I Swear!

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By Mike Arnold on Thursday, April 22, 2004.
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You can?t avoid it anymore? from South Park to C-Span to the Superbowl, profanity is becoming part of our television?s scripts, our pop-culture vernacular and our everyday language. Now, the FCC is looking to crack down on profanity by issuing fines and delaying broadcasts. Today on the Exchange, we look at the biological, psychological and social elements of curse words and profanity. Mike's guests are Dr. Timothy Jay, Professor of Psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, MA and author of "Cursing in America: A Psycholinguistic Study of Dirty Language in the Courts, in the Movies, in the Schoolyards and on the Streets" and "Why We Curse: A Neuro-Psycho-Social Theory of Speech". And Robert J. Thompson, Professor of Television and Pop Culture and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communication.

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