[ExI] the king's speech

[Anders Sandberg]

spike wrote:
>  What made it interesting to me is that it had so much impact coming
> from someone who doesn't usually use the word.  Great line where the speech
> pathologist asked "Do you know the F word?"  Prince "F-F-F-Fornication."
>   

Rarely swearing makes the impact much better.

Swearing is often handled by the non-dominant hemisphere, too. In people 
with Broca's aphasia there are sometimes a few words that are spared, 
typically highly charged words. My maternal grandmother (a rather prim 
lady) got it, and could only say no and a particular curse word - she 
was surprisingly understandable. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that 
the same neural machinery shortcircuits the problems with stuttering too.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute 
James Martin 21st Century School 
Philosophy Faculty 
Oxford University