I don't think swearing is a direct signal, but rather an amplifier of existing signals.

Person with other signals indicating dominance -> increase power.

Person with other signals indicating lowly stature -> increases indication of lack of self control or weakness.

I guess like all human relations it depends is the caveat that applies.

Theres many reasons to use profanity. While it can signal poor self control or even just poor intelligence or vocabulary, if youre already established well in those ways, can be used to establish intimacy, or im wild or unpredicatable.

For instance, Trump saying son of a bitch in a speech I felt was particularly shocking, even by his standards, but totally contrived.

> While it can signal poor self control

It’s not always useful to be seen as stable or a worthy adversary. Being unpredictable or flying under the radar are legitimate strategies.

Pft. That's an empty slogan to make puritans feel better about themselves. Plenty of smart people swear. They just don't swear to extreme, and control their swearing when they're speaking formally.

As a ridiculously obvious example, look at Steve Jobs, darling of this site. Whether you love or loathe him, if you think he was an inferior intellect, you should be questioning your own.

And the attitude is seriously misguided. I really can't swear in Norwegian, but my native English? Sure thing. And it really limits my expression in Norwegian.

The truth is that it takes some skill and knowledge to properly swear. And it has its place: Using other words simply don't get the point across nearly as well and folks can easily misinterpret your meaning (Example: Angry verses creatively displeased or disgusted). Using alternatives (in English things like "fudge") are equally powerful and equally difficult to place in the right context.

From my experience, swearing seems to be one of the last few things you acquire when getting competent in a foreign language. (Ignoring the fun “Teach me some swears!” pastime of a beginner—they learn the words but not how to use them.) In my time working as a programmer, most of my coworkers have been non-native English speakers, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the ones who swear the most are also the most generally proficient in English.

Most of those top few are also native speakers of languages that are closely related to English, such as German, Dutch, and French, but curiously, the one who curses the most, and the most proficiently, is Israeli.

In reality, it seems that fluency in swearing is simply correlated with general fluency.

( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0388000114... )

Haha, I read that at first as "the person swearing would have come into contact with an inferior intellect" and therefore started swearing. :)

Right, me too, or rather it’s mostly not of much consequence to me. But is a large part of the population different in this regard?

Not competence--dominance, or independence

Competence was taken from the article:

"Those who use foul language on social networks (such as Twitter) are sending an expensive signal that they are free – and, ironically, competent. You don’t signal competence if you don’t take risks for it - there are few such low risk strategies. So cursing today is a status symbol, just as oligarchs in Moscow wear blue jeans at special events to signal their power."

I interpret that quote as meaning that swearing signals independence, independence signals competence.

Competence in this case means the ability to do something genuinely, without strings attached (independent, no hidden motives). This is important in determining a speaker's legitimacy, truthfulness, the provenance of what they are saying.