“The heart rates of the volunteers who swore went up relative to those who didn’t — an indication that swearing had indeed engaged the parts of the brain involved in emotion. Notably, the volunteers weren’t shouting the curse word but were merely repeating it, without affect. The physical effect seemed to result from the word itself, not from the manner in which it was expressed.” The New Yorker on why swearing makes you stronger. (If this were true, the average American liberal would be able to bench press about 600 pounds by now…)