Poll: Swearing and intelligence

[Sebass]

Foul language is in inverse proportion to etiquette.

Etiquette, or good manners, is orthogonal to intelligence.

However, many presuppose a correlation because of societal stratification into what are normally called "classes". Without inflaming debate on what is, in reality a largely irrelevant set of geographical/genealogical birth circumstances, it is often the case that:

- a better class of person is well mannered and doesn't swear. Upper classes tend to have more money to fund the education of their progeny.
- a lower class of person has no need to impress their peers, or to be 'upwardly mobile' socially, so expresses themselves freely even brutishly.

Consequently, there is a polarization at work, which may lead some observers to incorrectly conclude that the upper classes have both good manners and high IQ (when this IQ is cultivated by their valuing of education, or at the very least, "talking the talk" - ensuring that the next generation develops the heteroglossia (exclusive language) that will both declare them as part of the 'elite' and compensate for their idiocy.

Conversely, the lower classes are so 'anti-establishment' and anti-elitist that they value "plain speaking" and are suspicious and even openly hostile to intelligent, informed debate (as it reminds them of their oppressive mandarin's heteroglossia), leading to "safe" proxy topics of babies, holidays and football.

As a bohemian (artist) I am technically outside of the class struggle and can be good mannered or sweary as the mood suits me.

So, in summary you aren't stupid to use 'spicy' language, but as a good chef... you can put too much pepper in it.

Nice post. My thoughts, but expressed better than I could have done it. ^^

And OT: I think I'm fairly intelligent (boast boast) and I swear so much, fuck doesn't even sound like a bad word to me anymore.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Well, I tend to swear less if I'm ranting against something to sound extra smart, though I swear a lot in the face of blatant stupidity. To be honest swearing has less effect on intelligence than the internet (bad example perhaps).

 

[Angerwing]

I'm 134 and I swear a lot.

My ex-PC technician (his a dude that works in a large company in technical assistance and he's the director there) is also quite intelligent, earns a lot by using his skills and he swears a lot.

I'm the smartest person I know, and I swear often. Mainly I swear out of anger, to add emphasis, or for comedic value. I swear for no other reason (there aren't many other reasons I can think of).

At least I know I'm more humble than you are, if you call yourself the smartest, then either you are full of yourself, or you know very few people.

What use do I have in being humble? I don't need to degrade myself so others feel better, or so they like me. I have enough people who like me. I'm extremely proud of myself, and I think degradation is a worse sin than pride. Who are you to judge me?

 

[Abedeus]

I'm 134 and I swear a lot.

My ex-PC technician (his a dude that works in a large company in technical assistance and he's the director there) is also quite intelligent, earns a lot by using his skills and he swears a lot.

I'm the smartest person I know, and I swear often. Mainly I swear out of anger, to add emphasis, or for comedic value. I swear for no other reason (there aren't many other reasons I can think of).

At least I know I'm more humble than you are, if you call yourself the smartest, then either you are full of yourself, or you know very few people.

What use do I have in being humble? I don't need to degrade myself so others feel better, or so they like me. I have enough people who like me. I'm extremely proud of myself, and I think degradation is a worse sin than pride. Who are you to judge me?

Degradation? It's called humility.

Great people are humble. Jerks are full of themselves. History shows this countless amount of times.

 

[Jharry5]

Last time I took an IQ test, I got 127. It was some time ago. I'm in university now, and I swear. But I know when it is and isn't appropriate.
I don't think swearing shows low intelligence, but with the stigma surrounding swearing, that myth has grown around it.

 

[Lucas Auraelius]

My IQ is 140-146 and I swear usually only when I think it's funny or when I'm really pissed off. Yes, swearing is still the height of hilarity at my age.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Swearing tends to use the gutteral consonants ("g","k","t") while intellectual speech tends to use the lighter phonemes ("ah", "yew").

But swearing can be done in many different ways...Raffles, the gentlemen thug's line in Viz of "Remove your decollétage from its corsetry for the delectation of the gentlemen present" is the same as "TITS OR GTFO!"

 

[b4k4]

ok, let me start by saying that IQ is like school grades, they don't measure how smart you are, so much as they measure the level of effort you put into a particular test or project.

Having said that, my ACT scores were in the top 20% of my state's, and I curse like a motherfucking sailor. I have a grand total of one friend who doesn't swear at all. And sure, he's smart, but my friends who do swear range from having taken special ed classes to having taken advanced placement classes in highschool.

People who are really interested in this question have way too much free time. Maybe they should try learning a second language or something instead.

 

[The_Echo]

Swears are words, how are they going to affect your intelligence? I don't know my exact IQ, as I've never taken a trustworthy test, but I know it's above average, and I like to swear a lot.

 

[magnuslion]

I think ego maniacal freaks who think grammar and use of curse words have something to do with your Intelligence can get stuffed. Mine is rather high, although I have the personal issue of not being very educationally disciplined, IE meaning if it doesn't interest me, I start mentally wandering off and doing cartwheels in a field of daises.

 

[Angerwing]

I'm 134 and I swear a lot.

My ex-PC technician (his a dude that works in a large company in technical assistance and he's the director there) is also quite intelligent, earns a lot by using his skills and he swears a lot.

I'm the smartest person I know, and I swear often. Mainly I swear out of anger, to add emphasis, or for comedic value. I swear for no other reason (there aren't many other reasons I can think of).

At least I know I'm more humble than you are, if you call yourself the smartest, then either you are full of yourself, or you know very few people.

What use do I have in being humble? I don't need to degrade myself so others feel better, or so they like me. I have enough people who like me. I'm extremely proud of myself, and I think degradation is a worse sin than pride. Who are you to judge me?

Degradation? It's called humility.

Great people are humble. Jerks are full of themselves. History shows this countless amount of times.

Define 'great people'. Those who achieve greatness or those who are humble? Because HISTORY (not fairy tales) shows us that the biggest winners were most often jerks. And why can't I be a jerk? I'm happy with that. As long as I don't have to water my self down for some arbitrary sensibility.

 

[MrDeano89]

i swear shit loads IQ 124

 

[MrGFunk]

I swear a fucking lot and my cocking IQ is 139 or some shit.

This is close enough to me to be me.

Depending on how deep Russian_Assassin's voice is, exactly this.

"Yeeeeah, Buoy..."

 

[SmartIdiot]

There's no connection between lack of intelligence and swearing. Swear words are just words. They are meant to be used like every other word in the english language, or whatever language you prefer to speak.

People don't like swear words generally because they are short and have more emphasis on consonants, making them... I suppose... abrasive to your ears.

However it's great to express yourself, particularly when you're angry. When I was a fucking chef every other shitting word I'd fucking say would be a swear word or some bollocks like that, partly due to anger, partly stress, partly because the other fucking cunts that I was working with swore all the fucking time aswell, the wankers.

I don't swear as much as I used to though.

 

[General Ken8]

I don't swear very often at all, and my iq is high 130's i think
But I know friends who probably swear over 150 times an hour (mostly f-bombs) and are pretty smart

 

[Unstoppable Wall]

Well the way I see it I think there isn't really a direct connection, but that's not to say that there isn't a correlation, I actually see a bit of one, but it's on a weird curve that the data basically says, assuming everyone was being truthful that is. I swear too much in my opinion, more so when I'm fired up about something and the last official IQ test I took put me at 146. Really interesting thread though, I think you're on to something.

Peace, War, Love, Hate, Chaos, and Greed
-Unstoppable Wall

 

[Abedeus]

I'm 134 and I swear a lot.

My ex-PC technician (his a dude that works in a large company in technical assistance and he's the director there) is also quite intelligent, earns a lot by using his skills and he swears a lot.

I'm the smartest person I know, and I swear often. Mainly I swear out of anger, to add emphasis, or for comedic value. I swear for no other reason (there aren't many other reasons I can think of).

At least I know I'm more humble than you are, if you call yourself the smartest, then either you are full of yourself, or you know very few people.

What use do I have in being humble? I don't need to degrade myself so others feel better, or so they like me. I have enough people who like me. I'm extremely proud of myself, and I think degradation is a worse sin than pride. Who are you to judge me?

Degradation? It's called humility.

Great people are humble. Jerks are full of themselves. History shows this countless amount of times.

Define 'great people'. Those who achieve greatness or those who are humble? Because HISTORY (not fairy tales) shows us that the biggest winners were most often jerks. And why can't I be a jerk? I'm happy with that. As long as I don't have to water my self down for some arbitrary sensibility.

Great people - those who help more than harmed ON PURPOSE. By helping I mean also advancing the world technology and trying to bring peace.

John Paul II, Dalai Lama, Einstein, people fighting for justice in the times of communism (Lech Wałęsa, to name the best known for me) and Nobel Peace Nominees and others that somehow improved many lives or helped the humanity.

On the other hand, many of the communistic leaders or people starting wars show little humility.

Osama Bin Laden, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini Benito or Fidel Castro are jerks and they were/are as full of themselves as it's possible.

I'm not saying you can't be a jerk. I consider myself a jerk, too. But I'm humble enough not to gloat about everything.

 

[Toners]

meh, it's not like there are people out there who have never sworn in their life.
you kick something and break a toe by accident, you're gonna say "aaaah! FUCK!"
you do something really stupid, you're gonna say "oh for fuck's sake"
you're havin' you some sex, and you're gonna say "oh FUCK yes, FUCK me baby"
or something like that.
I'm good with logic, but I swear. So I fit the 141+ and swearing bracket
I'm also perceived as fairly intelligent by most (I just get more and more modest, don't I?)
Might be my accent though. I dunno, judge for yourself.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I swear often, and have an IQ of around 135. There isn't really a correlation.