Bang. "OW! $#!+, $#!+!!!"

Ever bang your thumb with a hammer? Bash your toe on the foot board? Would you really want anyone to hear the very first words out of your mouth? Probably not. Swearing is just what we have to do at such moments of intense pain.

Now new research is showing why we don't talk rainbows and unicorns when we drop a bowling ball on the toe we stubbed last night because our thumb was too sore to hold on to it. The new study published in the journal NeuroReport concludes swearing may actually decrease our pain.

What is clear is that swearing triggers not only an emotional response, but a physical one too, which may explain why the centuries-old practice of cursing developed and still persists today.