Why NOT to mind your language: People who swear more often are more honest than those who don't

Why NOT to mind your language: People who swear more often are more honest than those who don't When Rhett Butler said he frankly did not give a damn in Gone With the Wind, he was almost certainly telling the truth. That is because people who swear are more honest, a psychological study has found. It may appear that those who turn the air blue with four-letter words are less concerned about social rules like telling the truth and not hurting people. But swearing is the 'unfiltered, genuine expression of emotions' and those who do it frequently were found to be more sincere. This perception may explain, the study suggests, why Donald Trump, who liberally uses the word 'hell' and promised to 'knock the s*** out of Isis', was hailed for his authenticity by some of those who voted him in as President. Meanwhile suspects innocent of crimes have previously been found to swear more than those who are guilty. The latest study, accepted for publication in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, found people who liked more swearwords and used them most often were least likely to lie. People who swore more on Facebook also lied less often online to make themselves look better. Co-author David Stillwell, from the University of Cambridge, said: 'There are two ways of looking at it. You might think if someone is swearing a lot, this is a negative social behaviour seen as a bad thing to do, so if someone swears they are probably a bad person as well.