I work in an environment where cursing and verbal abuse are common. It's a sign you work with people who are passionate about what they are doing, it shows they care about delivering a high quality work as a team. It also possible because it is based in a common goal and mutual respect. On top of that, everybody needs to let of steam every now and then.
There are different kinds of verbal abuse though, and the difference might not be easy to spot to an outsider. There's verbal abuse which means 'I want you to do better, to improve yourself', which is actually a positive thing (although perhaps rare/misunderstood in US culture?). The other kind of verbal abuse means 'I want to feel better, above you. I'm going to put you down, because it makes me look bigger', that kind of abuse shouldn't be tolerated, but as far as I can see, that's not what's going on here.