I believe it’s mainly a hunting term (“Aha! Fewmets! And we must be getting close–they’re still fresh! Loose the hounds!”) so one imagines it would most likely be used by dragon hunters.
I recall Garryn Bek from L.E.G.I.O.N. using this one. Are you misremembering the source as being Alien Legion, or did the L.E.G.I.O.N. writers borrow it from there?
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 don’t think it is fictional…I’d guess that the various Cheese 'n Rice curses have been around for as long as there’s been:
a) Cheese
b) Rice
c) People who didn’t quite want to say Jesus Christ’s name in vain.
I know my dad, at least, has been using it long before Honey I Shrunk the Kids ever came into being.
In several Larry Niven stories, people use “blank” and “bleep” and suchlike as curses. Only very old (or, presumably, very erudite) people know that these were once substitues for actual cures. I always liked that: bleep and such evolving into real cures.
Harry Enfield’s sketch about overdubbing of swearwords with milder alternates was pretty good. “Ducksucker” is all I can remember, but it still makes me laugh.
And, of course, Father Ted’s “Feck”.
MRS.DOYLE: It was a bit much for me Father. Feck this, and feck that.
FR.TED: Yes Mrs. Doyle.
MRS.DOYLE: Ya big bastard, aw dreadful language. You big hairy arse, you big fecker. Fierce stuff. And of course the ‘F’ word Father. The BAD ‘F’ word. Worse than feck. You know the one I mean.
In Empire Strikes Back, when 3-PO is walking around Cloud City, he runs into another 3-POish droid.
3-PO says, “Oh, nice to see a familiar face.”
The other 3-PO says, “Echuta.”
3-PO says, “How rude!”
So I take “Echuta” as a swear word and I try to use it with my Star Wars friends whenever possible. It’s quite fun and I recommend it to all of you!
I’m currently rereading Maia by Richard Adams, and he uses baste in place of f***, and tairth as a name for the female sex organ. I read this book initially in 9th grade, and now I can’t hear the word baste without thinking it’s naughty.
Well, is it ever established just what banthas eat? It seems unlikely that they would be herbivores, given their size and the scarcity of vegetation in their environment. Maybe they’re omnivorous, and their diet includes carrion. That would fit both uses.
Anyone remember an old Saturday morning live action science fiction show called Star Academy or some such thing?
There was an alien kid who always used the expletive “Cameleopardus!” which is the name, I believe, of a constellation. (Free trivia points: cameleopardus is the ancient name for the giraffe.)
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What is it with comic book publishers? Why is it that somehow you can sometimes have a *%#@ uttered by your characther, yet you mainly have them cut off or use a made up word or "futurisitic" words such as the aforementioned shock? I'd rather "what the *%#" than “What the shock”, it doesn’t sound as stupid.
Gosh darn it.
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I actually like shock, if only because it makes me laugh at the idea of people using it as a curse word.
Not really fictional, but a good one: Motherbearin’
When I was growing up, I had a friend who’s family was from Alaska. His dad, Tom, was this real hard-nosed type, ex-marine, former football coach, with a rough gravelly voice. Shaved head, body like granite…picture Robin Williams as Popeye but no sailor suit. May have looked mean, but he was the nicest person you’d ever meet. His favorite cuss word was “Motherbear,” as in “I can’t find the motherbearin’ screwdriver,” and “Get that motherbearin’ cat outta here.”
I once asked Tom how he came up with motherbear, and he said it came from a surveying job he did when he was in Alaska. He and his coworker stumbled across a bear’s den as they were surveying and the mother bear came out and chased them all the way back to their truck. He said his coworker was this really fat guy, but managed to outrun Tom back to the truck. They both got in, the fat guy was the driver, but couldn’t get his hand inside his pocket to get the keys. The mother bear had caught up with them and jumped on top of the truck. She was batting the truck with her paws and cracking the windshield. The fat guy finally ripped his pocket open, got the keys, started the truck, and sped off. Tom said he saw the mother bear fall off and roll a few times.