Science Fictional Swear Words -- CAUTION! THIS THREAD MAY CORRUPT YOUNG ALIEN MINDS!
Captain Infinity
Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
of Science Fiction.
Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
**
Captain Infinity
..."I looked Death in the face last night
I saw him in a mirror
And he simply smiled
He told me not to worry
He told me just to take my time"
--Oingo Boingo, "We Close Our Eyes"
Walter R. Strapps
Captain Infinity wrote:
> I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> of Science Fiction.
>
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then.
I hate to have to point it out, but the French language isn't exactly
sf-nal.
Cheers,
Walter R. Strapps
Mike Schilling
"Captain Infinity" <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote in message
news:laib2voslm3re0nqr...@4ax.com...
> I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> of Science Fiction.
>
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
Ga-LAX-y, man! (wossname, the professor from _Foundation and Empire_)
Stayka deyAvemta
: Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
: Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
: (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
: mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
: "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
Starbuck, "Battlestar Galactica". He also uttered "Frak!" IIRC
: After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
"khest" (Klingon...) in the Star Trek novels comes to mind.
I'm sure I read more, but they hide successfully in the deep
reaches of my brain ^_^
Clear Ether!
Stayka
Stayka deyAvemta
: I'm sure I read more, but they hide successfully in the deep
"Smeg!" (Red Dwarf) - How could I forget *that*...
Clear Ether!
Stayka
Giles
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
Battlestar Galactica?
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
Judge Dredd: Drokk and Grud
Red Dwarf: Smeg, Smeghead
HHGTTG: Belgium
Heinlein: Door into Summer: Kink
Bill the Galactic Hero: Bowb
I think I got some of these from everything2
-Giles
Lori
>I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
>Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
>series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
>live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
>words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
>wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
>of Science Fiction.
>
>Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
>Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
>(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
>"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
>After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
Farscape: Frell=Fuck, Dren=Shit (those are the only two I remember offhand)
--
"No group of black guys (even if most of them were freed slaves)
would ever follow Matthew Broderick into battle."
- Mr. Hole, on the movie "Glory"
Dorothy J Heydt
Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
>I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
>Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
>series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
>live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
>words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
>wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
>of Science Fiction.
>
>Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
>Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
>(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>mumbling of "Merde" every now and then.
But that isn't made up, of course, that's real French.
Someone, somewhere, states
>"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
That was used in _Battlestar Galactica_, ever so forgettable.
>
>After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
Well, there's always "Belgium."
In _The Door Into Summer_ Daniel discovers to his surprise that
"kink" has become a dirty word in his future.
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
Dorothy J Heydt
Mike Schilling <mscotts...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Ga-LAX-y, man! (wossname, the professor from _Foundation and Empire_)
Oh, Ebling Mis. But he didn't add "man."
Geoduck
<Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
>I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
>Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
>series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
>live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
>words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
>wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
>of Science Fiction.
>
>Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
>Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
>(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
>"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
>After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
I think it was Niven and Barnes's novel _Dream Park_ that had 'drown'
become an obscene word after southern California gets totalled by a
massive earthquake, ie, "Drown it! We're not leaving a single man
behind!"
--
Geoduck
http://www.olywa.net/cook
Mike Schilling
"Dorothy J Heydt" <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote in message
news:H8s0G...@kithrup.com...
>
> In _The Door Into Summer_ Daniel discovers to his surprise that
> "kink" has become a dirty word in his future.
In _I Will Fear No Evil_, "kark" was the universal swear word.
Jaime M. de Castellvi
<Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
The opposable thumb is highly overrated. To my mind, an opposable
biffid-ending penis with a prehensil stem is the way to go, but does
evolution ever listen to me?
Cheers,
Jaime
Dammit
>Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
>>,,,This got me to wondering what other types of expletives had been
>>created in the field of Science Fiction.
>>
>>Only a few came imeediately to mind....
>>
>>...Know any others?
>
>Farscape: Frell=Fuck, Dren=Shit (those are the only two I remember offhand)
Getting forgetful, you trelk?
(I mean that in the nicest possible way.)
-----
38 bottle of beer on the wall
38 bottles of beer
If one of those bottles
should happen to fall
37 bottles of beer on the wall!
Arthur Levesque
--
/\ Arthur Levesque <fnord?> http://boog.org & http://DammitJa.net __
\B\ack King of the Potato People & shanana-Cobain <*> Urban Spaceman (oO)
\S\lash Sweet transvestite and member of a vast right-wing conspiracy /||\
\/ I was a lesbian before it was fashionable! My work here is done...
Papatom
>>Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
>>Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
>>(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>>mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
>>"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>>
TANJ was in the "Moon is a harsh mistress." by Heinlein
Merde is French for s**t,
Firefly-Gorram
pops
Timothy McDaniel
those places you'd expect to hear "goddamn".
--
Tim McDaniel, tm...@panix.com; tm...@us.ibm.com is my work address
Arthur Levesque
Nope, TANJ (There Ain't No Justice) was Niven's. Heinlein came up
with TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch).
Jon Acheson
> "Captain Infinity" <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote in message
> news:laib2voslm3re0nqr...@4ax.com...
>
"Smeg" is real-world blue language, actually. It's a refeence to
smegma, which is like x-rated toejam.
Somehow that doesn't seem enlightening, I know...
Jon Acheson
William December Starr
Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> said:
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
In the Doctor Who novels, and the Bernice Summerfield spinoff
series (or maybe only in the Benny S. books) "Cruck" and variations
thereupon are used a lot where you'd expect similar words that
start with an 'f' instead of 'cr'.
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
JXStern
"Hell's - Brazen - Hinges!" Kimball Kinnison, First Lensman,
Department Q.
"Holy Klono!" Kinnison, Galactic Patrol, Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
"KLONO's tungsten TEETH and CURVING CARBALLOY CLAWS!!!", Kinnison,
Children of the Lens, end of Kinnison and the Black Lensman.
I know I'm missing some more here ...
Also, "reverted" is used as a derogatory in Brin's uplift books.
Clear ether!
J.
Heck
-0500)
>After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
In Moorecock's Dancers at the End of Time series, the Lat have some
hilarious expletives, such as "ferkit" and "kroofrudi" and "hrunt mibbix".
Russell B. Goode
>I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
>Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
>series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
>live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
>words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
>wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
>of Science Fiction.
>
>Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
>Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
>(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
>"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
>After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
One of the characters (from the future) in Poul Anderson's _There Will Be
Time_ uses "jokin'" as an intensifier, seemingly in place of, or as a
euphemism for, "fuckin'".
Joe Mason
Flurking Schnit!' once.
There's a lot in fantasy, of course, but I think that would open up a
can of worms.
(BTW, is this on-topic for alt.fan.tom-servo? I'm not familiar with
it.)
Joe
Richard James
I know in austalia you can buy smeg appliances. Quite a laught to any Red
Dwarf fans.
What the smeg is that? It's the stove.
http://www.smegappliances.com/
Richard :)
--
Will kill for Documentation.
A Vic 20 is faster than a C64: 8bit roxs
http://dogmilk.homelinux.com/
Mark Nobles
> (BTW, is this on-topic for alt.fan.tom-servo? I'm not familiar with
> it.)
Isn't the derivation of cusswords always on topic in any Usenet group?
Russell B. Goode
>(BTW, is this on-topic for alt.fan.tom-servo?
No; therefore, yes.
> I'm not familiar with it.)
Please remain unfamiliar with it. You'll be a more interesting read that
way. Trust me on this one.
JXStern
<bigf...@databasix.com> wrote:
>One of the characters (from the future) in Poul Anderson's _There Will Be
>Time_ uses "jokin'" as an intensifier, seemingly in place of, or as a
>euphemism for, "fuckin'".
Ah yes, in Sterling's "Artificial Kid", they use "linking" the same
way. Also the word "death" as an expletive and various phrases
containing the word as curses.
J.
lewy
> Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
> >I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> >Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> >series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> >live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> >words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> >wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> >of Science Fiction.
> >
> >Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> >Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> >(There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> >mumbling of "Merde" every now and then.
>
> But that isn't made up, of course, that's real French.
>
>
> Someone, somewhere, states
> >"Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> That was used in _Battlestar Galactica_, ever so forgettable.
If only that were true.
Chris Camfield
>80s_...@bigmailbox.net (Lori) wrote:
>
>>Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
>
>>>,,,This got me to wondering what other types of expletives had been
>>>created in the field of Science Fiction.
>>>
>>>Only a few came imeediately to mind....
>>>
>>>...Know any others?
>>
>>Farscape: Frell=Fuck, Dren=Shit (those are the only two I remember offhand)
>
>Getting forgetful, you trelk?
>
>(I mean that in the nicest possible way.)
There's also drannit, fahrbot, and others. The BBC website has a very funny
guide to Farscape swear words, including a recording of someone (with what to me
sounds like a very proper English voice) pronouncing the words and using them in
sentences.
Dan Tilque
produced:
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
The word 'codswallop', a British synonym for BS, originated as a
made up swear word on some radio show in the early 60s. The
dictionaries seem not to have heard of this, or perhaps they
don't buy the story, since they generally say "origin unknown".
--
Dan Tilque
JSwing
> I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> of Science Fiction.
>
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
>
>
Forgotten the name and author details, but one short story from the POV of
a grandmother? conversing with her grandson in the near future. The kid
used 'necrotic' and 'apocalyptic' as adjectives for good and bad things.
The way we use 'cool'. Not swear words, but more general slang. The
protagonist (and thus the reader) was never quite clear on which meant good
and which meant bad.
JSwing
Andrew Dennis
> "Holy Klono!" Kinnison, Galactic Patrol, Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
>
> "KLONO's tungsten TEETH and CURVING CARBALLOY CLAWS!!!", Kinnison,
> Children of the Lens, end of Kinnison and the Black Lensman.
>
> I know I'm missing some more here ...
>
> Also, "reverted" is used as a derogatory in Brin's uplift books.
>
> Clear ether!
> J.
Apropos of Klono, GURPS Lensmen reduced me to helpless shaking
incoherence with "By Klono's Polyester Leisure Suit!"
Andrew D.
Clive Summerfield
"Captain Infinity" <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote in message
news:laib2voslm3re0nqr...@4ax.com...
> I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> of Science Fiction.
>
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
>
In _Stand on Zanzibar_ Brunner's protagonists use "bleeder" as a derogatory
term, the intent being to imply that they harbour recessive genes and are
forbidden from having children.
--
Cheers
Clive
*** I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
***
John H
>
word. I still find myself using that. Nothing like a loud "Taplinger
Jones!" to make people look at you funny.
Another one is from _Red Dwarf_, smeg. Used like the Smurfs use
"smurf."
how...@brazee.net
On 15-Jan-2003, Russell B. Goode <bigf...@databasix.com> wrote:
> One of the characters (from the future) in Poul Anderson's _There Will Be
> Time_ uses "jokin'" as an intensifier, seemingly in place of, or as a
> euphemism for, "fuckin'".
These replacements make at least as much sense as the original. With all
the effort people make to "get lucky", you wouldn't think that being told to
be successful is an insult.
David Tate
> HHGTTG: Belgium
Also from The Hitchhiker's Guide:
Swut (swutting, etc.)
Terlingdrome (sp?)
I seem to recall that there was another, but I can't remember it
offhand. I'll have to check the radio scripts when I get a chance.
David Tate
Dorothy J Heydt
JSwing <JSw...@no.spam.wport.com> wrote:
>
>Forgotten the name and author details, but one short story from the POV of
>a grandmother? conversing with her grandson in the near future. The kid
>used 'necrotic' and 'apocalyptic' as adjectives for good and bad things.
>The way we use 'cool'.
I don't know the short story, but since the kid in _Doomsday
Book_ uses those same words, I suspect it was a Willis story. (I
*think* the kid used "necrotic" for "dull, boring, square" and
"apocalytpic" for "cool" more or less consistently, but I haven't
read the book in a while, must remedy that.)
Dorothy J. Heydt
Albany, California
djh...@kithrup.com
http://www.kithrup.com/~djheydt
Dorothy J Heydt
Clive Summerfield <cli...@batchtarget.com> wrote:
>
>In _Stand on Zanzibar_ Brunner's protagonists use "bleeder" as a derogatory
>term, the intent being to imply that they harbour recessive genes and are
>forbidden from having children.
Is it made clear that's the implication? I mean, "bleeder" is a
British swear-word now. By derivation from "bloody," which was
originally a *blasphemous* swear-word, short for "by our Lady."
Compare "Od's bodkins," "God's little body," the Host.
Some professor of mine once said that Protestants used obscene
swearing and Catholics used blasphemous swearing. I've found
many many exceptions to that generalization, but it does seem
that some cultures use obscenity and others use blasphemy, and
each doesn't see why the other finds its own kind objectionable.
I was told of a time when an Icelandic professor gave a lecture
series in New York or someplace and gently twitted his audience
for reacting to passages in the sagas on the order of "So the
householder and his wife bade their guest good night, and went
off to their bedroom to fuck." An American professor who spoke
Icelandic told him that it was all cultural, and started saying
something in Icelandic that the audience couldn't understand, and
the Icelander turned bright red and finally said, "Stop, stop!"
And when I was in high school we had a Swedish exchange student
whom I asked one day if he could translate some of the Danish
swearing in Anderson's _A Bicycle Built for Brew._ He turned
bright red (he was very fair-skinned) and said, "Well, I can't
tell. It's not nice." Later on I learned (from Poul) that the
unspeakable stuff meant things like "Devil and hell! The devil
take you! What the hell?"
So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
with blasphemous swearing in it. Someone really ought to
construct a society with a structured and recognized religion and
show the characters swearing in it. "By Anghrad's milk!" "Hush,
you shameless man, the children are listening!"
Mike Schilling
> In article <bfvV9.5427$xy7.44...@news-text.cableinet.net>,
> Clive Summerfield <cli...@batchtarget.com> wrote:
> >
> >In _Stand on Zanzibar_ Brunner's protagonists use "bleeder" as a
derogatory
> >term, the intent being to imply that they harbour recessive genes and are
> >forbidden from having children.
>
> Is it made clear that's the implication? I mean, "bleeder" is a
> British swear-word now. By derivation from "bloody," which was
> originally a *blasphemous* swear-word, short for "by our Lady."
> Compare "Od's bodkins," "God's little body," the Host.
IIRC Chad Mulligan (_SoZ_'s version of Basil Exposition) states this in so
many words.
David Cornette
> So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
> with blasphemous swearing in it. Someone really ought to
> construct a society with a structured and recognized religion and
> show the characters swearing in it. "By Anghrad's milk!" "Hush,
> you shameless man, the children are listening!"
In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar Fighters!'
muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
shortenned form. Also unmentioned so far in this thread is "joojooflop".
There is a long list of swear words from science fiction at
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=497833
--
David Cornette da...@davidcornette.com
Baseball Pythagorean Projections http://www.davidcornette.com/projection/
An Izzy Alcantara Fan Site http://www.davidcornette.com/izzy/
Selig Sucks T-Shirts http://www.cafeshops.com/seligsucks
Elf M. Sternberg
> In rec.arts.sf.written Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
> : Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> : Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> : (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> : mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> : "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> Starbuck, "Battlestar Galactica". He also uttered "Frak!" IIRC
Apollo used "Felgercarb" a lot. Usually when dressing someone
down. (Weird thought experiment: How different would Battlestar
Galactica have been if Adama had had a Brooklyn accent?)
My favorite (sufficiently such that I stole it for one of my own
stories) was "Prag!" from the role playing game _Space Master_. It was
used by the gengineered to refer to mere mortals: a Product of RAndom
Genetics
How about SFnal cheers? I can't think of any off the top of my
head, but I've managed to get most of the people in my office to use
"Huzzah!" instead of "Hooray!"
Elf
Jon Acheson
>
> I know in austalia you can buy smeg appliances. Quite a laught to any Red
> Dwarf fans.
>
> What the smeg is that? It's the stove.
>
> http://www.smegappliances.com/
That is TRULY unfortunate!:)
Jon Acheson
Brandon Ray
David Tate wrote:
There was also, from the same source, "Zarkwan's flying fish!"
--
In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics! -- Homer Simpson
Brandon Ray
David Cornette wrote:
>
> There is a long list of swear words from science fiction at
> http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=497833
Oh, of course there is. Why am I not surprised to find that someone on the
Internet has already compiled this?
Web surfing on the net is like rooting through the collective attics and
garages of the population of the planet. If you keep looking long enough, you
will find *something* of interest. Probably not what you started out looking
for, but still ....
Mike Schilling
"David Cornette" <da...@davidcornette.com> wrote in message
news:nhi60b...@isilzha.ne.client2.attbi.com...
> Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> > So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
> > with blasphemous swearing in it. Someone really ought to
> > construct a society with a structured and recognized religion and
> > show the characters swearing in it. "By Anghrad's milk!" "Hush,
> > you shameless man, the children are listening!"
>
> In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
> For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar
Fighters!'
> muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
> shortenned form. Also unmentioned so far in this thread is "joojooflop".
Not to mention "Belgium".
Jerry Brown
Joojoo flop (sp?)
Not to mention Zaphod's anguished cry of 'Holy Zarquon's Singing
Fish!' in the same episode as the above.
Jerry Brown
--
A cat may look at a king
(but probably won't bother)
Paul Vader
>There was also, from the same source, "Zarkwan's flying fish!"
"Holy Zarquon's singing fish". Zaphod screams that (right before dire
provocation leads him to saying "Belgium", the worst curse word in
galspeak) while hanging from the lip of a giant cup 30 miles up in the air.
I think this is a radio-only thing. *
--
* PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
like corkscrews.
David Cornette
> "David Cornette" <da...@davidcornette.com> wrote in message
> news:nhi60b...@isilzha.ne.client2.attbi.com...
>> shortenned form. Also unmentioned so far in this thread is "joojooflop".
> Not to mention "B*****m".
Hey! Watch it!
Besides, someone had already mentioned that word, plus "swut" and
"turlingdrome", earlier in the thread.
Paul Vader
>Forgotten the name and author details, but one short story from the POV of
>a grandmother? conversing with her grandson in the near future. The kid
>used 'necrotic' and 'apocalyptic' as adjectives for good and bad things.
"Doomsday Book" By Connie Willis. And those are real words. *
Geoduck
I think it was George Carlin who commented that 'Unfuck you' is a far
more devastivating insult.
--
Geoduck
http://www.olywa.net/cook
Jerry Brown
wrote:
The late, lamented (by myself, at least) eighties UK computer
newspaper, Datalink, once headlined an article on database guru Ted
Codd's feelings on some new product with 'Codd Wallops New DB2' (or
whatever product it was).
There was also a reference to Datalink in the TV version of
Hitch-Hiker's Guide.
Geoduck
<da...@davidcornette.com> wrote:
>Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>> So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
>> with blasphemous swearing in it. Someone really ought to
>> construct a society with a structured and recognized religion and
>> show the characters swearing in it. "By Anghrad's milk!" "Hush,
>> you shameless man, the children are listening!"
>
>In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
>For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar Fighters!'
>muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
>shortenned form.
(snip)
The radio version also had "Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish!", followed by
an immediate on-air speculation about the origin of the phrase.
--
Geoduck
http://www.olywa.net/cook
Genevieve
>
> Forgotten the name and author details, but one short story from the POV of
> a grandmother? conversing with her grandson in the near future. The kid
> used 'necrotic' and 'apocalyptic' as adjectives for good and bad things.
> The way we use 'cool'. Not swear words, but more general slang. The
> protagonist (and thus the reader) was never quite clear on which meant good
> and which meant bad.
Arrgh, this is ringing all sorts of bells, but I'm not positive. Was
it Willis' _Doomsday Book_, by chance? I remember the young boy
(Colin?) using some slangy terms that baffled the older professor.
Genevieve
**Genevieve Ellerbee**Andare, Partire, Tornare**
"We have wasted paradox and mystery on you
When all you ask for, is cause and effect! ---
A copy of your birth certificate is all you needed
To make you at peace with Creation. How uneconomical
The whole thing's been." - Christopher Fry
Stewart Robert Hinsley
<djh...@kithrup.com> writes
>So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
>with blasphemous swearing in it.
Chanur sequence?
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Trip the Space Parasite From:
>In article <bfvV9.5427$xy7.44...@news-text.cableinet.net>,
>Clive Summerfield <cli...@batchtarget.com> wrote:
>>
>>In _Stand on Zanzibar_ Brunner's protagonists use "bleeder" as a derogatory
>>term, the intent being to imply that they harbour recessive genes and are
>>forbidden from having children.
>Is it made clear that's the implication? I mean, "bleeder" is a
>British swear-word now. By derivation from "bloody," which was
>originally a *blasphemous* swear-word, short for "by our Lady."
Huh, okay. I always thought it was from "God's blood" but I have no
source, so apparently I just made it up.
I have read. I have learned. I have evolved.
(Today I also found out where the phrase "jump the shark came from"! Looks
like a good day for random trivia! (Which is good, since I don't think
my brain is up to handling substantial information just now.))
Trip
--
I write of things which I have neither seen nor learned from another,
things which are not and never could have been, and therefore my readers
should by no means believe them. --Lucian of Samosata
David Tate
> In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
> For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar Fighters!'
> muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
> shortenned form.
And the unforgettable "Holy Zarquon Singing Fish!"
> Also unmentioned so far in this thread is "joojooflop".
THAT was the one I was forgetting up above...
David Tate
Beryllium
"Arthur Levesque" <b...@boog.orgy> wrote in message
news:b057a6$cuf$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
> Papatom>TANJ was in the "Moon is a harsh mistress." by Heinlein
>
> Nope, TANJ (There Ain't No Justice) was Niven's. Heinlein came up
> with TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch).
> --
> /\ Arthur Levesque <fnord?> http://boog.org & http://DammitJa.net __
> \B\ack King of the Potato People & shanana-Cobain <*> Urban Spaceman
(oO)
> \S\lash Sweet transvestite and member of a vast right-wing conspiracy
/||\
> \/ I was a lesbian before it was fashionable! My work here is
done...
>
And then there's Babylon 5 ... it's a fun one: STROKE OFF. :)
Ooh, and Red Dwarf's "Smeg"
--
Beryllium
Captain Infinity
Walter R. Strapps wrote:
>And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
>> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then.
>
>I hate to have to point it out, but the French language isn't exactly
>sf-nal.
That's two bites so far. I'm sorry, even though I'm giggling, but I
guess I'm just incapable of posting anything without a hook in it.
**
Captain Infinity
Nyrath the nearly wise
one character swears by saying "God's Navel!"
(which is a minor blasphemy if you think about it)
In David Drake's Hammer's Slammer novels, they use
the word "Cop" to mean, er, ah, "poop".
As in "you Cop-head", or "the sergeant is going to cop a
screaming worm when he sees what you did"
In the STEN novels, they use "Clot",
as in "oh, clot!" or "you clotting bastard"
Dorothy J Heydt
Stewart Robert Hinsley <{$news$}t...@meden.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <H8t9J...@kithrup.com>, Dorothy J Heydt
><djh...@kithrup.com> writes
>>So except for the story I just mentioned, I have not read any SF
>>with blasphemous swearing in it.
>
>Chanur sequence?
That's true, they do say "gods-rotted" a lot. Their favorite
epithet, however, appears to be "son."
Jerry Brown
I remember 'frimp' and 'frimping' from some book I read in the
eighties, but I've no idea which one.
Unknown
That's from "Battlestar Galactica", and was used as both an
exclamation and a derogatory noun, much like our "crap" or its
stronger synonym (as in "A real pilot doesn't need all that electronic
felgercarb."). The other from the same show was "frack", used as an
exclamation like Mork's "shazbot". ("Frack! I missed!")
"If winning is not important, then why keep score?"
--Lt. Worf
Paul Colquhoun
|
| On 15-Jan-2003, Russell B. Goode <bigf...@databasix.com> wrote:
|
|> One of the characters (from the future) in Poul Anderson's _There Will Be
|> Time_ uses "jokin'" as an intensifier, seemingly in place of, or as a
|> euphemism for, "fuckin'".
|
| These replacements make at least as much sense as the original. With all
| the effort people make to "get lucky", you wouldn't think that being told to
| be successful is an insult.
In one of L. Neil Smith's alternate world books, there is a discussion
of the differnece in swear words between the Confederacy and the more
"normal" time lines. He mentions that, if you told a Confederate to "get
fucked" they would probably look at you a little oddly and reply "and
you have a good day as well".
The swear words that the Confederated did use were related to bodily
functions, political villains, and other famous persons.
--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC. http://andor.dropbear.id.au/~paulcol
Asking for technical help in newsgroups? Read this first:
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Christian Weisgerber
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice).
Also "beep".
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de
Tyson Patterson
"Elf M. Sternberg" <e...@drizzle.com> wrote in message
news:m37kd5c...@drizzle.com...
>
> My favorite (sufficiently such that I stole it for one of my own
> stories) was "Prag!" from the role playing game _Space Master_. It was
> used by the gengineered to refer to mere mortals: a Product of RAndom
> Genetics
That just reminded me of "var" (for variant) as a term of denigration in
_Glory Season_. Not to mention the insult of telling someone she had a
father :)
Tyson Patterson
how...@brazee.net
On 16-Jan-2003, Trip the Space Parasite From: <tr...@idiom.com> wrote:
> >Is it made clear that's the implication? I mean, "bleeder" is a
> >British swear-word now. By derivation from "bloody," which was
> >originally a *blasphemous* swear-word, short for "by our Lady."
>
> Huh, okay. I always thought it was from "God's blood" but I have no
> source, so apparently I just made it up.
>
> I have read. I have learned. I have evolved.
An English friend of mine told me it was because of the "bloody tower of
London". Just because she was English didn't mean she knew.
Arthur Levesque
as expletives.
Andrew Wheeler
>
> How about SFnal cheers? I can't think of any off the top of my
> head, but I've managed to get most of the people in my office to use
> "Huzzah!" instead of "Hooray!"
If you can say "Huzzah!" with a straight face, you're a better man than
I. I go all _Dork Tower_-y just thinking about the word.
--
Andrew Wheeler
--
"Hey, Marcie! Come see the Satanist!"
Arthur Levesque
Nyrath>to mean, er, ah, "poop".
Like "smeg", this is derived from a real word. A "coprophage" is a
creature who eats shit.
JSwing
news:H8t8x...@kithrup.com:
> In article <Xns93053820B...@216.168.3.50>,
> JSwing <JSw...@no.spam.wport.com> wrote:
>>
>>Forgotten the name and author details, but one short story from the
>>POV of a grandmother? conversing with her grandson in the near
>>future. The kid used 'necrotic' and 'apocalyptic' as adjectives for
>>good and bad things. The way we use 'cool'.
>
> I don't know the short story, but since the kid in _Doomsday
> Book_ uses those same words, I suspect it was a Willis story. (I
> *think* the kid used "necrotic" for "dull, boring, square" and
> "apocalytpic" for "cool" more or less consistently, but I haven't
> read the book in a while, must remedy that.)
>
That was probably it. Dunno why I thought it was a short story. Memory
must be going.
JSwing
William December Starr
na...@mips.inka.de (Christian Weisgerber) said:
>> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a
>> while (There Ain't No Justice).
>
> Also "beep".
I thought it was "bleep."
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
William December Starr
djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) said:
> Some professor of mine once said that Protestants used obscene
> swearing and Catholics used blasphemous swearing. I've found many
> many exceptions to that generalization, but it does seem that some
> cultures use obscenity and others use blasphemy, and each doesn't
> see why the other finds its own kind objectionable.
With the fusion motor pushing us smoothly along, Elephant went
back to the scope, and I started checking the other instruments.
One thing stood out like a beacon.
"Elephant. Have you noticed in me a tendency to use profanity
for emphasis?"
"Not really. Why?"
"It's goddam radioactive out there."
From Larry Niven's "Flatlander," of course. For some reason I was
just reminded of it. One of my favorite bits of dialog in sf.
Dorothy J Heydt
Andrew Wheeler <acwh...@optonline.com> wrote:
>"Elf M. Sternberg" wrote:
>>
>> How about SFnal cheers? I can't think of any off the top of my
>> head, but I've managed to get most of the people in my office to use
>> "Huzzah!" instead of "Hooray!"
>
>If you can say "Huzzah!" with a straight face, you're a better man than
>I. I go all _Dork Tower_-y just thinking about the word.
In the SCA there are different schools of thought as to whether
to say "Hurrah" or "Huzzah" after the herald has said, "Hip,
hip!"
And some Kingdoms avoid the issue altogether by saying, "Vivat!"
Walter Bushell
> I was reading some of the comics that Jim Shooter published after
> Valiant kicked him out and he created Defiant, the "Warriors of Plasm"
> series specifically, and I noticed that characters in the story, who
> live in/on a giant biomass named the Org, used biological-related swear
> words like "Phlegm!" to voice their disgust with things. This got me to
> wondering what other types of expletives had been created in the field
> of Science Fiction.
>
> Only a few came imeediately to mind. There's Mork's cry of "Shazbot!".
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
>
"Finagle" used in (Lary Niven's) Known Space, sign of a Belter.
"Ifni" in Brin's Uplift series.
--
Sartre was an optimist. He thought Hell was _other_ people.
Walter
Maureen O'Brien
Maureen O'Brien
Mikhail Capone
>
> After that, I'm stumped. Know any others?
>
What was it that Elijah Bailey said all the time in the Robots novels
(Asimov)? I'm not sure I remember correctly but it was "Josaphat" or
something very similar...
Mikhail / www.MusiqueMachine.com
Lee Ann Rucker
<geo...@webave.com> wrote:
> >In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
> >For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar Fighters!'
> >muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
> >shortenned form.
> (snip)
>
> The radio version also had "Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish!", followed by
> an immediate on-air speculation about the origin of the phrase.
Douglas Adams foresaw singing novelty fish?
Dorothy J Heydt
Mikhail Capone <skelt...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>What was it that Elijah Bailey said all the time in the Robots novels
>(Asimov)? I'm not sure I remember correctly but it was "Josaphat" or
>something very similar...
Jehoshaphat. A minor Old Testament prophet.
Mike Van Pelt
JXStern <JXSternC...@gte.net> wrote:
<Bad language from E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series>
>I know I'm missing some more here ...
You're missing the worst one, from "Masters of the Vortex", the
great grand-daddy of all vulgarities, The S.......... Word...
"Srizonified"
(Ooops, now I've done it. There's Ashcroft knocking at the door.)
--
Fear is just your mind's way of telling Mike Van Pelt
you that you are doing something stupid. mvp.at.calweb.com
-- Chris Spencer KE6BVH
John Duncan Yoyo
Heydt) wrote:
} In article <c9bd4cd2.0301...@posting.google.com>,
} Mikhail Capone <skelt...@yahoo.com> wrote:
}
} >What was it that Elijah Bailey said all the time in the
} >Robots novels (Asimov)? I'm not sure I remember correctly but it
} >was "Josaphat" or something very similar...
}
} Jehoshaphat. A minor Old Testament prophet.
Why is Jumping Jehoshaphat a not uncommon exclamation? I know it has
been around since the golden age of radio at least.
-
John Duncan Yoyo
------------------------------o)
Jens Kilian
Harry Harrison's Bob the Galactic Hero uses "bowb" a lot.
In some of his Stainless Steel Rat novels (starting with _Drafted_ IIRC),
"cagal" is a synonym for "sh*t".
--
mailto:j...@acm.org phone:+49-7031-464-7698 (TELNET 778-7698)
http://www.bawue.de/~jjk/ fax:+49-7031-464-7351
PGP: 06 04 1C 35 7B DC 1F 26 As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish,
0x555DA8B5 BB A2 F0 66 77 75 E1 08 so is contempt to the contemptible. [Blake]
David Tate
> Why is Jumping Jehoshaphat a not uncommon exclamation? I know it has
> been around since the golden age of radio at least.
I believe that it is an amelioration of "Jumping Jesus!". (Why Jesus
was jumping is a matter for informed speculation.)
By a similar process from "Jesus Christ!" we got "Jiminy Cricket",
"Jeepers Creepers", and (for you fans of "The Music Man") "Jeely Kly".
David Tate
Dorothy J Heydt
Alliteration.
In the first place, in the US anyway where there's been a
longstanding cultural tradition that you shouldn't swear at all,
there's a whole lot of euphemisms that alliterate with the word
they're replacing. "Gosh" for "God." "Heck" for "Hell."
"Jerusalem Crickets" for "Jesus Christ."
The most interesting is "darn" for "damn," whose evolution I can
trace at least in part. In the late eighteenth, early nineteenth
century in the US one saw the non-alliterating "the Eternal" used
for "God." Some regional dialects pronounced this "the Etarnal,"
"the Tarnal." From that we get "tarnation" for "damnation =
Hell," as in "What in tarnation?" Finally, as it were, a
back-formation makes a verb "tarn" out of the noun and that is
made to alliterate with "Damn," hence "darn."
So "Jehoshaphat" is instead of "Jesus," and adding "jumping"
increases the alliteration.
Stewart Robert Hinsley
<djh...@kithrup.com> writes
>
>That's true, they do say "gods-rotted" a lot. Their favorite
>epithet, however, appears to be "son."
>
I was thinking of "feathered" and variants thereon, which, although I
didn't understand the references, I took to be religious.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley
Bill Le May
> Larry Niven has people in his stories shouting "TANJ!" once in a while
> (There Ain't No Justice). And, of course, Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then. Someone, somewhere, states
> "Felgercarb" but I forget who it is.
>
Flup, from Ringworld.
Jim
Captain Infinity <Infi...@world.std.com> wrote:
> Captain Picard's famous
> mumbling of "Merde" every now and then.
Uhhh..."Merde" is French. You know from France.
Jim
Jim
"Walter R. Strapps" <str...@sentigen.com> wrote:
> I hate to have to point it out, but the French language isn't exactly
> sf-nal.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Walter R. Strapps
Yup, you're right. Actually "merde" means "SH*T". Pretty sneaky on part
of the STTNG writers, huh?
Jim
Walter Bushell
> Nyrath>In David Drake's Hammer's Slammer novels, they use the word "Cop"
> Nyrath>to mean, er, ah, "poop".
>
> Like "smeg", this is derived from a real word. A "coprophage" is a
> creature who eats shit.
An interesting new swearword eg "You coprophage", hmm. Put coprophilia
into Goggle, got list of stores such as Amazon "search for books,
records etc." There really are all kinds.
Steve Coltrin
> >"Finagle" used in (Lary Niven's) Known Space, sign of a Belter.
>
> Didn't the Kzin use "plant-eating" as an epithet?
And 'get of a sthondat'.
--
Steve Coltrin spco...@omcl.org
ME's get the best stuff, naturally, but find me a man who has at some
point actually urinated on a human brain, and I'll guarantee it is a
tow-truck driver. - EMT420
Arthur Levesque
Nyrath>to mean, er, ah, "poop".
I'm sure police can't appreciate this slang much.
Arthur>Like "smeg", this is derived from a real word. A "coprophage" is
Arthur>a creature who eats shit.
Walter>An interesting new swearword eg "You coprophage", hmm.
"Perform coprophagy and perish!"
Arthur Levesque
Semprini?
how...@brazee.net
Heinlein's character goes to the future (around now) and gets in trouble for
using the word "kink" in mixed company.
Wayland
finally get to leave work, so I'm not going to read all the posts until
later. But one I've seen that has been noticeably absent is "BEEP."
I think it was in several Niven books.
Wayland
Mark Smart
> David Cornette <da...@davidcornette.com> wrote in message news:<nhi60b...@isilzha.ne.client2.attbi.com>...
>
> > In the Hitchhiker's books, they use the name of the Great Prophet Zarquon.
> > For example, toward the end of Restaurant, Chapter 6: "'Frogstar Fighters!'
> > muttered Zaphod. 'Zarquon!'" They also "Zark", which seems to be a
> > shortenned form.
>
>
> > Also unmentioned so far in this thread is "joojooflop".
>
> THAT was the one I was forgetting up above...
>
> David Tate
Also:
"Fetid Photons!" and "Dingo's Kidneys!"
Mark Smart
Christian Weisgerber
> <Bad language from E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series>
>
> You're missing the worst one, from "Masters of the Vortex", the
> great grand-daddy of all vulgarities, The S.......... Word...
Doesn't _Masters of the Vortex_ also feature a discussion of insults
in different (alien) cultures?
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber na...@mips.inka.de
raymond larsson
You're young enough not to be familiar with the incomparable Lou Zealand
and his singing fish?
Grife! I'm getting old.
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
>djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) writes:
>
>>Is it made clear that's the implication? I mean, "bleeder" is a
>>British swear-word now. By derivation from "bloody," which was
>>originally a *blasphemous* swear-word, short for "by our Lady."
>
>Huh, okay. I always thought it was from "God's blood" but I have no
>source, so apparently I just made it up.
>
>I have read. I have learned. I have evolved.
>
Ob. sf: In the opening lines of _Sin of Origin_ by John Barnes, an
intergalactic crusader/templar uses "Mary's bleeding cherry" as a swear-word.
--
"All names belong in the hat, Ben. Man is so built that he cannot imagine his
own death. This leads to endless invention of religions. While this conviction
by no means proves immortality to be a fact, questions generated by it are
overwhelmingly important. The nature of life, how ego hooks into the body, the
problem of ego itself and why each ego *seems* to be the center of the universe
-- these are paramount questions, Ben; they can never be trivial. [...]The only
religious opinion I feel sure of is this: self-awareness is *not* just a bunch
of amino acids bumping together!"
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen
>
>And then there's Babylon 5 ... it's a fun one: STROKE OFF. :)
>
>Ooh, and Red Dwarf's "Smeg"
>
What I find most amusing about "Smeg" is that many people regularly use
"Crud" as a _mild_ expletive. OED informs me that the word means dried
semen. Not a million light years away from "Smeg".
Lori
>I haven't quite made it all the way through the thread yet, but I
>finally get to leave work, so I'm not going to read all the posts until
>later. But one I've seen that has been noticeably absent is "BEEP."
"The Osbournes" doesn't *really* count as Science Fiction.
--
"Farscape was just a little too far off the wall for most people...
like Dr. Who, only on LSD."
- my brother
Arthur Levesque
Why not? Do you think they're human?