Amber Minogue

Are rude people really smarter?

Thanks for asking.

Bloody hell, shit, bugger.

There, I said it.

You've probably been told that swearing reflects poor vocabulary or bad manners.

But that assumption doesn't really hold up.

Several studies suggest that people who use more profanity don't just score higher on IQ tests, they also tend to have broader vocabulary overall.

So why would swearing be linked to intelligence?

In 2015, linguist Kristen and Timothy Jay ran a study comparing people's performance on a verbal fluency test, the COAT, with their ability to generate swear words.

Participants who performed best linguistically were also the ones who could produce the most taboo terms.

The takeaway?

Knowing and using profanity doesn't signal weak language skills.

If anything, it can reflect the opposite.

The research also suggested that people comfortable using coarse language often score higher on openness, one of the five major personality traits in psychology.

And there's more.

Psychologist Emma Sapala at Stanford tracked 600 parents and children over two decades.

Her findings indicated that people who express their emotions more freely, including through swearing, also tend to score higher on measures of intelligence.

According to her interpretation, that emotional expressiveness can reflect stronger cognitive and emotional abilities.

And can being rude actually be good for your health?

Some evidence suggests it might.