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Growing up, they teach you that swearing is a bad habit — but no one ever explained why it was a bad habit for so many people. If swearing has negative social repercussions — and certainly in some social situations it still does — then why are people compelled to do it? A new study in the journal NeuroReport may have an answer. “Swearing is such a common response to pain that there has to be an underlying reason why we do it,” says psychologist Richard Stephens of Keele University in England, who led the study. And indeed, the findings point to one possible benefit: “I would advise people, if they hurt themselves, to swear,” he adds. You heard him, kids: a scientist is telling you it’s OK to drop the f-bomb now and then.
The study asked 67 student volunteers to immerse their hands in ice-cold water for as long as they could physically stand to. One group was allowed to repeat or chant a neutral word of their choosing during the exercise, while another group of students was allowed to swear. Turns out the students with the dirtiest mouths were also able to withstand the cold water for longer — 40 seconds longer, on average.
From Scientific American:
How swearing achieves its physical effects is unclear, but the researchers speculate that brain circuitry linked to emotion is involved. Earlier studies have shown that unlike normal language, which relies on the outer few millimeters in the left hemisphere of the brain, expletives hinge on evolutionarily ancient structures buried deep inside the right half.
One such structure is the amygdala, an almond-shaped group of neurons that can trigger a fight-or-flight response in which our heart rate climbs and we become less sensitive to pain. Indeed, the students’ heart rates rose when they swore, a fact the researchers say suggests that the amygdala was activated.
That explanation is backed by other experts in the field. Psychologist Steven Pinker of Harvard University, whose book The Stuff of Thought (Viking Adult, 2007) includes a detailed analysis of swearing, compared the situation with what happens in the brain of a cat that somebody accidentally sits on. “I suspect that swearing taps into a defensive reflex in which an animal that is suddenly injured or confined erupts in a furious struggle, accompanied by an angry vocalization, to startle and intimidate an attacker,” he says.
The study’s authors warn that there’s a catch, though. Swearing may be able to help dull pain, but the more it’s used, the less effective it becomes. In other words, if you lace four-letter-words into every sentence like a character in a Tarantino flick, those same words aren’t going to do much for you when you get gut-shot or someone slices your ear off with a butterfly knife. So for purely practical and self-interested reasons, it’s not a bad idea to watch your mouth — most of the time.
Go ahead and say what you want to me on Twitter.
Comments (37)
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That that extend to swearing help you stay mad longer?
posted by Karen on 7-13-2009 at 9:36 am
I think I’ll print out many copies and have them ready for the next staff meeting at work…thanks for being my enabler!
posted by Wayne on 7-13-2009 at 10:00 am
“Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” Mark Twain
posted by sandy on 7-13-2009 at 10:23 am
Are you guys coordinating with CNN or something? I literally just read a blog by Dr Sanjay Gupta about this…right after my dad yelled at me yesterday for cursing!
posted by Megan on 7-13-2009 at 10:30 am
Good quote, Sandy!
My poor beleaguered doctor and I have come to an understanding: I will not flinch during painful procedures as long he overlooks my “anaesthetic cussing.” Somehow, blasting out the worst swear-words reconciles me to physical discomfort …. and now I know why! I’ll have to share that study with him.
posted by Kikadee on 7-13-2009 at 11:15 am
Nothing like finding an excuse for bad behaviour.
Did they compare inarticulatation against articulation? Words can only have an effect if they have meaning behind them. A toddler will gleefully repeat a word without thought to how it is being used. It is only after he/she has been scolded and told not to say it will the word have an emotional context.
posted by toddes on 7-13-2009 at 11:46 am
That’s the dumbest f***ing thing I ever f***ing heard. That’s complete bulls**t. What kind of a dumb a**hole would come up with such a f***ing study??
Hey, wait a minute, you’re right. I feel much better.
posted by TheBear on 7-13-2009 at 11:54 am
So profane language is linked to one of the most primitive parts of the brain? Is that why the compulsive cussers always seem to most closely resemble Cro-Magnon man?
Seriously, people who swear at least once per sentence seem to lack any inner thesaurus and are unable to speak without using an expletive that has become so amorphous through over-use that it can be substituted for any given word.
posted by n2y2 on 7-13-2009 at 12:40 pm
There’s a quote in the play ‘Inherit the Wind,’ that says, “I don’t swear for the hell of it.”
posted by Monica on 7-13-2009 at 2:38 pm
I love the picture of Capt. Haddock in this article.
“Blistering barnacles!”
posted by riley on 7-13-2009 at 5:07 pm
yeah, n2y2. That Mark Twain was SUCH a Cro-Magnon.
I hate to disagree w/ you, after agreeing w/ you about Casey Kasem, but I get so tired of people looking down at cursing. It has a purpose in language, and now we see it has a physiological use as well.
If I want to add emphasis, peppering an F bomb in there, will get some attention, and if nothing else, I generally feel better, and after all, isn’t that what’s most important to me?? Your delicate sensibilities are fine, FOR YOU, but it is a free country, don’t put your hangups on me, or my fellow cursers
posted by Jonny on 7-13-2009 at 5:34 pm
n2y2 – you want to put your bible away for a moment and get down off of that stick up your ass?
You’re clearly an absolute imbecile if you believe that people who swear are lesser people than those who don’t, but I won’t waste my time arguing with you since people like you can’t ever see reality.
I bet you think rather the same thing about homosexuals and foreigners.
posted by Luis on 7-13-2009 at 7:10 pm
Attached, a YouTube clip – Stephen Fry on the Joys of Swearing…
posted by Amy on 7-13-2009 at 7:41 pm
whoa there.
Since when was Mark Twain a compulsive cusser? And when did I thump any religious tome?
I am speaking directly to and about those who use profanity as a crutch. Let me revise that – I mean those who replace the English language with a stream of imprecations that could not be mistaken for communication.
Salty language, as Twain uses it, is best used in moderation. Like putting salt in a cookie recipe. A little brings out the sweetness, but if you substitute salt for sugar…
So, if you are incapable of communicating without spewing constant fumes of blue language, then yes I do look down on you for abandoning your frontal lobe leaning solely on the amygdala.
posted by n2y2 on 7-14-2009 at 12:11 am
n2y2 – Then I look down upon you for failing to use the English language to explain your point from the get-go.
I know many people that are ‘compulsive cussers’ and would make any intelligence you claim to seem like that of a cave-dweller from birth. The use of any form of language doesn’t make a person any more or less intelligent than yourself or any of us.
posted by Luis on 7-14-2009 at 7:11 am
Luis,
In your first post, you berate me for being narrow-minded and yet you assumed that mine was a pious argument without any mention on my part? How very close-minded.
Go back an read my first comment. I did use the English language to explain my point. I used the the phrases “compulsive cusser” and “swear at least once per sentence”. The meaning is perfectly clear. It is only because you and Jonny didn’t catch the subtly that I had to clarify. I didn’t want to compose and entire essay, but you have made that necessary.
Now to my point. There are roughly one million words in the English language. A person with 16 years of education is likely to know about 20,000 and will use about 10% of them in a given week.
George Carlin listed 7 infamous words. Compare that to the 3/4 of a million that show up in an unabridged dictionary. How much acumen are you putting on display when you insist on using the same seven trite words redundantly?
It is the hallmark of higher intelligence to use tools. The smartest animals use a few tools. Humans top the list in this category. Consider the English language to be a giant garage where each word is an individual tool. Expletives are hammers.
How intelligent would it be to use a hammer in every situation? Would you use a hammer to clean leaves, tighten a nut, inflate a tire? Other tools are much better suited for those tasks. There are situations were the hammer is the the perfect tool; use it then and at no other time.
I have long observed that as person gains greater reliance on maledictions, they reduce their capacity to invoke a broader vocabulary. That point seems to born out by article above. “Swearing may be able to help dull pain, but the more it’s used, the less effective it becomes…” That describes classic drug tolerance; where an addict becomes psychologically and physiologically depended at the same time that the effect is diminished.
I meet people with greater intellect than mine constantly. Many of them swear. None of them feel the need to curse in every single sentence. Much less to use an F-bomb derivative as a verb, adjective, noun and adverb all in a single breath.
Conversely, if a person goes 4 or 5 sentences in a row lacing each with profanity, they almost universally go on to impress me with their ignorance rather than their brilliance.
posted by n2y2 on 7-14-2009 at 10:40 am
Luis and n2y2, why don’t you release some tension and just swear at each other? You’ll feel better. Come on–we’re all waiting.
Seriously, though, I think n2y2 is saying that people who limit their vocabulary to a few four-letter words are missing out on the richness and wide variety of the English language. I agree–I’m a college student and while I don’t hold anything against people who swear (I do it myself!), I think it becomes tiresome when every other word is a four-letter word. And at school, that’s often all I ever hear. Choosing to use other vocabulary to let off steam isn’t being stuck up, it’s just being different, allowing other people to hear less common and maybe more interesting words. We all have different tastes, but no one is less of a person because s/he swears!
And…I think the whole point of this study is that swearing is effective used in moderation. Too much turns four-letter words into ordinary, everyday words.
posted by Anna on 7-14-2009 at 12:52 pm
Thank you, Anna. You nailed it.
posted by n2y2 on 7-14-2009 at 5:29 pm
Exactly, Anna – my point precisely. A person who swears consistently is no less intelligent than someone who doesn’t. Funny that n2y2 chooses to thank you and say you nailed their point when their point seemed to solely be to say that people who swear were less intelligent, which was my point as well.
recaptcha: wordi disdain.
posted by Luis on 7-15-2009 at 8:36 am
I was accepting the olive branch in hopes of ending this discussion amicably; a concept that appears to be beyond your grasp. You just couldn’t let it go without one last jab?
Anna was showing that she had read and comprehended the arguments and offered a compromise. I took the opportunity to play nice. What a surprise that you completely missed that.
The last time you added anything to this discussion, Luis, it was by way of insults and unsubstantiated accusations. Do you really think that anyone who does not agree with your opinion of blue language is both a homophobe and a xenophobe?
Recall, you started with name-calling from your first post. If you had not noticed, that is a faux pas here on MF. Posters are nice to one another. You did not express your argument against my opinion, you attacked me personally. Even when responding to that, I merely explained and did not spit epithets until later.
Even in subsequent posts you have done nothing but flaunt your lack of reading comprehension.
I challenge you: What value have you added to this exchange? Have you brought any insights? Wit? Humor? Critical thinking? Your contributions can be summed up as grade-school name calling and “nah-uh”.
posted by n2y2 on 7-15-2009 at 12:40 pm
As entertaining as this whole debacle is, I think you should quit. Luis’ choice of words might not be the best he could have come up with, but he’s kinda right – n2y2, your initial argument was about calling people that regularly swear less intelligent than others (i.e., yourself?), which is wrong. Luis called you out on that point, albeit throwing a few assumptions out there. Which, while assumptions, are pretty easy to pick up from the way you wrote your initial post.
Anna backed this point up, and you then accepted it after she said so, and not after Luis said so. This is hypocrisy or something rather similar – I’m afraid my inferior brain can’t think of the right phrase, since I do tend to swear quite often.
Let’s just all agree that people that swear (to any degree of frequency) are no less intelligent than those who do not, which is the initial point I think Luis was trying to make, and quite correctly so.
posted by Blake on 7-16-2009 at 7:43 am
I make no claim to any great intellect. I know enough to know how little I know.
I would assume that anyone who frequents Mental Floss would agree that there are things a person can do to sharpen their acumen. Conversely, other activities can dull a person’s mental agility (watching a Nancy Grace marathon comes to mind.) I am arguing one of them in this forum.
I have spent the paragraphs above providing analogous examples of swearing’s place and function in the language. If you disagree, please provide counter-examples.
Or how about this: You provide a list of historical, or current, figures who *never speak without swearing* and I will provide a longer list of those who took the opposite tack. Then we can compare the works of the people on those lists and see who has accomplished more for the world.
posted by n2y2 on 7-16-2009 at 10:18 am
Wow . . . I am not typically one to post comments and am usually content to sit back and enjoy whatever conversation or bickering occurs vicariously. However, reading this exchange has frustrated me enough that I can’t help but respond.
A few points. . .
1)I am a person who swears
2)I do not think people who swear are morons
3)I like the fact that the english language offers so many words. Each word has a particular meaning/connotation for a reason and using words correctly and appropriately allows for more effective & flavorful communication (isn’t that common sense?)
4)I get very frustrated with people who make snap decisions about something and if new or contradicting information is presented, it doesn’t get past the filter of preconceived notions, let alone have a chance to alter them.
5) I’m not impressed when people re-spout the same exact thought over and over again in response to coherent, logical, well-spoken, and varied arguments
6) FOR THE LOVE, at NO POINT did ANYONE say (or even allude to) that a “person who swears consistently” is “less intelligent” or inferior in any way!! The initial argument was that people who(now try to stay with me, Luis) use profanity compulsively (not consistently, not frequently. . .) and to such an excessive level that the curse words themselves lose any discernable meaning, are not really doing themselves any favors if they are trying to communicate effectively or if they value how they are perceived by others in any way.
I’m sorry Luis. I know I used too many words for you, and I am certain that your response will be another delightful exhibit on how not to absorb or comprehend the written word – along with a healthy dose of irrelevant insults. I realize that trying to change your mind would be a foolish and futile endeavor – HOWEVER I couldn’t sit back and continue to watch n2Y2 be misquoted, misunderstood, insulted and mocked for no reason!! It’s weird! Especially when n2Y2 has done such a wonderful job of exhibiting tolerence, respect, patience, intelligence, open-mindedness, humility, not to mention a delightfully extensive vocabulary and mastery of the english language!!
Sorry for the rant, once I got started it was hard to hold back.
posted by Dana on 7-16-2009 at 3:35 pm
The latter argument appears to have changed from the initial, and I’ll kindly point out neither parties here have exactly been shining examples of “tolerance, respect, patience, intelligence, open-mindedness and humility.” Luis has been jumping to conclusions and n2y2 has been throwing out passive-aggressive, subtly insulting comments and demands for evidence to prove against his (her?) own point. Using ones’ vocabulary doesn’t make one a better arguer or somehow more tolerant or open-minded, as seems to happen in forums so often. Someone tosses out some wordy thoughts, and people flock around them as if they’re vastly more valid than anyone else.
And Dana – you’re no better with some of your comments to Luis. Rising to meet his own comments even with passive-aggressive remarks don’t make you any better.
n2y2, I’m not going to rise to your ‘challenge’ of proving a list of historical (or current) people who do not swear, because as any reasonably intelligent person knows that in an argument or scientific pursuit you can’t prove a negative, which is why the religious will always have a foothold on science.
I’m fairly certain I know what kind of response will be provided, but I’ll continue with my argument that a rich use of swearing (even compulsively) is no sign of a lower vocabulary or a sign of lower anything.
recaptcha: Texas standoff!
posted by Blake on 7-16-2009 at 5:56 pm
Fair enough Blake. (and no, that’s not sarcasm)
I think you have offered a perceptive and accurate assessment of the discussion. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been so hasty in posting an emotional argument laced with hyperbole and insults. (in defense though, even in my anger and haste I was never deluded enough not to recognize that I was sinking to the very level that had offended me. I knew, but didn’t care because I was frustrated – which is, in many ways, far worse than acting out of carelessness or ignorance)
I think you also make a good point in that neither side was as respectable and tolerant as I (over)stated about n2Y2. My failure to acknowledge the passive-aggressive tactics says as much about me as it does either of them.
While smooth words and subtlety can present a mirage of decency – it’s really no more than a more devious, underhanded way to be just as rude while maintaining a self-image of superiority.
Bottom line is, I overreacted, and while I do think I made a couple of valid points, they were obscured by the overwhelming negativity of my own impulsive response. I am genuinely sorry for being so obnoxious, but hey, I’m not afraid to admit it when I’m wrong.
In the future, I think I’ll revert back to my silent-observer role (or at the very least, delay commenting until I can be a little more rational about it!)
posted by Dana on 7-16-2009 at 11:02 pm
One last thought and I promise I’ll shut up (and Blake, please trust me that I’m being sincere and not patronizing). I appreciate the fact that you were able to “rebuke” me without sinking to insults or argumentativeness. I respect your candor and maturity, and will try to learn from your example of restraint – differences of opinion are no excuse for blatant hostility.
And while I maintain that people who habitually choose curse words to replace multiple, random words or phrases in a given statement can give an impression of apathy or mental ‘laziness’ – it really doesn’t say anything about their actual intelligence level. There are plenty of non-intellect related factors that can shape a persons language tendencies/habits, and judging people based on swearing alone is pretty shallow and innacurate.
Ok, I’m done for real :-)
posted by Dana on 7-16-2009 at 11:37 pm
Thank you, Dana. You seem to have captured the essence of my point-of-view quite nicely.
I particularly like, “… people who habitually choose curse words to replace multiple, random words or phrases in a given statement can give an impression of apathy or mental ‘laziness’…” Very succinct and clear.
It is nice to have a sympathetic voice here. I think much of the hostility against me grew from my initial use of ‘Cro-Magnon’, which was my own feeble attempt at wit and comedic over-exaggeration. I am sure that in person it would have come off correctly, but it was likely taken literally in plain text.
posted by n2y2 on 7-17-2009 at 6:14 pm
Blake,
You appear to be painting all of my posts with the same passive-aggressive brush. Your comments are fair when applied to the end of my comments toward Luis, but do not reflect the beginning of the conversation. I think my contributions have followed a progression.
I consider my first two to be neutral/explanatory – no subtext. By my third post, I had grown tired of being attacked personally and decided to send a few volleys back. I think I was merely being nuanced, but I suppose passive-aggressive would be a fair description.
I had hoped that my 6th volley, the one just before you joined the conversation, would be interpreted as openly hostile – the way Luis had been from his first retort.
Forgive me if you felt I was swing at you. By that time, I already had my riot gear on. However, your awe-shucks-I’m-just-not-that-smart tone in that post is a bit passive-aggressive, No?
Now on to your last point: You say that you cannot provide a counter argument because you cannot prove a negative. I do not see it that way. I have not asked anyone to prove that the Lock Ness Monster does not exit. Let’s pretend this had been a debate about whether Spam makes you fat. I would take one side, you might take the opposite and we both support our statements.
This is not different. I have said that excessive swearing can diminish a person’s mind. Not on moral grounds, or because of any taboo, but because of mental laziness (as Dana put it so well.) I have supported that with example, analogy and fact. I still have some unstated supporting arguments ready if someone wants to actually debate and not bicker.
The opposing opinion would go – “Excessive swearing has a neutral effect on the human intellect because…” There is no negative to prove there.
We don’t even need to agree, we both say our peace and then part as friends.
posted by n2y2 on 7-17-2009 at 6:20 pm
n2y2, you are asking me to prove that regular swearing does not diminish a person’s intellect or their use of the English language, and you know full well that proving such a thing is not within my ability – and yet I note that you have yet to provide empirical evidence that it does as such a thing is also not within your own ability.
Until you can provide this evidence, your own opinion remains simply cast into the realm of personal, unfounded opinion. Trying to prove that swearing regularly diminishes the intellect is like trying to prove that eating regularly diminishes your fitness, or that being insulted regularly diminishes your esteem – in this example, you would be asking me to prove that eating regularly does not diminish fitness, and being insulted regularly does not diminish fitness.
The only argument you are able to provide is personal opinion. The evidence I bring to the table is that I am a very intelligent person, and I swear regularly, and this fact has neither diminished my intelligence nor my judicious use of the colourful language we have. In fact, I maintain a word-a-day community to bring many words back into common knowledge.
Applying the simple rule of entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem to the situation, when faced with the idea that something does or does not, when there is no clear ‘a’ versus ‘b,’ or empirical evidence to support the ‘does,’ then the clear result is ‘does not.’
posted by Blake on 7-17-2009 at 10:34 pm
All of the examples you provided in paragraph two are testable hypotheses; in fact many of them probably have been. Take excessive swearing. There could be a clinical trial where a group of test subjects, who are not habitual swearers, are given a base-line intelligence test. The control group is asked to maintain their speech patterns. The test group is instructed to inject imprecations into their language as often as possible; multiple times per sentence is preferred. After 12 months of this, the subjects are re-tested and the results are tabulated. If you have the time and money, feel free to borrow my idea to conduct the experiment.
I am not trying to *prove* anything? I have been demonstrating my point. That involves expressing opinions that I have formed through my experience in life.
I have proven nothing and you don’t need to either. Just support you point with a bit of rhetoric that demonstrates your stance.
Any debate (even one that cites empirical evidence) is a difference of OPINION. So express and support yours. I am begging here. I could make a much better argument against than anyone has expressed here.
Am I winning you over? You say, “…my judicious use of the colourful language…” I am talking to the extreme use of foul language. If you are presenting the judicial use of it, you have scored an own-goal.
Your last paragraph does not apply to this discussion and you seem to be confusing the word empirical with incontrovertible. By strict definition, I have provided empirical evidence (based on observation, capable of being proven or refuted, etc.)
So, please, provide a counter example to my cookie example or the tool analogy. Make up your own. Anything.
posted by n2y2 on 7-18-2009 at 8:26 pm
. . . n2y2, I know your post is simply intended to make a point and offer a simple procedure for testing the hypothesis (and that you were not describing a detailed, actual clinical trial) but I do think it may be beneficial to make one small distinction in the methodology.
(Feel free to tell me if we’re diverging in our thought processes here, this is just my opinion) I think it should be specifically mentioned that the curse words be used to REPLACE words/ideas in a sentence, and not merely as interjections or in order to add emphasis. – In other words “****! what the **** is this ****ing **** ****?!” may inflict more damage than “****! I can’t believe this *****ing traffic!” — just a thought!
posted by Dana on 7-18-2009 at 10:03 pm
Very well. My support in repartée of dispute to your opinion and theory:
I am a highly intelligent person, and know a number of other very intelligent people from a number of backgrounds and cultures. These people swear frequently, and in some cases interjecting swear-words as nouns, verbs and adjectives in the sentence; and yet despite this fact, they still all maintain not just a higher-functioning ability to use our language correctly and impressively, but work with me in a position that requires it at our workplace.
Ergo, the total use of poor language in sentences does not appear to diminish their ability to use our own language effectively and to full use.
I believe, now, that I have spent already too much time with this tab open and I believe this will be the last I say on the matter. Treat my lack of willingness to waste any more of my days off responding as a win by default if it makes you feel good about yourself.
posted by Blake on 7-19-2009 at 12:09 am
Dana, I had not thought it out to that level of minutia, but you make a fair point. The difficulty would be to teach the test group the proper style of cursing. (I laugh to myself think of a white coated post-doc instructing a class on proper swearing techniques. Also, humorous to think of the participants tracking that use: “Honey, would you say that my *#$%@#$ profanity outbursts are more interjection or *@#&%#-tion based?”)
Another challenge I thought up, but did not state (because my posts are too long anyway) is how to fool the participants. If the subjects know what is being tested, they may affect the results – consciously or unintentionally. In the best studies the volunteers think the testing has a different purpose.
If I were to actually do this experiment, I would start with the broader definition of ‘any cursing’. Then if the results showed any statistical significance, I could follow that up with the more nuanced definition that you proposed. After all, researchers are always looking for the next study/grant.
posted by n2y2 on 7-19-2009 at 1:04 am
Fair enough, I mention it not so much because I think it’s a feasible study (although it would be hilarious) but more to clarify the specific type of swearing that has a tendency (for me personally) to lead me to wonder about a persons mental aptitude. I mean, I’m all for swearing to add emphasis and expression, but when it is used to the point where normal words simply disappear, it can definitely stunt communication. Just like anything else, without use, atrophy sets in. Period.
posted by Dana on 7-19-2009 at 1:28 am
Blake, it’s pity that you are leaving now, just when this is beginning to turn into a proper discussion. And, I thought I had made it clear that I am not interested in ‘winning’ – whatever that means.
I am looking for an exchange where we both come away understanding each other’s point of view and hopefully learning something along the way. Did you know that Justices Ginsburg and Scalia are friends? They have taken vacations together. Yet they nearly always vote on opposite sides of decisions.
Since this may be the last post we trade, I want to offer you a bit of friendly advice (I DO intend for it to be friendly). Never call yourself “highly intelligent”, even if it happens to be true. Usually the people who do so are either pompous or fools. Have you ever met a dumb person that thought that they were? How many stupid individuals do you encounter that claim to be smart? Conversely, many wise people downplay their own abilities. e.g. “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” ~Albert Einstein. I find it best all around to let others form their own opinion of my intellect.
posted by n2y2 on 7-19-2009 at 1:31 am
Dana,
I just want to say again that I admire your ability to be concise and lucent. Verbose and ambiguous is my talent.
posted by n2y2 on 7-19-2009 at 1:56 am
How disappointing that the issue of manners did not arise. Swearing is like pooping on the kitchen table: one isn’t stupid because he pooped, but surely inconsiderate for putting it there.
posted by K Q Smith on 7-24-2009 at 12:35 pm