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Frak and other fictional curse words
by Brad Trechak, posted Sep 2nd 2008 7:02PM
There is a marvelous article on CNN about the origins of the word "Frak", the replacement curse word used heavily in the series Battlestar Galactica. It seems that the word was invented in the original 70's version of the show by creator Glen A. Larson but it was seldom used.It got me thinking about other replacement profanities used by scripted television to replace the normal curse words that the FCC bans from televised broadcasts. We have previously posted about made-up words on television (including the profanities "Smeg" from Red Dwarf and "Frell" from Farscape), but I have a few to add to that list:
- "Frak" from Battlestar Galactica. This expletive is the hot one at the moment. It was even referenced in the comments of the previous posts. It currently appears so many t-shirts and BSG paraphernalia that Larson should demand an extra cut.
- "Shazbot" - Mork and Mindy. I admit I was young and naive. I didn't actually realize until much later the four-letter expletive that "Shazbot" was supposed to replace.
- "Assmaster" - South Park. Trying to name a single or favorite profanity in South Park is like trying to draw a picture of your favorite snowflake. They make up so many of their own profane variations that the show could have a dictionary all its own. I just picked one at random.
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