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PACIFIC OCEAN - Well, d**n. Maybe you hit your head on your rack waking up first thing this morning. Then you scrubbed and cleaned that ladderwell during ownership hour until those navy platters shone, only to have Seaman Timmy spill his hint of spice latte all over it and keep walking. Sometimes it just makes a sailor want to sink to their knees and curse to the heavens.
We’ve all had those days – where the only release valve we can turn is a familiar string of obscenities, and sometimes you just got to “Curse like a Sailor.”
A 2020 study from the School of Psychology in Keele, United Kingdom, has shown that swearing relieves stress, dulls the sensation of pain, fosters camaraderie among peers and is linked with traits like verbal fluency, openness and honesty.
The results of cursing are physical as well as mental. In a 2018 study, researchers from the Psychology of Sport and Exercise international forum found that letting out a few choice words during a workout can actually make you stronger. In the study, participants who cursed aloud while gripping a hand vise were able to squeeze harder and longer.
Cursing like a sailor specifically though seems to be a universal paradigm known about our culture. After all, no one says, “He swears like a Marine!”
Swearing can also cause a negative image of Sailors among conservative cultures. According to a 1699 sermon by the Puritan preacher Cotton Mather, “It has been an observation, older than the days of Plato that the sea is a school of vice. Is not the sin of profane swearing and cursing, become too notorious among our sailors?”
Merriam-Webster, the “dictionary people,” believe that by the late 1800s, one of the most notable aspects of navy culture was their language. Sailors had a reputation for being colorful characters with expletive-laden speech. The world ‘salty’ even changed to describe the crude speech and explosive anger of sailors instead of the ocean waves they made their living on.
Being ship’s company on a large aircraft carrier is dangerous and technically demanding. Every aspect of our profession requires coordinated teamwork, and a “weak link” can cause grave injury or death. Winning the trust and respect of our shipmates is essential, which means convincing each other we’re part of the Naval community, and speaking like a sailor is a big mark of showing you belong.
After all, we have a whole set of specialized shipboard jargon – from scuttlebutts to bulkheads – which sounds like some foreign language; proficiency with foul language can also be a sign that you are experienced and trusted. But holding back on an explicative word can also show you are professional.
To modern ears, the word ‘d**n’ barely registers, but at sea centuries ago, the word packed a heavyweight punch. Historian Paul Gilje explains in in his book, “To Swear like a Sailor: Maritime Culture in America 1750-1850,” misusing the world ‘d**n’ was sinful business and part of the appeal. Winning acceptance into the sailors’ brotherhood often meant actively rejecting the mainstream society, at least while aboard the ship.
Gilje points out that most of 18th and 19th-century America were Christians, and quotes a repentant sailor in a New York prayer meeting, “I have often called on God to d**n my body and my soul, yards and sails, rigging and blocks, everything below and aloft, the ship and my shipmates.”
Does the average Nimitz sailor still deserve the reputation as a frequent and creative curser over the other military branches? Maybe, maybe not, but d**n if I know.
***USS Nimitz (CVN 68) does not condone or support any use of explicit language.***
| Date Taken: | 03.13.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.27.2023 10:42 |
| Story ID: | 460871 |
| Location: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
| Web Views: | 729 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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