It's quite a complex topic the more I think about it. I'll say it plainly: using swear words does not imply
stupid. However I do think there are cases in which it reveals a form of stupidity - namely emotional, the lack of higher EQ. Some examples:
SportFootballers swear pretty badly, right? English football is mixed in with a culture where supporters on average are mid to low socio-economic by status (ahem, with a slight problem of restless young males and
hooliganism). Moreover players swear often at the referee and the watching football crowd swear in their songs.
Compare this to F1. A sport which usually attracts more mid to high socio economic groups (ahem, Monaco GP). Even when your average F1 driver is close to being forced into a wall at 180 mph ...
... Barrichello reacted on the radio with:
'Horrible,' he screamed. 'He should be black-flagged.' . F1 drivers are frankly more intelligent that your average footballer right? Not only would this be for car set-up, data analysis, physics, calculating risk but also the technicians and engineers these drivers have to communicate with. As a result, they will apply a certain amount of EQ to engage with their teams in order to be the fastest on the track ... hence why they don't want to piss off their team members and they operate with higher levels of professionalism ... and low and behold ... no swearing by Barrichello over the radio, I reckon.
I see. So of course footballers don't have to get on with other team members. Right. And they don't have to consider strategy or anything else. Of course not.
And F1 drivers are not selected for primarily on the basis of ultra-fast reactions, superb vision and fitness. And of course you have comprehensive and reliable studies comparing the intelligence of footballers and F1 drivers.
You have provided one example of an F1 driver not swearing out of all the F1 drivers ever. I'm sure I could find one example of a footballer not swearing too.
One other thing about finance: like football, lives are not at risk. However, like F1, NASA is an organisation where lives are at risk. I don't think you'll find mission control people swearing and blinding for the same reason that an F1 driver needs to keep good relationships with his/her team members. This correlates back to EQ.
Poor analogy, which is going to get further hammered with regard to your next point. However, in F1 the people putting your life at risk are generally yourself and other drivers, not your team members. They just do their job on the pits. Swearing at someone who is about to force you into a wall may not bother your team members as you aren't swearing at them. Whether it does bother them or not is going to largely depend on how much they swear themeselves. If they have programmed themselves to be offended every time someone says fuck then it'll be a problem.
Male dominated industries/Catering industries
As mentioned in the article above, swearing is pretty prevalent in unprofessional/male dominated industries. I think there is a cultural element to it with the underlying that male men are aggressive, and when then can't resort to staying calm, they'll swear. Moreover, I don't think in unprofessional industries the perception and tact skills are in place to recognize when people are upset or angry, and this lack of empathy then requires someone to swear in order for the recipient to get the point. Serious low EQ going on here, both with the receiver and producer of the swearing.
This is where you get hammered.
I take it that you haven't really worked in "male dominated industries". I have. Some points for your consideration.
First, such industries are often potentially life threatening. I'm not joking. To stay alive and uninjured requires that everyone on site has a professional attitude and a high degree of awareness. So, don't make the mistake of calling these people "unprofessional" just because they don't wear ties. That's pure snobbery and ignorance on your part.
Second, on a fucking buildng site every cunt fucking swears all the bloody time without thinking about it. It has nothing to do with staying calm, nor does it necessarily have anything to do with agression (although of course it can). It is just part of the dialect, so to speak. I've heard plenty of blokes use "fukn" like "ummm" is used in more genteel circles: as a filler halfway through a sentence while they gather their thoughts.
In fact, when someone almost seriously injures or kills you (and I have had this happen to me and seen it happen to others) quite often the reaction wont involve swearing. A quiet "if looks could kill" stare at the offender is likely, along with some ostensibly mild comment, and this from a person who normally swears like a trooper. So this is a case of high stress situations resulting in less or even no swearing, whereas in casual and even humorous circumstances there is heaps of swearing.
Third, such people seem to have no trouble at all telling when a workmate is annoyed whether that person is swearing or not. Sure, people may swear when they are annoyed, but since they're swearing all the time anyway you couldn't tell just by their language. This means that to discern how your workmates are feeling you need to apply other methods like observing body language, tone of voice, and all the usual social cues that any normal person uses daily. So no, there is not seriously fucking low EQ going on here. Their ability in that respect is probably every bit as good as yours. Again, your attitude simply demonstrates ignorance and snobbery.
Now Oz, if you wish to discuss below the shallow layer, please feel free to write and I'm happy to read and learn things. On the other hand if you prefer a 2-5 word answer to caress your ego, then good for you.
Feel free to start learning from the above. If you prefer a wall of text to caress your ego, then good for you.
Topic: Fucking swearing and its implications.