Good news - especially for big fans of dropping F-bombs.  It is official and scientifically proven – swearing is good for you!

During my tedious 5 year study of applied psychology I learned that there are many coping styles and strategies for dealing with stress. Among the most popular and most effective ones are:  humor, relaxation, seeking support , physical recreation and now also….cursing! And so that you wouldn’t accuse me of empty theories here, google /baidu the psychologists from England’s Keele university, who found that cursing is ‘a harmless emotional release and can make you feel stronger and more resilient’. And it can even relieve pain!

Very true. I can say from my own experience, that, for example – whenever my love/hate relationship with China happens to be more on the hate side – you know – one of those days when you , let’s say , immediately need a taxi. It’s raining and you desperately need to be at the airport/railway station well in advance, you are running out of time and the taxi - shifus don’t notice your existence, the juicy ‘F’ bomb (well – in my case – Polish K – bomb, because somehow it is  more powerful to me) will help me vent all the negative emotions I might have in such moment.

However, since we are in China, it would be good for all of us to know how the locals  release their daily frustrations – maybe their use will turn out more effective than those you have been employing so far!

Here’s the list of 5 most useful/popular ones, necessary for our survival Chinese :

1) 我操 - wǒ cào – where the second character means ‘fuck’. Some common variants of this character include 草 (“cao”) or 靠 (“kao”).The use of this one is exactly the same as the precious English ‘F bomb’, however to me still loses to my Polish counterpart – ‘kurva’, also appreciated by some foreigners.

2) 傻屄 – shǎbī – imagine – It’s 2 or 3 am,super cold or rainy  and a drunk crowd is waiting outside on the Bund, trying to get a taxi. If you implement your evil plot and jump out of nowhere, stealing the cab just right in front of someone, then – assuming the person was Chinese – expect to be called ‘shǎbī’ – that means for them you are ‘stupid cunt/asshole’

3) 滚开/ 滚蛋 -   gǔn kāi   /gǔn dàn (dàn is ruder than kāi according to my trusted source)  – Again, picture the above Bund situation. If you feel the need to defend your ‘honor’ for being called ‘shǎbī’ , you might want to shout back  gǔn kāi   /gǔn dàn  or just ‘gǔn’ - - which alone is more powerful than when assisted by kāi/ dàn and simply means ‘fuck off!’ Just be sure that first you lock the door.

4) 放屁     -     fàng pì  - Picture this – You are at the fake market and there is this nice bag you want to buy for 80 RMB. The vendor keeps telling you it is real leather and won’t go down below 300 RMB, calling you ‘my friend’. You are so frustrated that you walk away, and he/she says’ ok, ok  - 290!’ then you could ease the pain of  your mental disappointment saying ‘fàng pì ‘ which stands for ‘nonsense/bullshit’ ( although the literal translation means ‘fart’).

5) 脑残 / 脑子进 水 – nǎocán/ nǎo zi jìn shuǐ. The best example for the use. Imagine – it is summer, 35 degrees – you just parked your bike for a minute outside Family Mart to grab some nice, cold water. You get out only to see a person walking away with your vehicle, telling you it is theirs. After the first shock, and before you run to claim what is rightfully yours, you can say ‘nǎocán,’ which means that the self proclaimed , new  bike’owner’ is retarded ( the character 脑 stands for  brain’and   残 means  incomplete, destroy and the full meaning is  ‘brain dead/shithead’) Or nǎo zi jìn shuǐ – where nǎo zi means ‘brain’ and ‘jìn shuǐ’ – ‘water inside’.

Timothy Jay -  a psychologist who devoted 35 years (!) of his life to study our use of profanities - explains that cursing is more than just the release of aggression . “It allows us to vent or express anger, joy, surprise, happiness," he remarks. "It's like the horn on your car, you can do a lot of things with that, it's built into you." Well, and obviously – get used to  a new culture, he forgot to add.