Americans rudest on the internet
For the Australian duo behind the research, it came as a surprise that the inhabitants of their own country did not lead the way, such is the stereotype that Aussies are easy-going and relaxed, in actions and words.
But Australians were only the third-most likely citizens to drop a swear word in conversation online.
The reason that America — viewed by some to be a more conservative and polite culture among English-speakers — is the most profane community online may be the anonymity of the screen, according to the study's co-author Martin Schweinberger, a linguist at the University of Queensland, Australia.
"Especially when you're not tied to what you write with your name, for example," said Schweinberger. "There are also cultural differences on what is allowed in social situations."
"Different cultures have different norms on when and what is permitted. It seems as if the Americans, basically, are more forgiving online," he said.
Billions of words
Schweinberger and collaborating linguist Kate Burridge evaluated 1.7 billion words used in online news stories, company websites, institutional publications, blogs and other web sources, across 20 English-speaking regions.
From these sources, they created a list of around 600 obscenities, including modified words and abbreviations, like "WTF", and dozens of variations of the "F" and "C" words and other vulgarities.
They then analysed how frequently those vulgarities appeared in the documents they had found online.
In their results, Americans topped the list with a curse word appearing 0.036 per cent of the time. That is equivalent to 36 curse words in a 100,000-word text.
The British were next, with 25 curses per 100,000 words. Then the Aussies with 22, Singaporeans with 21 and New Zealanders with 20.
Bangladeshis are the politest among English-speakers — just seven vulgarities per 100,000 words.
Polite in the real world
While a broad range of internet sources were used for the study, social media was excluded from the dataset.
That was done deliberately, said Schweinberger, because social platforms require more "weeding" of material that is not suitable for analysis.
However, he said they have analysed the use of vulgarities on social media — compared to face-to-face interactions — in a separate study.
The results, which have yet to be published, are quite different: On social media, New Zealanders top the list, ahead of the Irish and Australians, said Schweinberger.
And in face-to-face interactions, the American stereotype for conservatism is evident. "Face-to-face, the Americans are way down the list," Schweinberger said. "But social media basically had the same pattern that we find in general online data."
Swearing culture
For linguists, a data-rich analysis of the use of language online provides insight into how humans behave and interact.
Andrea Calude, a linguist at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, who was not involved in the study, said it was important to have a scientific approach to how words are used.
"Sometimes you think you know things which you don't, so you have to look at [the] data," said Calude. "We think of English as one thing — one language — but look at how different English [is used] around the world," Calude said.
In particular, the context in which speakers use vulgarity is a useful way to help non-native speakers integrate into a new environment.
"Even in this connected world, we each have our own idiosyncratic way of speaking locally," said Calude. "If you break those patterns, you identify yourself as not one of the locals. It speaks to this idea that there are local communities, even when you have a globalised world."
Schweinberger, who hails from Germany, knows it from personal experience. He once used vulgarity in the company of American colleagues and said he "could see their faces shift completely, as if I'd said something really horrible. I just wasn't aware of these cultural constraints."
Analysing vulgarity, he said, was not only a valuable tool for linguists but for people in all walks of life.
"When we think of these bad words or bad language, it's not that you need to avoid it, it's to learn when to use it appropriately," Schweinberger said, "and then it can be really effective for improving your communication style and skills."
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