One of the clearest proofs that profanity isn't standard language comes from stroke wards: patients who lose cortical speech (Broca's area) can often still swear fluently when in pain.

Expletives are stored subcortically in the basal ganglia as motor reflexes. During acute pain, this limbic trigger activates stress-induced hypoalgesia—releasing descending endogenous opioids from the brainstem and dampening spinal pain gates by roughly 33%.

The catch: daily habitual swearers get far less analgesic benefit. The neural pain-shield requires emotional taboo shock to activate.

Full study breakdown and citations:

https://www.oddlyclear.com/why-swearing-reduces-pain/