Expletives Good For Business Says New British Study

The headline from the University of East Anglia in Great Britain reads  Survey says 'never mind the b******s'

Had I not been reading Mark Haddon's  A Spot Of Bother ( Haddon wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night Time ,I am on page 225 of A Spot Of Bother) where he generously sprinkles the B word throughout I would not  have know that B*****s'  is  evidently the very popular British expletive Bollucks.

From reading Haddon, you get the very distinct impressions that the Brits drop the B-Bomb at about the rate those of us across the pond drop the effing F-Bomb.

Allowing staff to swear at work can benefit them and their employers, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia.

Prof Yehuda Baruch, professor of management at the UEA-based Norwich Business School (NBS), and graduate Stuart Jenkins looked at the use of expletives and swearing in the work place from a management point of view.

They identified the relevance and even importance of using non-conventional and sometimes uncivil language at work and how it may have a positive impact.

The study found regular use of profanity to express and reinforce solidarity among staff, enabling them to express their feelings, such as frustration, and develop social relationships.

The results of the study, Swearing at work and permissive leadership culture: when anti-social becomes social and incivility is acceptable, are published in the current issue of the Leadership and Organization Development Journal (Vol 28 Issue 6, pages 492-507).

Prof Baruch said their aim was to challenge leadership styles and suggest ideas for best practice. “Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner. Swearing was as a social phenomenon to reflect solidarity and enhance group cohesiveness, or as a psychological phenomenon to release stress.

The Red Letter Believers are taking exception with the study's findings.

I say “bull.” There are far too many people who use their mouths instead of their brains. Many a manager has adopted profanity instead of persuasion to lead. Instead of controlling ones emotions, cussing demonstrates a lack of control. Depending on shock language demonstrates a severe lack of intelligence, verbal skill, and creativity. And for the Red Letter Believer, the Christian who is trying to live out their faith, it is never acceptable. Your words indicate your heart.

Needless to say, many a blogger picked up this story. Driftglass added a fabulous photo- With the CAPTION  Water for Mutha@&$!#ing Chocolate!

This is about ownership and responsibility.

Because you, personally, own the entire English language. 

Every mother%$#@*g word of it.

And so do I.   So do we all.  And every day we raze it, build it, break it and birth it, because it is a living thing.

It is our inalienable birthright, and will be our most versatile legacy to little f*&^#$s not yet born, but as with driving the Big Rigs, or operating a band saw with your toes, the tool itself demands a certain level of responsibility and respect.

When used correctly, language not only feels like a mouthful of velvet rubies and chocolate mousse, it can reformat the world, heal a scalded heart, and get her to shed those pesky pants!

Used incompetently it is an embarrassment. A rusting dumpster in a reeking alley behind which the ignorant, the bigoted and the irrational believe they can pass out, occluded from scrutiny in s#@t-stained imbecile safety, but which turns out, by dawn's early light, to be a mini-bus full of liberals with digital cameras.

Note: This is a profanity free blog. Expletive symbols added to Driftglass' quote.

Image Credits: Red Letter Believers and Driftglass.