Washoe was a female chimpanzee that was originally adopted by R. Allen Gardner and Beatrix T. Gardner in the s. Later, she was taken on by a researcher in Washington State called Roger Fouts. Washoe was the matriarch to three younger chimps: Loulis, Tatu, and Dar.
By the time they brought in Loulis, the youngest, the humans had stopped teaching them language, so they looked to see if the chimps would transmit language through the generations, which they did. When Washoe and the other chimps were really angry, they would smack their knuckles on the underside of their chins, so you could hear this chimp-teeth-clacking sound.
What had happened is that they had internalized that taboo, they had a sign associated with that taboo, so all of a sudden that language was incredibly powerful and was being thrown about, just like real excrement is thrown about by wild chimpanzees. The example that most people will be familiar with in English-speaking countries is blasphemy. There are still parts of the U. In some communities, where that usage is reclaimed, they are saying that if I use it, it immunizes me against its negative effects.
That is an example of a word that has fallen out of general conversation and literature into the realm of the unsayable. The great thing about the copulatory and excretory swearing is that they are common to the entire human race.
As our taboos change, that core of language that has the ability to surprise, shock or stun the emotional side of the brain will change, too.
Simon Worrall curates Book Talk. Follow him on Twitter or at simonworrallauthor. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London.
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But will they invade your privacy? In other words, swearing may actually be a sign of greater intellect, not less, and a more robust vocabulary. In the study , the researchers asked volunteers to think of as many words beginning with a certain letter of the alphabet as possible in one minute. Afterwards, they tasked the volunteers to rattle off as many swear words as they could within the same time frame. By comparing the scores in both fluency experiments, the scientists found that those who scored higher in verbal fluency were also better equipped to spout off obscenities.
Register or Log In. The Magazine Shop. Login Register Stay Curious Subscribe. Letting out a few choice words can help relieve pain, and might even make you a little bit stronger. Newsletter Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news.
Sign Up. Already a subscriber? Want more? So, swearing boosts our pain resistance and strength, but you might want to use this temporary superpower sparingly.
More recent research has found that the pain-busting benefits of yelling naughty words is disappointingly diminished for people who swear lot in everyday life. Dr Christian Jarrett is a cognitive neuroscientist, science writer and author. He is the Deputy Editor of Psyche, the sister magazine to Aeon that illuminates the human condition through psychology, philosophy and the arts.
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