在早前接受CNN采访时这样说。

Stephens said it works like this: Cussing produces a stress response that initiates the body's ancient defensive reflex. A flush of adrenaline increases heart rate and breathing, prepping muscles for fight or flight.

Stephen对此解释：骂人会产生一种应激反应，启动身体本能的防御反射。肾上腺素的分泌会提高心率和呼吸速率，使身体肌肉做好战斗或逃跑的准备。

Simultaneously, there is another physiological reaction called an analgesic response, which makes the body moreimpervious to pain.

同时还会伴随着镇痛的生理反应发生，它可以使人体更加耐痛。

"That would make evolutionary sense because you're going to be a better fighter and better runner if you're not being slowed down by concerns about pain," Stephens said.

这一点在进化角度上同样说得通，因为如果你没有被疼痛所影响，你将会变成一个更好的战士，更快的赛跑者，Stephen解释说。

"So it seems like by swearing you're triggering an emotional response in yourself, which triggers a mild stress response, which carries with it a stress-induced reduction in pain," he added.

由此看来，骂人会触发自身的情绪反应机制，而它又会接着触发一个温和的压力反应机制，这个机制可以反过来减少你的疼痛感。

Careful, however, the next time you decide to extend your workout by swearing. , research has also discovered.

然而，如果总想要通过骂人来缓解疼痛，那可要小心了。因为研究表明，脏话说得太多，减缓疼痛的效果就会变差。

"The research found men who were lower catastrophizers seemed to get a benefit from swearing, whereas men who are higher catastrophizers didn't," Stephens said. "Whereas with women there wasn't any difference."

“研究发现，那些不大惊小怪的男性比大惊小怪的男性从骂人这种行为中获益更多。”斯蒂芬说，“然而女性群体中并无此区别”。

Swearing appears to be centered in the right side of the brain, the part people often call the "creative brain."

右脑决定了你说脏话的能力，右脑也是人们常说的“创造性大脑”。

"We do know patients who have strokes on the right side tend to become less emotional, less able to understand and tell jokes, and they tend to just stop swearing even if they swore quite a lot before," Emma Byrne, the author of "Swearing Is Good for You," said.

《说脏话对你有好处》一书作者Emma Byrne说：“我们确实发现那些右脑出现问题的病人往往不那么情绪化，可能不太能理解和讲笑话。而且即使他们之前说脏话，在右脑出现问题后，他们往往就不再说脏话了。”

Research on swearing dates back to Victorian times, when physicians discovered that patients who lost their ability to speak could still curse.

对说脏话的研究可以追溯到维多利亚时代，当时医生发现，失去语言能力的病人却仍可以骂人。

"They swore incredibly fluently," Byrne said. "Childhood reprimands, swear words and terms of endearment -- words with strong emotional content learned early on tend to be preserved in the brain even when all the rest of our language is lost."

Byrne说：“令人难以置信的是，他们说起脏话来非常流利，即使失去了语言能力，但在童年听到的训斥、脏话和爱称，这些具有强烈情感的词语往往会在头脑中保留下来。”

Why do we choose to swear? Perhaps because profanity provides an evolutionary advantage that can protect us from physical harm, Jay said.

我们为什么会说脏话呢？Jay解释道或许说脏话是一种进化优势，可以保护我们免受身体上的伤害。

"A dog or a cat will scratch you, bite you when they're scared or angry," he said. "Swearing allows us to express our emotions symbolically without doing it tooth and nail.

“在小猫小狗害怕或生气时，它们会抓你或是咬你，但说脏话只是表达我们的情感，而不需要以牙还牙，发生肢体冲突。”

Cursing then becomes a remote form of aggression, Jay explained, offering the chance to quickly express feelings while hopefully avoiding repercussions.

杰伊解释说，骂人就成了一种远程攻击形式，提供了快速表达感情的机会，同时希望能有望避免不必要的肢体冲突。

"The purpose of swearing is to vent my emotion, and there's an advantage in that it allows me to cope," he said. "And then it communicates very readily to bystanders what my emotional state is. It has that advantage of emotional efficiency -- it's very quick and clear."

"他说："说脏话的目的是为了发泄我的情绪，而且有一个好处，就是让人直面问题。"脏话在情感传递上更有优势，能够直接向他人传达我的情绪状态，快速而清晰。

What makes the use of naughty words so powerful? The power of the taboo, of course. That reality is universally recognized: Just about every language in the world contains curse words.

是什么让这些脏话如此强大？当然是禁忌的力量。不得不承认，世界上几乎每一种语言都包含脏话。

"It seems that as soon as you have a taboo word, and the emotional insight that the word is going to cause discomfort for other people, the rest seems to follow naturally," Byrne said.

 Byrne说：“似乎只要你说出一个禁忌的词，感觉到这个词让他人感到不舒服，其作用就水到渠成了。”

It's not just people who swear. Even primates curse when given the chance.

不仅仅是人会说脏话骂人。甚至灵长类动物在有机会也会“说脏话”。

"Chimpanzees in the wild tend to use their excrement as a social signal, one that's designed to keep people away," Byrne said.

Byrne说：“野外的黑猩猩倾向于使用它们的排泄物作为一种社会信号，警告人们离远点儿。”

Hand-raised chimps who were potty-trained learned sign language for "poo" so they could tell their handlers when they needed the toilet.

经过人工训练的黑猩猩学会了 如何用手势表达“便便”，这样它们就可以在需要上厕所时告诉它们的饲养员。

"And as soon as they learned the poo sign they began using it like we do the word sh*t," Byrne said. "Cursing is just a way of expressing your feelings that doesn't involve throwing actual sh*t. You just throw the idea of sh*t around."

“一旦它们学会了便便的手势，它们就开始使用它，就像我们使用sh*t这个词一样，”Byrne说。“骂人只是表达你的感受的一种方式，不涉及扔出真正的便便。你只是把‘便便’的概念扔来扔去。”

Does that mean that we should curse whenever we feel like it, regardless of our environment or the feelings of others? Of course not. But at least you can cut yourself some slack the next time you inadvertently let an F-bomb slip.

但这是否意味着我们可以不管语境和他人感受，随时随地想骂就骂？当然不是。但至少你可以在下一次不经意间说了句 "F "的时候不必过分苛责。

After all, you're just being human.

毕竟，我们都只是普通人。

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