Article snippet: For lawmakers and political candidates, 2019 could be the year of not giving a f--- about cursing. Profanity — once considered a major no-no among those seeking public office — is no longer an earth-shattering political snafu. And according to new research, this year could be on track to see members of Congress swearing up a storm more than ever before. In analysis conducted exclusively for ITK, GovPredict, a government relations software company, found that the frequency of lawmakers using words that might make one’s grandmother blush has increased steadily since 2014. The research, GovPredict CEO Emil Pitkin says, "shows a stark uptick in the overall usage of curse words by legislators on Twitter." It wasn't always this way. Ben Bergen, a professor of cognitive science at University of California San Diego, says certain four-letter words rarely came out of politicians’ mouths in public years ago. “For the most part, with a few exceptions, candidates have avoided being recorded swearing,” says Bergen, author of “What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves.” A 2012 Forbes opinion piece asked readers, "When Can a Politician Use Profanity, If Ever?" But these days, look no further than countless congressional social media accounts and political rallies for R-rated language. Earlier this month, while talking to reporters, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), a 2020 White House hopeful, dropped an F-bomb while expressing his seemi... Link to the full article to read more