Is swearing a sign of a limited vocabulary?

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In today’s column, Ann Landers waxes forth:

Regrettably, the use of foul language has increased not only on television, but in everyday public speech. I consider it a sign of limited verbal skills. Here’s a challenge for the young people in my reading audience: See how much your vocabulary improves when you express yourself without using a single vulgarity.

(Aside: does this mean I can keep using profanity?)

I’ve heard this argument a number of times before – not generally directed at me, because I don’t swear all that much.

I’ll grant you that some people who swear a lot have limited vocabularies – but some people who talk incessantly about sports or computers or fashion or whatever have limited vocabularies, as well.

And, obviously, some people curse eloquently and well, and some people just say “fuckin’” a lot.

But is there any factual basis for believing that the size of a person’s vocabulary can be measured by the foul language he or she uses? Or that using vulgar language diminishes my otherwise stellar vocabulary?

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Sorry for the thread duplication. IE seems to be acting up – both times I tried posting, I got messages saying that a connection failure had occurred.

Watch this message not make it through…