Just a fun, short, goofy little game: vote for your favorite fictional profanity. They can come from TV, film, books, video games, wherever. The only criteria are:

Characters in the work must use the term as a profanity. Made-up term that aren't intended to be curses are not eligible.

It must not be an actual profanity. It should only be a curse within in-universe in a fictional work. In real life, the term should be innocuous or gibberish. It can be reminiscent of a real curse, though.

The fictional work must be notable. No nominating a fictional swear from your unpublished novel.


First round is nominations. I'll start us off with a list of the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. Please nominate others that you think of. You should include the name of the work from which the curse originates.

frak, Battlestar Galactica

frell, Farscape

gorram, Firefly

petaQ, Star Trek

poodoo, Star Wars

Qu'vatlh, Star Trek

shazbot, Mork & Mindy

smeg, Red Dwarf

Feldercarb, original BSG

Light - Wheel of Time

Blood & Bloody Ashes or simply Bloody Ashes - Wheel of Time

Belgium - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Just to add a little bit more besides sci-fi,
hraka, Watership Down
rassin frassin, Looney Tunes (Ok, I know that's not really the same thing.)

Hey, works for me. In fact, in that same spirit, I'm gonna add: Smurf, The Smurfs

Also thought of this one: meega nala kweesta, Lilo & Stitch

The list so far:

Belgium, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
(blood &) bloody ashes, Wheel of Time
frak, Battlestar Galactica
feldercarb, Battlestar Galactica
frell, Farscape
gorram, Firefly
hraka, Watership Down
light, Wheel of Time
meega nala kweesta, Lilo & Stitch
petaQ, Star Trek
poodoo, Star Wars
Qu'vatlh, Star Trek
rassin frassin, Looney Tunes
shazbot, Mork & Mindy
smeg, Red Dwarf
Smurf, The Smurfs

freg - Oceans Unmoving.

Beat me to it. I use "bloody" or "flaming" all the time IRL. Love the Jordan curse words. "Mother's milk in a cup!" is another.

We should probably include Splat as well.


I was considering asking if watershed version counted so that I could add some from Todd and the Book of Pure Evil. Then I had too much trouble finding a list.

True story.

Hell's Bells
Stars and Stones
Empty Night

-The Dresden Files

TANSTAAFL is sometimes used as a curse in Heinlein works. Stands for 'there ain't such thing as a free lunch'.

I'm debating whether it's fair to include terms from Sluggy Freelance; home field advantage and all that. Maybe if a Sluggy word wins we'll have an overall winner and a non-Sluggy winner. *shrug*

I'm going to rule that "Hell's bells" is disqualified because it is not original to The Dresden Files.

I was thinking of doing a bracketed elimination, randomly seeding the words and presenting an entire round at a time, but if someone has an alternative proposal, let me know. Assuming we go with brackets, I will accept two more nominations to make it 24. The first bracket will have three terms going against each other in each match; the remaining rounds will have two terms going head-to-head per match.

Belgium, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
(blood &) bloody ashes, Wheel of Time
empty night The Dresden Files
frak, Battlestar Galactica
freg, Sluggy Freelance
feldercarb, Battlestar Galactica
frell, Farscape
gorram, Firefly
hraka, Watership Down
light, Wheel of Time
meega nala kweesta, Lilo & Stitch
mother's milk in a cup, Wheel of Time
petaQ, Star Trek
poodoo, Star Wars
Qu'vatlh, Star Trek
rassin frassin, Looney Tunes
shazbot, Mork & Mindy
smeg, Red Dwarf
Smurf, The Smurfs
splat, Sluggy Freelance
stars and stones, The Dresden Files
TANSTAAFL, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

If I'm not mistaken, 'Flup' is a rubbery plant material that is the sole product of the planet Rhys in Empire Star, and is, there, a curse word. I can check this evening.


correction: it's jhup. I'm now 98% sure. I didn't check, but it came to me last evening.

Surat - Battletech, Mechwarrior, and associated fiction.

Meecrob - South Park.

Okay, I'll keep accepting nominations until no legal one is given within the space of 24 hours. We have 25 nominations so far:

Belgium, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
(blood &) bloody ashes, Wheel of Time
empty night, The Dresden Files
frak, Battlestar Galactica
freg, Sluggy Freelance
feldercarb, Battlestar Galactica
frell, Farscape
gorram, Firefly
hraka, Watership Down
jhup, Empire Star
light, Wheel of Time
meecrob, South Park
meega nala kweesta, Lilo & Stitch
mother's milk in a cup, Wheel of Time
petaQ, Star Trek
poodoo, Star Wars
Qu'vatlh, Star Trek
rassin frassin, Looney Tunes
shazbot, Mork & Mindy
smeg, Red Dwarf
Smurf, The Smurfs
splat, Sluggy Freelance
stars and stones, The Dresden Files
surat, Battletech, Mechwarrior, etc.
TANSTAAFL, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress