Recession Creates Nation of Potty Mouths

The state of the economy has made for a lot of bad news, and bad news makes for a lot of cussing, MSNBC reports. “I’ve been dropping the F-bomb every time I look at the Dow,” said one 35-year-old writer. “You see that number and you say a few choice words.” Psychologists say two-thirds of all swearing is related to frustration or anger—and there’s a lot of that going around.

“Swearing results in a form of catharsis," says one psychologist. "People feel better when they swear.” And vulgarity isn’t just spreading verbally. Since early November, Twitter has logged more than 2 million instances of swearing, according to curse-tracker Cursebird. Everyone might not enjoy such moments, but we’ve “evolved to use them” for a reason, the psychologist says. “It’s much better to swear than to physically hit someone.” (More swearing stories.)