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CONTENT WARNING: there is swearing in this episode. But the happy news is: swearing is good for you! Dr Emma Byrne, author of Swearing Is Good For You, explains how swearing can be beneficial to your physical health and emotional wellbeing,

CONTENT WARNING: there is swearing in this episode. But the happy news is: swearing is good for you!

Dr Emma Byrne, author of Swearing Is Good For You, explains how swearing can be beneficial to your physical health and emotional wellbeing, while Matt Fidler of Very Bad Words podcast gives some tips to ensure you swear properly to optimise the positive effects.

There are several other Allusionist episodes that connect with topics covered in this one. 44. This is Your Brain on Language describes how the brain processes language, and 20. Baby Talk how children acquire language; 58. Eclipse is the incredible story of the impact of a brain injury upon language. And then there's 4. Detonating the C-Bomb, of course.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS:

It is Brain Injury Awareness Month this month.
Sweary cross stitch kits; and the Profanity Embroidery Group are making a swear quilt.
How Washoe the chimpanzee met 'Dirty Roger'.
Roger Fouts's and Allen and Beatrix Gardner's studies of Washoe and her language.
'A Child's Garden of Curses'.
Forty years since the Sex Pistols' court case over whether the word 'bollocks' is indecent.
The United Swears of America.
See some pictures of Phineas Gage's injury, if you must.
Father Jack quotations as inspirational posters (coincidentally, a piece by Tom Phillips who appeared in the Going Viral episode).
I love listener Robin's sweary calligraphy inspired by this episode!
There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/swear-pill.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
ubac

CREDITS:

Dr Emma Byrne is the author of Swearing Is Good For You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language. Find her work at emmabyrne.net, and tweet her @sciwriby.
Matt Fidler hosts Very Bad Words, a very intelligent podcast about swearing and taboo language. The new season launches on March 14th. Hear the show at verybadwords.com and tweet @dirtywordscast.
This episode was produced by me and Martin Austwick, who also makes the music that you hear in every episode. He has a beautiful new album out - with lyrics as well as music! - at palebirdmusic.com.
Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/helenzaltzman.

- HZ

P.S. Have a look at that TED talk I did: