The Swearing Mystique (or) Why Do We Have Such An Obsession With Swearing?

I was wondering why people swear... or why should swear?

People, I've observed, generally in situations of dismay, and other varieties of stress and depression, cuss. It seems to me like it is more of a reflex, rather than anything, or an evolution of some 'primeval' swearing, like clubbing the guy next to you on the head till it falls off (the head, not the club).

But that probably isn't it... swearing is a more verbal thing, and it seems to me that my first conjecture is right, it is probably a reflex, like the knee-jerk reaction.

If one is the recipient of bad news, then the first reaction is 'Oh, shit' or if one is of a milder disposition, 'Oh, goshdarn it'. This is immediate, no delay, no thinking involved.

My feeling of this is that a group of people, a trillion billion years ago (a long time), decided to associate bad feelings, and bad ideas, and bad news, and bad anything else, to poo. The next step, was obviously to incorporate more 'vulgar' words, words with more 'punch'.

Getting to my point... Why?

Why do we do this strange, and almost unnoticed ritual? We weren't taught this in schools (most of us picked it up there, but we weren't taught it there), we weren't told to cuss and swear in public, we just do it, because our parents, and whoever else do it, our peers, our not-peers, everyone.

Say we are presented with bad news. We yell 'SHIT!' in horror/anger. Which makes our mood worsen, which makes us yell 'SHIT', which makes our mood worsen, which makes us yell 'SHIT!' which makes our mood worsen, which makes us yell 'SHIT!'... you get the point.

Alternatively, if we scream about something that we like, or about something that pleases us, then (hopefully) we wouldn't be in such a foul mood.

Say you like strawberry cheesecake... when the bad news arrives, scream 'Strawberry Cheesecake!' and people might think you're a bit weird, but also, you might not get as tense. I don't know... I've never tried, which is why this is all conjecture...

At this point some might say 'But I like poo... I thrive on the stuff'.

To you, I have nothing to say, you are beyond the point of saving.