Why does human (in general) seem to recall/retrieve dirty vocabulary much faster than “normal” ones?
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Because fuck and shit are usually said loud and without other words around. They’re not part of a longer sentence where you need to decipher the meaning. Someone stubs their toe, they scream Fuck. It’s a single syllable, easy to pronounce and obviously something you say loudly so kids will repeat it. And then grown-ups react and tell the kid to stop – which only eggs the kid on because it got a reaction from saying fuck.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoalgesic_effect_of_swearing
This is sort of tangentially related, but it speaks to why what you’re describing happens; swearing isn’t just encoded in the sense of vocabulary in our brains, it’s also encoded emotionally. This is why it’s much quicker so say “Fuck!” when you stub your toe than “I just stubbed my toe!”. Swearing appears to be much more quickly accessible as an emotional response, similar to grunting or yelling in pain.
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