The power of swearing: What we know and what we don’t

•Swearing is different from and more powerful than other forms of language use.•Research review shows physiological, cognitive, emotional and interactional effects.•An explanation is aversive classical conditioning (ACC) (childhood punishment for swearing).•Many questions remain unanswered, including the role of positive swearing experiences.•Future research should focus on: memory; empirical basis for ACC; a wide demographic.