Researchers at Keele University released findings showing that letting loose a string of expletives actually has the effect of dulling the sensation of pain.Actually, I don't think this is true. At best, it's incomplete. I think cursing has the effect of dulling fear.
...The volunteers lasted longer while cursing, and the students who didn't usually curse found the pain-dulling effects of cussing four times stronger than their more foul-mouthed peers.
Shortly after graduating from high school, a high school friend and I took a month-long, 6500-mile auto trip around the American and Canadian West. A second friend flew up and joined us in Seattle.
One of our stops was at Mt. Hood, Oregon. My friend David was prepared for the icy summit, but I wasn't. He had an ice axe, but the best I could scrounge from the ski slopes was a bamboo pole.
As happens on many warm summer's days, on August 1, 1974, the snow on top of Mt. Hood partially-melted, to form a superficial slush. The snow was still rock-hard right under the surface, however. That combination of slush and ice made the summit's afternoon slopes extremely-slippery.
Descending from the top around 5 p.m., my friend David was able to control his slippery descent with his ice axe, but my bamboo pole was nearly useless for that purpose. I was hurtling straight towards a crevasse near the summit, which sported a 100-to-140 foot tall cliff. Painful death appeared certain.
I aimed my descent and plummeted straight into my friend, who was able to arrest both our descents with his ice axe. I started cursing him with the foulest epithets imaginable, even though he had just saved my life. It felt good to blame him for my misery, whether he deserved it, or not, but it also allowed me to concentrate on the task at hand. I quickly learned to roll over and hug the snow in order to stop sliding rather than remain on my back. Also, by taking baby steps and using my bamboo pole better, I was able to slowly remove myself from the dangerous slope.
So, cursing is fear control in my book, not pain control.
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