If You Swear a Lot, You're Probably Pretty F***ing Honest

Dropping certain four-letter words may land you in hot water with Lorne Michaels, but it's not entirely a bad thing.

Sure, your mom probably washed your mouth out with soap growing up and you spent a significant amount of time in the principal's office, but you were probably better off than your lying little brother who always broke stuff and never owned up to it.

The point is that people who curse often are actually pretty fucking straight when it comes to the truth, and aren't so great at sugarcoating it.

While some uptight assholes may associate cursing with anger, loose morals, and a limited vocabulary, it's also been scientifically linked to honesty, according to a new study. Take THAT, Tipper Gore. 

Researchers came to this conclusion after submitting a questionnaire to subjects who were asked to list the curse words they liked and used the most, followed by a lie test. They found the people who jotted down more curse words were more truthful on their little honesty test, which gauged if participants were responding truthfully or in a way they thought was more socially acceptable. 

To prove their findings, they also took to Facebook (where everyone reveals the most sincere and candid version of themselves) and compared how 75,000 users posted profanity; people who cursed more were -- you guessed it -- found to be telling the truth about how shitty (or fan-fucking-tastic) their lives were.

Obviously there's no way to tell 100% if people are being honest on social media. The researchers assessed each post using language patterns that are associated with honesty, such as using "I" and "me" pronouns more often. 

"The relationship between profanity and dishonesty is a tricky one. Swearing is often inappropriate, but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion," said Dr. David Stillwell, a co-author on the study, according to ScienceDaily.

Of course, lying and swearing a lot aren't mutually exclusive; there are plenty of dishonest people who enjoy some profanity now and again. But now you can blame your R-rated vocabulary on the fact that you're just so brutally honest, you can't help it. That sounds way better than blaming it on the fucking morons who just piss you off all the time.

Sign up here for our daily Thrillist email, and get your fix of the best in food/drink/fun.

Christina Stiehl is a Health and fitness staff writer for Thrillist, gosh darn it. Follow her on Twitter @ChristinaStiehl.