Seventy years ago, in 1940, a popular science magazine published a short article that set in motion one of the trendiest intellectual fads of the 20th century. At first glance, there seemed little about the article to augur its subsequent celebrity. Neither the title, "Science and Linguistics," nor the magazine, M.I.T.'s Technology Review, was most people's idea of glamour.

Dropping the F-bomb or other expletives may not only be an expression of agony, but also a means to alleviate it Bad language could be good for you, a new study shows. For the first time, psychologists have found that swearing may serve an important function in relieving pain.