“It’s not their checkered pasts, their questionable financial dealings, or even their bizarre religious tenets. You know what really scares the Republican candidates for the presidency? We do.” (Reuters )

“In this article, we’ll explore what makes words into swearwords, why most Americans use them and how society responds to swearing. We’ll also look at one of its most fascinating aspects — the way it affects your brain.”

“When I went to meet the editorial policy/legal people at the BBC, the first thing I wanted to know, as you can well imagine, was this: which swear words am I allowed to use?

I was shown a ranked list of rudeness. It was every bit as entertaining as I had hoped, but to my disappointment, there was no possibility of removing this fabulous document from the room. I don’t like to paint too much of a melodramatic picture, but the offending piece of paper was physically removed from my hand (I think they had the idea that I would scan it, post it on my blog, and write an article about it).

Anyway, I mentioned this to someone else from the BBC at a party recently: she sent me a copy this morning, and as you can see, I have indeed scanned it and posted it on my blog.” — Ben Goldacre (Bad Science)