Researchers assessed the effects of a conventional swear word (“f**k”) and two new “swear” words identified as both emotion-arousing and distracting: “fouch” and “twizpipe.” A mixed sex group of participants completed a repeated-measures experimental design augmented by mediation analysis. The independent variable was repeating one of four different words: “f**k” vs. “fouch” vs. “twizpipe” vs. a neutral word. The dependent variables were emotion rating, humor rating, distraction rating, cold pressor pain threshold, cold pressor pain tolerance, pain perception score, and change from resting heart rate. ⁠ ⁠ _____⁠ ⁠ Mediation analyses were conducted for emotion, humor, and distraction ratings. For conventional swearing (“f**k”), confirmatory analyses found a 32% increase in pain threshold and a 33% increase in pain tolerance, accompanied by increased ratings for emotion, humor, and distraction, relative to the neutral word condition. The new “swear” words, “fouch” and “twizpipe,” were ra...