Is it true that people with tourette's can use swear words during their outbursts?

Absolutely: The formal term is coprolalia. It occurs in about 10% of people with tourette's disorder. Although dramatic in presentation, it is just one of the forms tics can take. The definition of tourette's is that the person has both motor and vocal tics, that is semi-involuntary bursts of activity. Many describe tics as sneeze-like: sometimes you can suppress them but often they just happen.

Yes: While highly publicized, coprolalia (using swear words) occurs in about 15% of cases of tourettes, more commonly when there are comorbid (co-existing) conditions, and in about 8% of children with ts.