Next time you stub your toe, go ahead and drop and F-bomb, it could help ease your pain. Researchers from England compared real and made-up expletives to see if there was a link between pain tolerance and uttering one or the other.
They found saying a made-up expletive did not alleviate pain in the same way that swearing for real did. Study leader and language expert Dr. Richard Stephens explains, "It seems swearing has a strong emotional connection, and this is likely due to the circumstances in which we first hear swear words. [...] Repeating the F-word was the best option for increasing tolerance to pain."