The UK\u2019s first swear word census has been launched by linguists at the University of Sheffield, aiming to document the way people express themselves across the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project has invited the public to submit taboo words<\/a> and phrases they use in everyday life in the largest census of its kind looking at \u2018authentic\u2019 language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Submissions to the project are currently open with hundreds of responses and thousands of terms already submitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project is led by Dr Chris Montgomery, 44, a senior lecturer in Dialectology who said: \u201cWe don\u2019t know fully how people speak English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to capture the way people really speak in local communities, not just the standardised version.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The researchers are focusing on parts of the language that are often overlooked but are \u201cunfiltered and highly expressive.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr Montgomery said that ignoring swear words in research risks never fully understanding how language works in real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said: \u201cThe more data we have the better it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTraditional accents or dialects might sort of fade away in time or the differences between them might become lessened\u201d due to the popularity of social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The project has already uncovered lots of local insults, from the Scots-derived \u2018Glaikit<\/a>\u2019 to Hampshire\u2019s \u2018Dinlo<\/a>\u2019. Both of which Dr Montgomery said he had \u201cnever heard before\u201d but found “surprising and heartening.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n