When you think about it, profanity is such a strange thing.
It鈥檚 a select group of words that most of us learned surreptitiously as kids, right before we learned that repeating those select words can get us either in trouble or in big trouble, depending on how chill our parents were at the time.
These not-safe-for-work words can mean big fines or worse for American broadcasters. A classic bit about profanity by the great George Carlin, it should be noted, led to an actual .
But despite the best efforts of our parents, the clergy and even the -ing Federal Communications Commission, profanity has never been more popular.
That鈥檚 according to a new survey of 1,500 people in 30 U.S. cities by the language-tutoring website Preply. It found that those surveyed swear an average of 21 times a day.
Big #$@%-ing deal, you say? Well, let鈥檚 dig into the numbers a bit more.
There is some variance in how R-rated U.S. cities are. The least-鈥渃ursey鈥� places are none other than Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon, with residents there swearing an average of 14 times a day.
The most foul-mouthed place? Columbus, Ohio. Seriously.
D.C., of course, is among the places that use the naughty words more frequently than not. It鈥檚 tied for No. 6 overall, with residents averaging 22 swears a day. (One assumes that average is somewhat higher during football season.)
Preply also unearthed some information that most us probably suspected already: An overwhelming majority of Americans, 69%, said they are likely to swear in the workplace.
Another sizable majority, 67%, said they’re likely to swear in front of strangers. Those likely to swear in front of a child or their boss were, perhaps obviously, fewer in number — 48% and 39% of those surveyed, respectively.
The survey even asked respondents what causes them to say a swear and bring shame upon their parents. Accidentally hurting oneself topped the list, followed by expressing road rage, receiving bad news, making a joke, arguing with someone and, oddly, receiving good news.
If these numbers make you want to bemoan the general state of morality in 2022 America, consider this: Most of those surveyed (57%) say they go the and use substitute swears.
Among the favorite substitutes cited by those surveyed:
- 鈥淔udge鈥� or 鈥渇udgesicle鈥�
- 鈥沦丑辞辞迟鈥�
- 鈥淔rick鈥� or 鈥渇rickin鈥欌��
- 鈥淐谤补辫鈥�
- 鈥凄补苍驳鈥�
- 鈥淗别肠办鈥�
- 鈥淒arn鈥� or 鈥渄arn it鈥�
- 鈥淗oly cow鈥�
- 鈥凄补苍驳鈥� or 鈥渄ang it鈥�
- 鈥淔谤别补办颈苍驳鈥�
- 鈥淧辞辞辫鈥�
- 鈥淔辞谤办鈥�
- 鈥淢other trucker鈥�
- 鈥沦耻驳补谤鈥�
- 鈥淗oly smokes鈥�
You can learn more about the damn survey over on .
