@%*&#!

This is a big week for swearing-related news. Turns out, letting loose with a few choice expletives every now and then has certain benefits and certain drawbacks.
The week's better news for fans of blue language comes from the University of East Anglia, which reported earlier this week that, far from being inappropriate, spewing the occasional four-letter word in the workplace can benefit everyone by reducing stress and helping people get along. Because who hasn't felt better about their co-workers after letting loose with a long string of obscenities?
Randomly cursing at a computer when it won't print the document you want isn't causing a disruption, says the study, published in a recent edition of Leadership and Organisational Develop-ment Journal (Darn, and I just let my subscription lapse.). It's blowing off steam.
"In many cases, taboo language serves the needs of people for developing and maintaining solidarity, and as a mechanism to cope with stress," Barach told England's Sun newspaper. "Banning it could backfire."
Basically, the co-workers who curse together stay together.
Finally, a f***ing management style I can get behind.
Baruch seems to believe swearing at work is simply too common to control.
"Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner," he said. Apparently there is a way to swear in a positive, nurturing manner. "I love you, you little @#!*."
Though it is never specified, I can only assume the University of East Anglia has a lot of sailors on the payroll and that Baruch and Jenkins conducted the bulk of their research in the locker rooms of professional sports teams.
The news isn't all good on the pottymouth front, though. While swearing at work is apparently all the rage across the pond, in Pennsylvania the occasional curse word aimed at a malfunctioning potty can land you in jail.
According to web site ananova.com a West Scranton resident faces the possibility of up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 after her neighbor, a police officer, heard her swearing at an overflowing toilet. The police officer asked the woman to quiet down. When she didn't, he reported her.
I have to be honest, if this is the kind of trouble you can get in for swearing at inanimate objects in the privacy of your own home I just might go away from life.
For the record, the woman said she doesn't remember exactly what she said to her backflowing porcelain throne but admits she was frustrated and might have used some off-color language. She is fighting the charge with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"You can't prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet," ACLU representative Mary Catherine Roper told the Times-Tribune.
Darn tootin'.


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