囧研究：脏话频出的人词汇量更大英文更牛

一直以来人们都认为满嘴脏话的人词汇量较小，现在该重新思量思量这句话了。事实上，一项研究发现，人们口吐脏话的词频或许就与其语言整体的流利度更高相关联。

Taking an opposite approach to the view that people who use dirty words do so because they're linguistically⁴ challenged, psychologists Kristin Jay and Timothy Jay of Marist College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts hypothesized that being fluent in four-letter words might just be a sign of better language skills.

都认为说脏话是因为词穷、语言水平差，来自玛利斯特学院和马萨诸塞文科学院的心理学家克里斯廷·杰和提姆斯·杰却剑走偏锋，他们假设认为口吐脏字儿或许就标志着其语言技能更好。

The researchers recruited study participants between the ages of 18 and 22, and asked them to do a fun little experiment: First, say as many swear words as they could think of in a minute, followed by another 60 seconds of listing animal names.

研究人员召集了18至22岁的参与者来做一项有趣的小实验。先是一分钟内能想到几句骂人的话就说几句，接下来的60秒里列举各种动物名称。

With limited variation between genders⁵, people who cursed more also named more animals, leading them to conclude that these people either A) were more likely to be well-versed in zoology⁶, or B) simply had larger vocabularies.

实验显示男女差异并不大，骂得凶的动物名字报的也多，杰因而得出如下结论：这些人对深谙动物学，或者就是词汇量偏大。

Researchers in the U.K. have already shown that using profanity can help people become more emotionally resilient; now we know that it might even be a sign they'll do better on the SAT.

英国的研究人员早已发现，污言秽语更有助人们恢复情感；现在我们得知语言不逊或许意味着他们参加（美国）学业能力倾向测验能取得更好的成绩。

The study also found that people who curse a lot seemed to understand the difference between what constitutes an "appropriate" curse word and an "inappropriate" one. Racial slurs⁷ appeared much less frequently in people's lists of swear words than "general pejoratives" .

研究同样发现，脏字连篇者似乎也明白骂人的话有“合适”与“不当”之别。比之“一般的贬损之辞”，种族污蔑之语鲜有出现在人们的脏话之列。

So the next time you lose your keys or get stuck in traffic, don't be afraid to start letting those f-bombs fly freely.

所以，下次你钥匙掉了，或者碰到交通拥堵，就火力全开，让脏话满天飞吧。

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