Swearing - the language of life and death

Stephens, Richard

Abstract

In 2004 my second daughter was born and, aspiring to be a modern dad, I stayed with and supported my wife through the labour. After a while it became clear that things were not going according to plan. This was mainly because our daughter was trying, unsuccessfully, to come out feet first. What followed was a very long and difficult labour for my wife, and towards the end her pain was such that she swore out loud. Indeed, she produced a rather impressive selection of expletives during each wave of agonising contractions. But as the contractions passed and the pain subsided, she became embarrassed and apologetic over having let fly in front of the nurses, midwives and doctors, only to redouble her efforts when the next wave of contractions struck. The staff, however, had clearly seen all of this before.

Citation

Stephens, R. (2013). Swearing - the language of life and death. The Psychologist, 26(9),

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Sep 25, 2013
• Publication Date: Sep 25, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 6, 2023
• Journal: The Psychologist
• Print ISSN: 0952-8229
• Publisher: The British Psychological Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 9
• Publisher URL: https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/swearing-language-life-and-death