A survey of 2,520 executive made by a New York-based online job search website said office cursing topped the reasons why bosses fire employees.

According to TheLadders.com, 38 percent of the respondents to the online survey pointed to violation of office etiquette, primarily using cuss words, as their number one reason for terminating workers.

The was followed by drinking on the job, which came second with 35 percent, and excessive personal calls during office hours as third, with 28 percent.

But from the worker's perspective, there is a worst sin than cursing. TheLadder said 81 percent viewed swearing as an improper office behavior, but a higher 98 percent said the worst office crime was to steal food from the office refrigerator.

There are some work environments that encourage cursing, said Rick Gillis, author of "Really Useful Job Search Tactics". He cited the lumberyard where swearing is common place. "If you weren't contributing to it, you weren't part of the gang... It was sort of a competition thing," Gillis said, quoted by the Houston Chronicle.

Timothy Jay, a psychology professor at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and author of two books on cursing, discovered in a study that men curse more often than women, except for sorority members. Librarians and staff of the university day care center were less likely to swear compared to the school's provosts.

Jay explained that for many people, cursing is a coping mechanism that helps them reduce stress. "It's a form of anger management that is often underappreciated," Jay told the New York Times.