| Science fiction swear words |
[May. 5th, 2009|02:10 pm] |
Last week my wife and I watched the DVD of the first season of Red Dwarf - our older daughter Penny and her boyfriend Eric had given me the entire run of Red Dwarf on DVD as a birthday gift in March (okay, this guy's a keeper!) - so a thought has been niggling at the back of my brain ever since: What is the best original science fiction swear word? All I can think of right now are only a few choice words to choose from:
a) Smeg
b) Frak
c) Felgercarb (sp?)
d) Goint
I am positive there are other choice words created in stfnal contexts over the years, but my mind is drawing a blank. Anybody else know of other SF swear words? Contribute to the list and let's take a tally.
As for the best stfnal swear word, my vote goes for "smeg". |
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| Comments: |
In Heinlein's Podkayne of Mars, Podkayne says "Snel-frocky!" as a swear word. I'm not saying this is one of the good swear words, mind you.
She also uses "politics" as a swear word.
Edited at 2009-05-05 07:20 pm (UTC)
No question about it, "politics" is a dirty word.
But in the book, Podkayne's uncle Tom chided her severely for using it with derision.
Larry Niven has used "bleep" and "tanj" (the latter standing for "there ain't no justice") in his novels. Mack Reynolds used "curd" (definitely not crud) a lot. Maybe not all that strong as language goes, but convincing in context.
Nate
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/59261841/8910082) | From: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) profgeek
2009-05-05 08:19 pm (UTC)
So I googled in "science fiction swear words"... | (Link)
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Smeg wasn't coined by Red Dwarf, although it certainly popularised it.
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/82271079/17271917) | From: shizgurl
2009-05-06 07:44 pm (UTC)
sf swear words | (Link)
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You forgot "P'takh' which, I believe is a Klingon scatalogical reference, as in, "...it beats being a steaming pile of P'takh!".
| From: profgeek
2009-05-09 03:30 pm (UTC)
Re: sf swear words | (Link)
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Silly me. I just finished reading Carson of Venus which uses the word "mistal" in a derogatory manner (e.g., "son of a mistal"). | |
