Soccer star Wayne Rooney is a naughty, naughty boy. He - brace for this- swore into TV cameras.
Rooney's hat trick (a rarity in soccer) pretty much guaranteed that his team, Manchester United, won the English Premier League. He then ran over to the TV cameras and let out a potpourri of obscenities. He received a two match ban for this, and police reported that similar behavior would've gotten him arrested in a different situation.
To put this into perspective, players often get similar punishments for tackles (with obvious intent) that break other player's legs, or otherwise seriously injure them (for instance tackling with "studs up" after leaping into the air).
So, basically, the punishment is equating a largely intentional act resulting in severe injury, to swearing into a televison camera. This is completely insane, isnt' it? So why do people freak out so badly about swearing?
Well, there obviously are a lot of different reasons. The most basic is that breaking social norms often makes people very, very uncomfortable. But, this doesn't explain why the norms exist in the first place.
Research from a variety of perspectives suggests that humans tend to see themselves as a unique, and superior species. The traits that people believe to separate humans from other animals often involve such things as civility, refinement, and self-control. In turn, swearing threatens this basic human need to see ourselves as unique from other animals, because it shows a lack of refinement, civility and control (although, it is ironic, because animals obviously can't swear).
This need for (perceived) superiority to animals serves several functions, such as promoting self-esteem, but also coherance and structure. If humans are distinct from animals, that puts beings (humans, other animals) into categories that helps people make easy sense of the world (similar to stereotypes).
However, it also serves to protect people from death anxiety. For instance, work by Jamie Goldenberg (University of South Florida psychology professor) and colleagues has found in a variety of contexts that reminders of death lead people to perceive themselves as unique from animals. For instance, they spend less time doing, or show less interest in, behaviors that humans and animals share (like physical sex). They also agree less with an essay arguing that humans are just like other animals, and, also, rate their own groups as more unique from animals.
Research has also shown that reminders of death lead people to be more negative towards norm violators in different contexts. For instance, people are more punishing of prostitutes (set higher bail). People also are more uncomfortable violating social norms themselves when death is salient, such as when asked to use a U.S. flag to filter red dye, or a cross to hammer a nail.
So why did people freak out about Wayne Rooney swearing? Perhaps, this tirade signalled (in people's minds) that humans can behave in animalistic ways, which in turn, threatens the very core of people's defenses against the most basic of human anxieties - fear of death.
