Research about Profanity Use and a Cryptocurrency called Fucktoken (so much laughter!)

For people who are familiar with me, I have classically been described as "proper". I mind my 'p's' and 'q's', use my manners, and to the best of my ability limit the use of profanity. Expletives that I am likely to use include: Crumbs, sugar, and shivers, as well as combinations of sounds (i.e. crumb-ola) that are playful and generate amusement for others. The times that I have used profanity are when I am feeling raw emotions triggered by a threat to something that I value. Many people I know use profanity comfortably within their dialogue, with the most commonly used word being "fuck" - yes, I did actually use profanity within the opening paragraph of this post. So for those offended by the word, "fuck", this is not the post for you.

Research has explored the relationship between intelligence, pain tolerance, emotion regulation/expression, and honesty with profanity use. The findings indicated that those who use profanity are more likely to have increased verbal fluency (e.g., given a letter of the alphabet "D" in which the person has to generate as many words within a minute starting with that letter) and when asked to generate as many swear words as possible within the same time frame are able to generate a higher number comparative to those who generate a lower number in the alphabet fluency task. Fluency of swearing is also related to personality features of neuroticism (generally those with increased propensity to experience anxiety, sadness, worry and low self-esteem) and openness to experience (depicted as willingness to try new things and to be vulnerable; also referred to as intellect or imagination; Ackerman, 2017) . The interpretation of the findings is that for articulate people, swearing is used to maximise the effectiveness of the information communicated, with those more likely to swear prone to the experience of negative feelings, anxiety and worry, as well as a willingness to explore new things and to be vulnerable. Creativity, intelligence and imagination are linked to profanity use.

The following quote by Dr David Stillwell (Feldman et al., 2017) is of particular relevance to this post:
"Swearing is often inappropriate but it can also be evidence that someone is telling you their honest opinion. Just as they aren't filtering their language to be more palatable, they're also not filtering their views".

So what does this have to do with FuckToken?

Sourced from FuckToken Twitter feed dated 20.12.17.

Most people, might likely dismiss FuckToken based on the name of the cryptocurrency; I know that I nearly did. Then I became curious and decided to read the white paper available at https://fucktoken.com/. FuckToken is built on the Ethereum Blockchain. FuckToken, according to coinmarketcap.com has a market cap of USD$841,281, a circulating supply of 51, 392, 877 FUCK and total supply of 70, 856, 019 FUCK (information obtained on the 29.12.2017). I have decided to invest in FuckToken. I value what the cryptocurrency stands for, which is the "unique opportunity to express how you really feel" (FuckToken White Paper), consistent with the research that people who swear are more likely to be honest in their emotional expression and less likely to filter their opinions. FuckToken is about giving a "FUCK". The developers openly acknowledge that they have created a "novelty" token called FUCK akin to a video game credit like that used within World of Warcraft. The reference to World of Warcraft in the Whitepaper.....well for a nerd, this was GOLD!!

Peels of hysterical laughter have echoed through the house as I read the FuckToken whitepaper (possibly because I was simultaneously amused and perturbed by a formal document using the word "fuck" prolifically) and reading the posts available on FuckToken's Twitter feed (I love CryptoKitties!). I value humour; I value the opportunity to laugh unashamedly; I value giving a "fuck" and the awesome aspect of projects built on Blockchain - I choose the value in the project. I invest in the project because the values, mission statement, vision of a project fits with my value system and what I want to stand for. So I want to stand for giving a "fuck" and I am going to do this by investing in FUCK tokens.

Obtained from FuckToken's Twitter Feed posted on the 05.12.17 with the following caption: "Well played @cryptokitties"

Disclaimer: The post is of my own initiative. I am not associated with FuckToken. I found much humour in this cryptocurrency and when I experience an intense emotional response to a topic/idea/experience I am more motivated to write.

References/Sources:
Ackerman, C. (2017). The Big Five Personality Theory: The 5 Factor Model Explained (+PDF). https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/big-five-personality-theory/

Jay, K. L., & Jay, T. B. (2015). Taboo word fluency and knowledge of slurs and general pejoratives: Deconstructing the poverty of vocabulary myth. Language Sciences, 52, p.p. 251 - 259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2014.12.003

Think swearing isn't big or clever? Think again. Sourced from: https://theconversation.com/think-swearing-isnt-big-or-clever-think-again-71043

Gilad Feldman, G., Huiwen Lia, H., Michal Kosinski, M., & Stillwell, D., (2017). Frankly, we do give a damn: The relationship between profanity and honesty. Social Psychological and Personality Science 2017, Vol. 8(7) 816-826: DOI: 10.1177/1948550616681055 journals.sagepub.com/home/spp