More than one-fourth of press releases from U.S. senators are all about “taunting” their opponents, according to a Harvard study.

Using a computer program, researchers examined 63,033 press releases sent by U.S. senators from 2005 to 2007. The program broke the releases into three major types of communication: credit claiming, position taking, and advertising.

However, during the study another pattern of communication emerged. Call it the nyahh-nyahh factor.

“They’re a different thing,” Harvard professor Gary King told The Washington Post. “To say that the only thing members of Congress do is advertising, credit-claiming or position-taking, that’s not right. Because sometimes, they just stand up there and taunt the other side.”

The finding: Senators spend 27 percent of their time taunting one another in press releases.

Consider that number if a government shutdown occurs this weekend.