COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Maybe Ohio’s capital city needs to have its mouth washed out with soap.
A recent survey found residents of Columbus, Ohio, swear the most out of America’s 30 biggest cities.
The survey, released by preply.com, states the average Columbus resident curses, on average, 36 times per day. Columbus was followed by Las Vegas, Nevada (30) and Jacksonville, Florida (28). On average, Americans swear 21 times a day.
Columbusites also responded that they are most likely (69%) to swear while at work.
The top 13 cities that use the most swear words per day are:
| Rank | City | Number of swear words per day |
| 1 | Columbus, Ohio | 36 |
| 2 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 30 |
| 3 | Jacksonville, Florida | 28 |
| 4 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | 25 |
| 4 | Dallas, Texas | 25 |
| 4 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 25 |
| 4 | Indianapolis, Indiana | 25 |
| 5 | San Francisco, California | 24 |
| 5 | Fort Worth, Texas | 24 |
| 5 | Louisville, Kentucky | 24 |
| 6 | Washington, D.C. | 22 |
| 7 | Los Angeles, California | 21 |
| 7 | Austin, Texas | 21 |
The survey was conducted by asking 1,549 residents of America’s 30 largest cities. Fifty percent of those surveyed were men, 48% women, and 2% nonbinary or didn’t indicate gender. Baby Boomers made up 7% of respondents, Generation X 19%, Millennials 51%, and Generation Z 23%.
Residents of Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon, swear the least, using an average of 14 swear words a day. New York City, long thought to be among the rudest of U.S. cities, averaged 17 swear words per day, tying for fourth with El Paso, Texas, and Chicago, Illinois on the fewest swear words list. Other “less sweary” cities include Boston, Massachuttes, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, San Jose, California, Detroit, Michigan, Seattle, Washington, and Houston, Texas.
People swear the most at home (55%), followed by while out with friends (24%). At work and while driving both scored 7% of the responses, while 7% claimed they do not swear at all.
The most common situations in which people found themselves using dirty words were when accidentally hurting themselves, expressing road rage, and receiving bad news. The survey also found that 54% of Americans swear at themselves the most.
Two out of three of the respondents also believe it is acceptable to swear in public.
As far as when people started to add swear words to their vocabulary, the survey found the average age was 11.
According to the survey, most Americans (57%) do find themselves opting for curse word substitutions, depending on their situations, with the favorite substitution being fudge or fudgesicle.