It is a pity that swear-words are unprintable. Cursing boosts performance, says research. People would doubtless write better, express themselves more vividly, think of the most telling similes, if only they could put down a few socially prohibited four-letter words as they sweated over the most difficult lines. Is cursing aloud while writing good enough? Probably the jury is still out on that, because researchers are trying to find out whether swear-words in the mind are as effective as those spoken. Do they need to be expressed? A recent study published in the American Psychologist found that cursing increases strength and endurance, focuses the mind and prevents distraction. Few things, then, could be so inviting. People were asked to sit on chairs and push themselves up by their hands for as long as they could, while they repeated a curse-word or a neutral word every two seconds. Those who cursed were able to push themselves up for longer than their companions. Will this mean social licence for swear-words by athletes and players in the field?

The recent research takes off from work in the 1960s, which showed that loud noise, alcohol, and shouting increased strength. Besides, scientists have always known that swearing increases pain tolerance, memory and attention. Should then children be trained to curse, boys and girls alike, instead of being punished for using four-letter words? The latest study seeks to uncover the psychology behind cursing. Why do people swear instinctively when they fall or hurt themselves, for example? It found that cursing increases self-confidence; in some instances, it lets people feel immersed in the job they are doing and loosens self-consciousness. In short, it removes inhibitions from the mind, and that is the source of the physical and mental strength. But the inhibitions are gendered. Men swearing in certain social situations or in crises is acceptable, even ‘masculine’. But cursing women simply have no place in mixed polite society; women swearing are usually depicted as among those who inhabit the peripheries of society. Among friends, however, swearing by women has become quite normal nowadays. It releases tension, eases frustration, lowers pressure. But it still cannot be done publicly.

The inhibition that forbids or limits cursing is a function of the way polite or mainstream society works. Removing it for the sake of stronger, smarter people would mean rewriting social rules. But would learning to curse as a general lesson, as ‘normal’, have the same effect? Researchers are now planning to test the effects of cursing in other situations, such as public speaking and romantic approaches. But common sense would suggest that politicians would probably make themselves more unpopular by swearing as part of their desperate campaign speeches, however well-applied their curses. Unless they are as gorgeously charismatic as Mark Antony, of course. And a suitor’s declaration that he loves the beloved, d**n her, would probably get a f*** off in return.