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Crikey Bendigo, you kiss your mother with that mouth?

January 22, 2024 BY

Strewth: Bendigo the nation’s capital of cuss according to recent study. Photo: FILE

SURVEY conducted by eLearning platform Preply has concluded that Bendigo is the swear capital of Australia.

What does this mean exactly? Not much really, except the city now has national recognition for its penchant for letting f-bombs off as Woollies.

Preply language expert Sylvia Johnson said swearing is a psychologically revealing language tool that enables people to express emotion, solidarity, or dominance.

“It embodies a raw form of communication that not only encapsulates feelings but also reflects our inner psychological state,” she said.

To get the results, Preply asked 1500 residents from the 22 largest Australian cities how many times per day they swear.

Bendigo was found to swear up to 21 times per day, with Toowoomba coming in second at 18 per day, followed by the Gold Coast with 17.

The national average was found to be 14 curse words per day, and the study found that the politest city is Hobart, with only six swears a day.

Ms Johnson said by understanding swear conventions across populations it is possible to get an understanding of other societal norms.

“As linguists, the versatility of swearing offers intriguing insights into the social, psychological, and neurobiological aspects of human communication,” she said.

“It lends itself to diverse expressions, woven into both the banality and fervour of everyday language while illustrating the remarkable plasticity of linguistic structures.”

It was also found that the most common place people swear is while driving, and the least likely setting for expletives is the workplace.

The study was unable to determine why people in Bendigo speak with a more colourful expression than other cities.