What do Tim Harris of Harris Coaching, Elon Musk of Everything and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan have in common? Probably a lot but we know one thing for sure…they all curse a lot. Likely Tim, for most of us anyway, is the one we know best and instead of being offended, shocked, outraged, whatever when he curses, we all tend to feel a sense of comradely with him when he does curse, feel more relaxed with him and feel like we can be more ourselves. (We’d probably feel the same with Musk and Dimon if we had the opportunity.)
Why do we feel closer and more relaxed with Tim and others who curse? Here are 5 reasons:
1. Cursers tend to create a sense of solidarity with their audience or peers. By breaking the rules a bit with language, people feel they can let their hair down with those who jostle the playing field a bit and make us smile. Cursing is considered by experts to be an effective stress and discomfort reliever.
2. Cursers tend to denote honesty. According to a recent study in the Social, Psychological and Personality Science Review, people who regularly use salty language tend to be and are seen by others as more honest than those who don’t spice their words.
3. People who curse may be smarter than those who don’t. Marist College published a study recently that indicated cursers are more likely to have superior linguistic abilities. People who curse tend to have a strong need to emphasize ideas, opinions, information with robust and sometimes surprising language.
4. Timing is everything, right? When someone ‘s cursing is well timed, that person can add levity and humor to the workday. As long as the person cursing picks his/her moments, her/his language breaks societal rules, feels good to hear and seemingly gives everyone permission to speak more freely, whether or not they choose to curse themselves.
5. Cursing can be very persuasive and can often have a very positive impact on an audience…sometimes, cursing can even sway audience opinion.
So, keep on cursing to us, Tim Harris. Keep our humor and attitudes light, keep us entertained and let us know that we too can drop our masks and become truly authentic in this Harris Coaching process. While you are simultaneously and appropriately cursing when you impart your wisdom to us each and every day, you are helping us focus, grasp and digest that wisdom.
