Why do confused or stroke patients still manage to swear when they can barely speak otherwise?

Question

I have seen patients with infection or electrolyte imbalances swearing like a trooper and then being mortified when they recovered and learned how they had behaved.

I also suspect that swearing is a deep rooted ability as I can remember my baby daughter giving me an earful when I had done something terrible like take sweets away from her. This was before she could speak properly but the intent in her babble was perfectly clear!

Answer 1

some of them can't. some of them can't speak at all, swearing or otherwise. maybe it's because of the change in temprament, maybe because most swearwords are one syllable. i knew someone who had a stroke, they could manage small words like "god" or "ahra"...so if you use that basis, swearing could work quite well.

Answer 2

This is from a really neat article on the history of swearing.

Also, my mom works as a Director of Nursing at a Rehab/Long-Term Care facility that houses many stroke victims and Alzheimer's patients.  She is very familiar with the swearing and has also told me this in the past.

Hope this helps...

"The human instinct to swear is evident in Alzheimer's disease and Tourette syndrome patients. Alzheimer's patients suffer a neurodegenerative disorder which causes forgetfulness and, eventually, impairment of language abilities. Neuron atrophy in the frontal lobe of the brain gradually attacks the patients' language abilities, slowly impairing their language faculties. In Alzheimer's patients, the ability to swear remains intact much longer than other language abilities, suggesting that swearing is controlled by its own area within the brain. Similarly, Tourette syndrome patients sometimes exhibit a symptom neurologists call coprolalia, or the spontaneous, involuntary utterance of socially objectionable words. No one knows exactly what causes coprolalia, but some researchers have found that the symptom subsides when the patient is playing music—an act which utilizes the emotional center of the brain. Since researchers have found that obscenities utilize the emotional faculties of the brain more than ordinary language, it's possible that music could alleviate the involuntary cursing symptom by distracting the emotional center. If it is being used to produce music, the individual ceases involuntary cursing because the emotional part of the brain required to do so is already in use. Both of these examples provide evidence that the brain is "wired" to swear. People are born with an innate urge and ability to swear."

Answer 3

When a person has a stroke their brain is very often affected with various degrees from person to person.

Some patients who were calm and easy going before their stroke can become hostile and aggressive, and I have known people who never swore but after their stroke swore constantly! It's all down to the damage that has been done to the brain.