When you hurt yourself, intentionally or not, how often do you say "ow" just as a conditioned Pavlovian response, rather than a genuine exclamation of pain?

Every time, followed by a more profound expletive, or series thereof.

Approximately every 0.2278 times.

Every single time, just in anticipation.

I only say it if it hurts. If it really hurts, I say something stronger. If the pain persist, I will say something strong but thought out more.

Every time.

Depends.

Light pain: “Oof”
Medium Pain: “Oww”
Hugh Pain: “MotherFucker”

I do seem to say “ow” automatically, even if the pain isn’t much of anything. If it is stronger, especially if caused by a stupid move on my part, I will say “son of a [fill in blank with various colorful expletive-filled expressions]”.

Practically never. I do make liberal use of more colorful expletives.

I just say “Gosh Darn it.” and explain what happened whether anyone is there are not.

But most people say, “Aw, SHIT.”

I say ow a lot.

I recall as a youth, newly on my own, I said ow, then cried. My tears were not caused by pain, but because ow feels terribly lonely when there is no-one around to hear it.

@ragingloli When you hurt yourself, intentionally or not, how often do you say “ow” just as a conditioned Pavlovian response, rather than a genuine exclamation of pain?

If I hurt myself I tend to use a genuine ejaculation of surprise.

Although to do otherwise does ring a bell.

Lets cut to the chase bad boy, you spank me and I’ll bleat “ooo err ow”.

And make sure the meat is fresh.

There’s a linguistic component here. People from some countries might say “Aiee” or something else instead of “ow”. It seems that such expressions, unlike laughter and crying, are not universal. But language learning is not Pavlovian.

When I was seven, I knew a little girl who was about three or four who erroneously said “Yikes” when she hurt herself. Probably learned from Scooby Doo.

Saying ‘Ow!” is learned, as are the profanities,
A-choo, and pshaw are also learned.