What makes a word a ‘taboo’, and what power do these words hold?

Research conducted by experts across 17 countries and in 13 different languages aimed to explore just that.

The study found there is an intrinsic link between a country’s culture and its swear words, and that the type of taboo words reported can be indicators to the social hierarchies present in that country.

Simone Sulpizio, Psychology Professor at the University of Milano-Bicocca and lead author of the study joins Seán to discuss.