WHY WE CURSE -- Title page -- LCC data -- Acknowledgements -- Table of Contents -- Part I Introduction to the Study of Cursing -- Chapter 1 Tourette Syndrome and Coprolalia:The Need for a Theory -- What We Don't Know About Tourette Syndrome -- Coprolalia Reveals a Nexus for Cursing -- Plan of the Book -- Chapter 2 Psycholinguistics and Cursing -- What Is "Cursing"? -- Academia, Language, and Cursing -- Cursing Research throughout the History of Language Research -- Cursing Research Ignored in Experimental Psychology -- Perceptual Defense -- Psycholinguistics -- Historical-Social and Dictionary Approaches to Cursing -- Cursing Is Verbal Behavior -- What Is "Language"? -- Conclusion -- Chapter 3 The Neuro-Psycho-Social Theory of Cursing -- Chapter 4 Postulates of the NPS Theory -- Supporting and Integrating the Postulates -- Each Person Learns the Grammar of Cursing -- Part II Neurological Factors Underlying Cursing -- Chapter 5 Propositional Speech, Nonpropositional Speech, and the Right Cerebral Hemisphere -- Aphasia and Left Hemisphere Brain Damage (LBD) -- Cursing Research After Broca and Jackson -- The Work of Van Lancker and Code -- Other Neurological Reports Linking the RH to Cursing -- The Right Hemisphere and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 6 Emotional Speech and the Emotional Brain -- From Behaviorism to Information Processing Models of Speech -- The Emotion Gap in Psychological Research -- The Emotional and Verbal Brain -- Emotion and Subcortical Areas -- Response Cries -- Emotions and Emotion Words -- The NPS Theory: Cursing and Emotion -- Chapter 7 Anger and Verbal Aggression -- Cursing and Anger: Field Studies of Emotional Speech -- Anger and Brain Functions -- Forms of Verbal Aggression -- Stages of Hostile and Instrumental Cursing -- Anger: A Neuro-Psycho-Social Process -- Chapter 8 Coprolalia and Mental Disorders.

Cursing and Brain Dysfunction -- Nonpropositional Cursing (Coprolalia) -- Propositional Forms of Cursing (Voluntary, Strategic) -- Coprolalia and The NPS Theory -- Chapter 9 Neurological Control of Cursing -- Is There a Cursing "Module" in the Brain? -- What Is "Uncontrollable" Cursing? -- Does the Caudate Nucleus Act as a Cursing "Brake"? -- How Is the Frontal Lobe Involved in Cursing? -- What Do Mental Disorders Tell Us about Coprolalia? -- How Is Physical Aggression Related to Verbal Aggression? -- Toward a Complete Neurological Theory of Cursing -- Part III Psychological Factors Underlying Cursing -- Chapter 10 Psychological Aspects of Cursing -- Learning to Talk, Learning to Curse -- Awareness of and Memory for Cursing Episodes -- Personality Factors: Motives and Restraints -- Speech Habits and Social Learning -- Sexual Identity and Sexual Terminology -- Everyone Knows How to Curse: Implicit Knowledge of Cursing -- The NPS Theory and Psychological Motives for Cursing -- Chapter 11 Language Acquisition andCognitive Growth -- Children's and Adults' Cursing -- Cognitive, Social, and Moral Awareness -- Moral Reasoning -- The NPS Theory, Cursing Acquisition, and Persistence -- Chapter 12 Memory and Awareness of Cursing -- A Depth-of-Encoding Approach -- Laboratory Research on Memory for Curse Words -- Memory and Likelihood of Cursing -- Chapter 13 Personality, Religiosity, and Sexual Anxiety -- Offendedness and Offensiveness -- Personality and Cursing -- Religiosity -- Broadcast Language -- Laboratory Studies -- Sexual Anxiety, Sexual Guilt, and Sexual Repression -- Free Association Research -- Introversion-Extraversion -- Potential Personality-Cursing Correlates -- Hostility or Type A Personality -- Emotional Temperament -- Masculinity-Femininity -- Antisocial Personality -- Moral Reasoning -- Personality and Likelihood of Cursing.

Chapter 14 Speech Habits and Social Learning -- Cursing and Operant Conditioning (Behavior Modification) -- Cursing Environments -- The NPS Theory and the Habit of Cursing -- Chapter 15 The Sexual Lexicon -- Parenting Practices -- Sexual Terms and Sexual Identity -- Sexual Lexicon and Communication Context -- Euphemisms for Sexual Terms -- A Preference for Sexual Slang -- Sexual Slang, Sexual Intimacy, and Context -- Communication during Love Making -- Chapter 16 Syntax and Semantics -- Denotative and Connotative Reference -- Emotional Intensification -- Anger Metaphors and Sexual Figurative Speech -- Cursing and Production Rules -- Following the Rule: Prenominal Adjective Ordering -- Pragmatic Meaning -- Morphology and Infixing -- Slips of the Tongue -- Flame Detection -- A Grammar of Curse Words -- Part IV Social and Cultural Factors Underlying Cursing -- Chapter 17 Pragmatics and Cultural Contexts -- Pragmatics -- Word Appropriateness -- Word Offensiveness -- Cultural Context -- Insults and Culture -- Foreign Language and Interlingual Taboos -- Culture, Context, and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 18 Speaker Power -- Power and Class -- Class Consciousness and the "Put Down" -- Power and Race -- Power and Occupation -- Listeners' Perceptions of Speakers Who Curse -- Power and Age -- Power and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 19 Gender Identity -- Gender Identity -- Men and Women Cursing -- Sexual Terminology -- Joke Telling -- Verbal Dueling -- Harassment and Fighting Words -- A Caution -- Gender-Related Insults -- Media Stereotypes -- Gender Identity and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 20 Slang -- Functions of Slang -- Opposing Authority -- Personal Identity -- Offensive Semantics -- Sexuality and Slang -- Name Calling and Insulting Slang -- Other Offensive Slang -- Slang and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 21 Humor Elicitation -- Forms of Humor: Offensive Jokes and Wit.

Other Forms of Offensive Humor -- Cartoons, Email, and Graffiti -- Bawdy Limericks and Songs -- The Context of Humor -- Group Dynamics -- Group Identity -- Ethnic Identity and Humor -- Unwanted Humor: Sexual Harassment -- Humor and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 22 Religion, Taboo Speech, and Word Magic -- Dangerous Language -- Profanity and Blasphemy -- The Power of Religion and the Power of Speech -- A Matter of Context -- Religious Cursing -- Religious Humor -- Taboo Speech and Word Magic -- Cursing -- Word Magic and Animal Names -- Animal Name Insults -- Religion, Taboo Speech, Word Magic, and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 23 Scatology and The Language of Disgust -- Dirty Words -- Children, Scatology, and "Toilet" Language -- Body Products -- Disgust, Scatology, and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 24 Customary Restrictions: From Etiquette To Law -- Etiquette -- Beyond Etiquette -- Religious Censorship -- Political Correctness -- Between Etiquette and Law: Corporate Censorship -- Sports Conglomerates -- Entertainment Industries -- Business World -- A Secular-Legal Perspective -- When Must We Restrict Words? -- Do Words Wound? -- Restricted Speech and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 25 Evolving Language Standards -- Evolving Standards -- Legal Restrictions on Speech -- Fighting Words -- Obscene Speech -- Abusive and Discriminatory Speech -- Verbal Harassment -- Evolving Standards and the NPS Theory -- Chapter 26 Tourette Syndrome: Cross-Cultural Comparisons -- Cross-Cultural Research -- American, British, and Canadian English -- Middle East -- Japan -- Brazil -- Spain -- Hong Kong -- Reporting Cross-Cultural Research -- Cross-Cultural Coprolalia and the NPS Theory - The Nexus -- Part V Why Do We Swear? Why Do We Choose The Words We Do? -- We Swear Because... -- We Choose The Words We Do Because... -- Chapter 27 Social and Legal Issues Involving Cursing.

Sexual Harassment -- Hate Speech, Gender, and Racial Discrimination -- Sex Education, Public Health, and AIDS -- Child, Elder, Spouse, and Co-worker Verbal Abuse -- Violence and Verbal Aggression -- Censorship and Mass Media Issues -- Views of Speech in the University -- Chapter 28 Ignorance, Misinformation, and Fallacies about Cursing -- Myths about Cursing -- Myth 1: Cursing is not really language. -- Myth 2: Cursing is not important for or essential to language. -- Myth 3: Cursing is bad, but it can be eliminated from use. -- Myth 4: Cursing is a modern problem. -- Myth 5: Children can and should be prevented from cursing. -- Myth 6: Cursing is mainly a problem for the teenage years. -- Myth 7: Cursing is a habit of the undereducated and lower classes. -- Myth 8: People are cursing more now than ever before. -- Myth 9: Cursing occurs because people cannot control themselves. -- Myth 10: Cursing is due to an impoverished lexicon and laziness. -- The Frequency of Cursing -- A Decade of Cursing Research -- Results -- The NPS Theory and the Myths about Cursing -- Chapter 29 Future of Cursing Research -- Neuroscience -- Aging -- Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Language Models -- Human Sexuality and Education -- Multicultural and Diversity Issues -- Legal-Social Problems -- Psychological Training and DSM-IV -- The End, the Beginning -- Bibliography -- Index.