Interesting Facts

According to research presented at the Sociolinguistics Symposium, children start swearing at a much earlier age than they did a few decades ago. (Seemingly in the UK kids start swearing at the age of 4! In the 1980s most children didn't start to swear until they were 13.  (I don't think I swore until I was about 21). They also swear more often nowadays, and they have lots of choice: T here are over 70 different common swear words in the English language (some of which also vary from English-speaking country to country), 10 frequently used words account for over 80 percent of common swearing.   Of course I am far too polite to tell you what they are, but they include the "F" word, and sh1t (which isn't even a swear word in Germany). You can learn more here. )

Davina Wakelin, headmistress at Meeching Valley Primary School in Newhaven, East Sussex, has sent a letter to all parents about swearing. (She wasn't so much complaining about the children swearing, she was asking the parents to stop swearing around their children, especially on and around school premises, after pupils had been caught repeating swear words that they had heard their and other parents using. She wrote: I have received complaints regarding parents swearing when bringing children to and from school. Swearing is not permitted on school grounds and I ask all parents to think about the language you use when on school grounds. Thank you for your consideration with this matter. Tell them to wash their mouths out with soap, and stick them on the naughty step.

A study at Brigham Young University found that popular novels aimed at teenagers contain, on average, 38 swear words per novel. (Professor Sarah Coyne, of Brigham Young University in America, found that 88 per cent of all the books on the adolescent best-seller list contained at least one swear word, she also noticed that the most popular characters were the most foul-mouthed.)

According to software specialists Corizon, the Welsh are the worst swearers in the UK (when phoning call centres). (About 15 per cent admitted turning the air blue when arguing with call centre staff. Londoners were second in the foul-mouthed league, with 12 per cent confessing to losing it with "inappropriate language". The Welsh are also the most likely to hang up in a huff, whilst those in the Midlands and South are the least patient, with 61 per cent ringing off without managing to speak to anyone. And unsurprisingly men are twice as likely to swear as women.)