Profanity in science fiction (SF) shares all of the issues of
profanity
Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...
in fiction in general, but has several unique aspects of its own, including the use of alien profanities (such as the alien expletive "shazbot!" from ''
Mork & Mindy'', a word that briefly enjoyed popular usage outside of that television show
).
Extent of usage
In his advice to other SF writers,
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the first and (as of 2022) only person to win both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for both ...
states that there are no hard-and-fast rules for the use of profanity in SF stories, despite what may have been expected of writers in the past. The onus is squarely on the writer to determine how much profanity to use, to enquire as to each publisher's limits, and to think about the effect that the use of profanity will have on the reader, both in perceiving the characters and in possibly being offended by the story as a whole.
Card urges those writers who do decide to omit profanity from their stories to omit it completely. He regards the coinage of ''tanj'' ("There Ain't No Justice") by
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are ''Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, ''The Mote in God's Eye'' ...
as a "noble experiment" that "proved that euphemisms are often worse than the crudities that they replace", because they make the story look silly. In Card's opinion, such
nonce word
A nonce word (also called an occasionalism) is a lexeme created for a single occasion to solve an immediate problem of communication.''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of The English Language''. Ed. David Crystal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ...
s simply do not work.
Ruth Wajnryb shares this opinion, stating that ''tanj'' or ''flarn'' do not work as profanities because they are not real, and are "just a futile attempt to give clean-cut stories some foul-mouthed action".
Jes Battis observes, in contrast, that the use of ''frell'' and ''dren'' in ''
Farscape
''Farscape'' is an Australian-American science fiction television series, produced originally for the Nine Network. It premiered in the US on Sci-Fi Channel's SciFi Friday, 19 March 1999, at 8:00 pm EST as their anchor series. The series was c ...
'' allowed the television series to get away with dialogue that would normally never have made it past broadcasting and network censorship. The words are respectively equivalent to ''
fuck
''Fuck'' is an English-language expletive. It often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested to aro ...
'' and ''
shit
''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British an ...
'' and are used as both
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
s and
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
s in the series. In the episode "
Suns and Lovers
''Farscape'' is a science fiction television show. Four regular seasons were produced, from 1999 to 2003. Each season consists of 22 episodes. Each episode is intended to air in a one-hour television timeslot (with commercials), and runs fo ...
", for example,
Aeryn Sun says "frell me dead!" as an exclamation of surprise, much as a real-world person would utter "well, fuck me!" or, indeed, "fuck me dead!" Battis also notes that ''
Firefly
The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...
'' used a similar strategy, by using
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
and
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...
for all profanities, also using the word ''gorram'' as a replacement for ''god damn'', a phrase usually considered
blasphemous
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
.
Likewise, dialogue in ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'' is liberally peppered with the word ''frak'' ('fuck').
Similarly, invented expletives are used throughout the
''Star Wars'' expanded universe. For example, the Alderaanian expletive ''stang'' was introduced in the 1978 novel ''
Splinter of the Mind's Eye
''Splinter of the Mind's Eye'' is a 1978 science-fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to the film '' Star Wars'' (1977). Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, the book was written with the in ...
'' and subsequently used in ''Star Wars'' novels, comic books, and games. Also, ''Star Wars'' authors commonly use the Huttese curse ''fierfek'', first introduced in a short story published in the 1996 anthology ''
Tales from Jabba's Palace
''Tales from Jabba's Palace'' is an anthology of short stories set in the fictional '' Star Wars'' universe. The book was edited by Kevin J. Anderson and published on December 1, 1995 by Bantam Spectra.
Contents
* Introduction
# "A Boy and ...
'', and the Corelian curse ''
sithspawn'', first introduced in the 1994/1995 comic book series ''
Dark Empire II
''Dark Empire'' is a '' Star Wars'' comic book metaseries produced by Dark Horse Comics. It consists of a six-issue limited series written by Tom Veitch and drawn by Cam Kennedy, followed by a second six-issue limited series by Veitch and Kenn ...
''.
Parke Godwin
Parke Godwin (January 28, 1929 – June 19, 2013) was an American writer. He won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novella in 1982 for his story "The Fire When It Comes". He was a native of New York City, where he was born in 1929. He was the g ...
opines that excessive profanity, as a part of naturalistic dialogue, "dulls much modern fiction and too many films" and states it to be a pitfall for novice writers, or for writers who never grow up, to fall into. He states that it is a "lazy copout that no longer frightens horses in the street, merely annoys and ultimately bores an intelligent reader". He advises writers that "less is more", and that if it really is the right thing for a character to be "salty", it should be made clear to the reader why, observing as an example that in his science fiction novel ''Limbo Search'' the profanity used by character Janice Tyne is a symptom of her fear and tension, caused by being burned out at age 27 and afraid of the future.
Wanda Raiford observes that the use of the nonce word ''
frak'' in both ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'' series is "an indispensable part of the naturalistic tone that show strives to achieve", noting that it, and ''toaster'' (a
racial epithet
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
for
Cylons), allow the show to use obscene and racialist dialogue that no real-life educated American adult would consider using the real-life equivalents of in polite company. She compares the racial hatred associated with the use of ''
nigger
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
'' (an utterance of which she states to have preceded and accompanied "every lynching of a black person in America") to the racial hatred of the Cylons, by the humans, that the use of such phrases as ''frakking toasters'' indicates in the series. She also observes that several of the characters, including
Gaius Baltar
Dr. Gaius Baltar is a fictional character in the TV series '' Battlestar Galactica'' played by James Callis, a reimagining of Count Baltar from the 1978 '' Battlestar Galactica'' series. He is one of the show's primary characters.
Personality
G ...
, are ''frakking toaster lovers''.
In the series of ''
Star Trek: New Frontier'' novels by
Peter David
Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956), often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films and video games.Buxton, Marc (March 29, 2014)"From 'Future Imperfect' to '2099': Peter David's Greatest Hits" Co ...
, the principal protagonist, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, frequently utters the word ''grozit'', a curse from his home world of Xenex. It is understood to be the equivalent to ''shit''.
The 2005 video game ''
Star Wars: Republic Commando'' also used ''fierfek'', the expletive popular in the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' franchise. This word is described
in-universe
A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes may ...
as being an alien loan-word originally meaning 'poison', but has been adopted by the game's
special forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
protagonists
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
as a curse word to make the illusion of playing as
commandos
Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured
A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
more believable.
Fictional profanities
Profanity in SF also encompasses the idea of things that ''alien cultures'' might find profane, and the notion that what non-humans and humans find to be profane may differ markedly. Card observes that human profanity encompasses words dealing with sexual intercourse and states that that tells one something about human beings. He proceeds to suggest that what aliens might find to be profane can be a useful tool for suggesting the alienness of a culture. The first example of this that he gives are alien cultures that have no trouble with words about sexual intercourse, but that find words to do with ''eating'' to be profane.
''
Star Trek: Enterprise
''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...
'' made use of this concept in the episode "
Vox Sola
"Vox Sola" (Latin for ''lone voice'') is the twenty-second episode (production #122) of the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. It was developed into a teleplay by Fred Dekker from a story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Dekker. Roxa ...
".
[Ex Astris Scientia](_blank)
Enterprise Episodes, Season 2 The second example Card provides is that of alien cultures where the idea of
property ownership is considered to be as obscene as
pederasty
Pederasty or paederasty ( or ) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a pubescent or adolescent boy. The term ''pederasty'' is primarily used to refer to historical practices of certain cultures, particularly ancient Greece and anc ...
.
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
's ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
'' at one point mentions that the word
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
is the worst profanity in the galaxy.
In other contexts
As mentioned above, ''shazbot'' briefly enjoyed popular usage outside of its television show.
[ ''Battlestar Galactica''s ''frak'', a word that ]Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter, publisher and producer known for his bestselling novels ''Lost Hills'' and ''True Fiction'' and his work on a wide variety of TV crime series, including '' Diagnosis: Murder'', ''A Nero Wolfe My ...
characterizes as "something truly amazing and subversive" and that Scott Adams
Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is an American author and cartoonist. He is the creator of the syndicated ''Dilbert'' comic strip, and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, and business. ''Dilbert'' gained nation ...
calls "pure genius", has also escaped its original context. Originally spelled ''frack'', it along with ''felgercarb'' were coined by writer Glen A. Larson for the 1978 ''Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'', for much the same reasons that ''frell'' and ''dren'' were coined for ''Farscape'': the ability to use profane dialogue, with words that would be immediately understood as synonymous with the real profanities that they stood in for, without falling foul of network censorship and broadcasting restrictions accompanying its original Sunday evening broadcast timeslot.[
The producers re-spelled the word ''frak'' for the 2004 ''Battlestar Galactica'' series, in order to make it, literally, a ]four-letter word
The phrase four-letter word refers to a set of English-language words written with four letters which are considered profane, including common popular or slang terms for excretory functions, sexual activity and genitalia, blasphemies, terms ...
;[ the word appears in several ]Black Library
The Black Library is a division of Games Workshop (formerly a part of BL Publishing) which is devoted to publishing List of Black Library novels, novels and audiobooks (and has previously produced art books, background books, and graphic novels) ...
novels before then, most notably the Ciaphas Cain series. It has escaped, in both forms, from the series to a whole variety of other contexts, from a ''Dilbert
''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title characte ...
'' cartoon strip where Dilbert
''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satirical office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office with engineer Dilbert as the title characte ...
mutters it, through other television shows including ''The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series of ...
'', ''Gossip Girl
''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
'', ''Veronica Mars
''Veronica Mars'' is an American teen noir mystery drama television series created by screenwriter Rob Thomas. The series is set in the fictional town of Neptune, California, and stars Kristen Bell as the eponymous character. The series prem ...
'', ''30 Rock
''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...
'', and ''Scrubs
Scrub(s) may refer to:
* Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland
* Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff
* ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program
* Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," o ...
'', and Robert Crais
Robert Crais (pronounced ) (born June 20, 1953) is an American author of detective fiction. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as ''Hill Street Blues'', ''Cagney & Lacey'', '' Quincy'', ''Miami Vice'' and ''L.A. Law ...
' Elvis Cole
Robert Crais (pronounced ) (born June 20, 1953) is an American author of detective fiction. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as ''Hill Street Blues'', ''Cagney & Lacey'', ''Quincy, M.E., Quincy'', ''Miami Vice'' an ...
novel ''Chasing Darkness'', to everyday spoken use.[
The ]BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
science fiction television
Science fiction first appeared in television programming in the late 1930s, during what is called the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Special effects and other production techniques allow creators to present a living visual image of an imaginary ...
series ''Red Dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
'' replaces most of its characters' profanities with invented terms, mainly '' smeg'' (possibly a truncation of ''smegma
Smegma (Ancient Greek σμῆγμα : ''smēgma'') is a combination of shed skin cells, skin oils, and moisture. It occurs in both male and female mammalian genitalia. In females, it collects around the clitoris and in the folds of the labia ...
'') and its compound ''smeg-head''. Other common insults are ''goit'' and ''gimboid''.
Footnotes
* Battis has lot to say on Aeryn Sun's use of "frell" here, in terms of its status as a non-performative utterance, and the locutionary and perlocutionary power of the statement. For more detail, see pages 146 et seq. of Battis 2007.
References
See also
* Minced oaths in literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Profanity In Science Fiction
Profanity
Euphemisms
Self-censorship
Science fiction themes