Yelling f**k at great volume when getting your finger caught in a rapidly closed door may be an instinctive response that actually helps to alleviate pain according to a new study.

Detailed in the Aug. 5 issue of the journal NeuroReport, no previous research has connected swearing to the actual physical sensation of pain.

One of the authors of the new study, Richard Stephens of Keele University in England, said swearing has been around for centuries and is an almost universal human linguistic phenomenon.