Is Putin or Trump popularity in part due to people seeing their “I don’t give a fxxk” attitude and being attracted to that?
- Trustworthiness - Listeners are more willing to trust someone who curses because careful censorship of one's own speech can come across as calculating and inauthentic.
- Involvement - Swearing as an amplifier is often used to communicate emotional involvement. People curse much more about their favorite sports team than just about anything else, for example.
- In-group membership - Cursing in a group setting denotes a less formal relationship, which can actually have the effect of encouraging associates to bond more. And, like all language, certain groups have their own curses which, when wielded in the proper context, demonstrate that you "belong".
- And yeah, power - Cursing in a formal setting is a great way of challenging convention and asserting authority, demonstrating that one is immune to the typical social consequences for "bad" behavior.
Do people really respond to this? I know I do. And I suspect that, if people didn't react as intended, cursing wouldn't be so pervasive in every language.
If you think about it, why swearing instead of using standard words ? Putting aside "bad" habits (I put this into quotes because I don't think there is something inherently bad in swearing, it's just a subset of vocabulary data being transmitted to convey information ;) ), I would say that that goal is, subconsciously or not, to increase the emotional impact of what is being said. This will to increase the emotional impact can stem from the speaker's own emotional state, that needs to be expressed through speaking. This might be for lack of better words in one's vocabulary, "accessibility", perceived "style", etc.
The person is stating something, that might be originally emotionally weak or neutral, but by swearing, he emphasizes the emotion associated to those words or sentences, and thus has the opportunity to convey an additional specific type of information, in a specific way.
I would even say that swearing might be even difficult to replace in some cases where the intended effect is to be casual, or maybe to sound "cool" to a certain crowd while keeping this emotional effect. This might, in a way, be considered "manipulation" if done consciously.
And I think this logic applies very well to Trump particularly, because appealing to people emotions seems to be mostly what put him in office. Rather than trying to win by giving the population high logic on the reasons why he should be elected, he is going the other way: make them feel things that put him under the spotlight as a good contender for the position of president ...
"Those who use foul language on social networks (such as Twitter) are sending an expensive signal that they are free – and, ironically, competent. You don’t signal competence if you don’t take risks for it - there are few such low risk strategies. So cursing today is a status symbol, just as oligarchs in Moscow wear blue jeans at special events to signal their power."
Competence in this case means the ability to do something genuinely, without strings attached (independent, no hidden motives). This is important in determining a speaker's legitimacy, truthfulness, the provenance of what they are saying.
For instance, Trump saying son of a bitch in a speech I felt was particularly shocking, even by his standards, but totally contrived.
It’s not always useful to be seen as stable or a worthy adversary. Being unpredictable or flying under the radar are legitimate strategies.
Person with other signals indicating dominance -> increase power.
Person with other signals indicating lowly stature -> increases indication of lack of self control or weakness.
I guess like all human relations it depends is the caveat that applies.
As a ridiculously obvious example, look at Steve Jobs, darling of this site. Whether you love or loathe him, if you think he was an inferior intellect, you should be questioning your own.
The truth is that it takes some skill and knowledge to properly swear. And it has its place: Using other words simply don't get the point across nearly as well and folks can easily misinterpret your meaning (Example: Angry verses creatively displeased or disgusted). Using alternatives (in English things like "fudge") are equally powerful and equally difficult to place in the right context.
Most of those top few are also native speakers of languages that are closely related to English, such as German, Dutch, and French, but curiously, the one who curses the most, and the most proficiently, is Israeli.
( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0388000114... )