# Favorite fictional swear words? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126 "2003-03-05T00:47:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/141 "2005-01-21T00:07:49Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > A couple of 2000AD ones have been mentioned already, but my favourite was “Snut!” from **Robohunter** : the writers were made to pull it because it sounded too much like a _real_ swearword. > > I read an interesting fanzine interview with John Wagner once, where he recalled that there used to be an editorial ban in British comics on calling characters Clint, Flick, or Slick: the reason was that the paper quality was often so grotty that the ink would run together in the speech balloons, causing unintentional hilarity for schoolboys whenever someone shouted {caps are essential here} “CLINT! SLICK!” Leave it to **Case Sensitive** to identify a situation where profanity inadvertently resulted from, well, case-sensitive material! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/142 "2005-01-21T10:42:46Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Leave it to **Case Sensitive** to identify a situation where profanity inadvertently resulted from, well, case-sensitive material! 😃 I’m just a sensitive guy. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/143 "2005-01-21T10:58:53Z")
These two have been mentioned, but I’ll second them: ‘Grife’ and ‘sprock’, from Legion of Superheroes. An example of proper usage: ‘Oh, grife…what the sprock is he doing now?’ My other favourite: ‘Puckernuts’, from Elfquest. Though, I’ve never been able to figure out if that’s nuts that have gone bad and puckered, or nuts that are sour and make you pucker. And for a non-alien pseudo-obscenity, I have developed a fondness for ‘Holy Hannah!’ of late. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/144 "2005-01-21T11:25:08Z")
My two favourites are courtesy of TBS hack-it-to-hell television editing of movies: 1. “Freak” in Lethal Weapon 2: "They FREAK YOU at the drive-thru, okay? They FREAK YOU at the drive-thru! They know you’re gonna be miles away before you find out you got FREAKED! They know you’re not gonna turn around and go back, they don’t care. So who gets FREAKED? Ol’ Leo Getz! Okay, sure! I don’t give a FREAK! I’m not eating this tuna, okay? " 2. “Mr. Falcon” in Die Hard 2: “Yippy-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon!” ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/145 "2005-01-21T16:02:18Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Robert A. Wilson’s Schroedinger’s Cat Trilogy contains a number of alternate-universe swear words, usually using people’s names. a Steinem was a blow job, while Bryanting (from anti-homosexual crusader Anita Bryant) was anal sex. I’ve meant to start a GQ thread to find out who Potter Stewart (fuck) was. > [@Hazel](#): > > I love Robert Anton Wilson! Especially the _Schrodenger’s Cat Trilogy._ Six other people have probably said this by now, but Potter Stewart was, I think, a Supreme Court Judge. Unsure why Wilson chose his name for “fuck” but presumably, he must have written a desision about “bad language”? i could be mistaken, but i seem to recall that this 1-for-1 substitution was possibly started in the novel Myron, the follow-on to the popular Myra Breckinridge. i never got past the forward and first couple chapters, but the forward was where the author \< rummages on the Web \> Gore Vidal, in a pique about the then-new Supreme Court obscenity ruling, announced that he would substitute the names of the Justices for “banned” words. (regrettably, the book did not engage my attention for long. regrettable, that is, on Vidal’s part.) ---
**Author:** ![Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/146 "2005-01-21T18:43:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > But the best I’ve ever seen was Tim Powers’ use of “sport” in “Dinner at Deviant’s Palace.” It is a good one. For those that didn’t know, in botany, “sport” means “mutant” (Anytime I’m reminded of that book, the first thing I think of is “Film Darkening Sauce”) And one more from _Hitchhiker’s Guide_: STARPOX! ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/147 "2005-01-21T19:21:44Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > During the Watergate hearings, Garry Trudeau’s _Doonesbury_ had lots of fun with the “expletive deleted” that popped up so frequently in the White House tape transcripts. Nixon is a character in the late, lamented Futurama series. When in one episode he’s confronted with recorded evidence of his chicanery he sighs “Oh expletive deleted.” > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > He was a Supreme Court justice, 1958-81. **clears throat softly** –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/148 "2005-01-21T19:52:36Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > There’s always “Belgium”. Ugh…there’s always someone crass enough to bring that up. Have another Jinn Anto Nic why dont’cha? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sweetums](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sweetums](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweetums)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/149 "2005-01-21T21:30:10Z")
Nertz! ``` I have no idea where I picked this up, but a while back a friend of mine used the same expression. Both of us had been saying for years before we met each other. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/150 "2005-01-21T22:23:53Z")
“Nertz” was actually used on “I Love Lucy,” and probably in other TV shows/movies of the era. It’s a euphemism for “Nuts” (referring to scrotum, not squirrel food). Another one here for Farscape’s “frell,” since I used it quite often when the show was still on the air. I liked saying “frelling hell!” ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/151 "2005-01-22T02:17:40Z")
Not quite a curse, but I like using [fhqwhgads](http://www.homestarrunner.com/fhqwhgads.html) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/152 "2005-01-23T19:46:54Z")
In Robert J. Sawyer’s Neanderthal Parallax trilogy – about the discovery of a parallel-universe Earth where humans went extinct and Neanderthals survived to develop a civilization – the Neanderthals, who eat little besides meat, use curses like “Gristle!” and “Marrowless bone!” (The first volume, _Hominids,_ won Sawyer the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novel.) ---
**Author:** ![Zonyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a183cd/32.png) [@Zonyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zonyx)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/153 "2005-02-05T12:46:37Z")
Tsag! Bajad drovja!, Lord of Chaos, The Wheel of Time. That took some finding ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/154 "2005-02-06T03:41:26Z")
“Gosh-a-mickle, dickle pickle, gee willie wobbles, dog my cats an’ rowrbazzle!” - Pogo Possum ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/155 "2005-02-06T07:41:09Z")
I’ve always been fond of the word “Ferkit!” (used by a band of annoying aliens in Michael Moorcock’s _Dancers at the End of Time_ series). ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/156 "2005-02-06T16:12:46Z")
My favorite is “shendi-fleckin’” from Jacqueline Lichtenberg’s Sime~Gen series. I actually use this one because it’s so satisfying: “Bring that shendi-fleckin’ thing over here!” I’ve even got a couple of my non Sime~Gen fan friends to use it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/157 "2005-02-06T19:11:31Z")
From Disney’s Recess: TJ Detwiler uses “whomps” (as in “man, that really whomps”),a word he made up to avoid getting in trouble for using real swear words. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/158 "2005-02-07T01:49:12Z")
In Harry Turtledove’s “Southern Victory Series” (a “the South won the Civil War” AH series – [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry\_Turtledove#The\_Southern\_Victory\_Series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove#The_Southern_Victory_Series)), the French-speaking Quebecois use swear words drawn from Catholic ritual –_“Tabernac!” “Calisse!”_ etc. But, for all I know, that’s how they actually swear in real-life Quebec, maybe even in France. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/159 "2005-02-07T03:20:15Z")
_S’ai’ks_ from **Alien Nation**. Fargin’ icehole, bastiges, shazbut, zounds, shards, blast, mother-rumper, despoiler of virgin goats, frack. ---
**Author:** ![newcomb\_being](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@newcomb\_being](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomb_being)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126/160 "2005-02-07T03:35:03Z")
For the love of Ford! I can’t really think of any… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-swear-words/159126.md?page=7)