No ****: Scientists have identified the swearier sex
Swear like a sailor? You're not alone. But if you're effing and blinding, it's more likely that you're a woman.
Scientists have found that females are flinging around the F word more than males, making women the swearier sex.
And the way we swear has drastically changed in the past twenty years, in fact, with men dialling back on the expletives while women have been ramping it up.
Early analysis of a major research project on the matter, which will result in a database of more than 10m words, by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Lancaster University and the Cambridge University Press identified the changing trends in swearing, the Sunday Times reports.
“As equality drives on, the idea that there is male and female language, that there are things which men and women should or should not say, is going to be eroded . . . gentlemanly behaviour and ladylike language should become something of the past," ESRC director professor Tony McEnery told the newspaper.
Read more: British swearwords have officially been ranked according to offensiveness
It also found that women have always been more likely to say the word s**t but it's now 10 times more likely compared to four times in the early 90s.
It actually adds to a growing – and perhaps a surprising – body of research on how we swear. Left-leaning liberals are more likely to turn the air blue, compared to their conservative counterparts, while sweary Marys (or Mikes) were found to be smarter.
So, if you meet a smart woman on the left, brace yourself for some profanity.