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Robin Abrahams writes the weekly "Miss Conduct"
column for The Boston Globe Magazine. More...
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Robin Abrahams also gives talks on a range of topics relating to social behavior, including etiquette, diversity, social anxiety, religion, and storytelling. Bring Miss Conduct's humor and common sense to your next meeting. For details, e-mail missconduct@globe.com.
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The cussing will continue until morale improvesBy Robin Abrahams
10:27 AM
Researchers at the University of East Anglia have done a delightful little study (which I'm sure isn't how they describe it to themselves) showing that workplace profanity can have positive effects on employee morale, stress level, and group cohesion. Apparently, you don't swear in front of bosses or customers, but swearing with (though not at) your peers has all kinds of nice social and psychological repercussions. Reper-cussin's! I like this, and not just because my own use of profanity (in private and among close friends) can be, at times, reminiscent of Deadwood in its range, syntactical complexity, and occasional employment of iambic pentameter and classical allusions. But because one of the important things that good manners gives us, paradoxically, is the ability to forgo manners when appropriate, in order to let people know that you've taken off your "company face." And knowing when to leave the formalities behind is an important part of building intimacy and trust. |
