Angry woman driver yelling and honking at other cars on the road. Traffic jam. Editor at Large A swear word is like a linguistic punch in the nose. Virtually every language and culture has them—and ...

Effective communication lies at the heart of human connection. It helps us collaborate with each other, solve problems and build relationships. And communicating clearly is a major consideration for ...

These four sounds are missing from some of the seven words you can never say on television, and the pattern prevails in other languages too, researchers say. By Elizabeth Preston “Holy motherforking ...

Linguists have noticed that many swear words share the same sharp, punchy sounds—hard consonants like “k,” “t,” and “g” that burst out of the mouth rather than flow. When a study examined those sound ...

During the pandemic, many of us have felt our stress levels rise every time we hear the word “virus”. But few people realise that just the sound of the word virus alone is likely to raise the blood ...