F*ck

[Ziptie]

Right, now that I've got your attention, the subject of this thread: Swearing in the BSG universe!

It seems reasonably obvious that Frack (or however it's spelt) is the Colonial equivalent of our own four letter word.

While it's rather neat to see what is, effectively, frequent effing and blinding on primetime TV (UK viewers will no doubt recall Father Ted and "feck"), and it's certainly representative of a military environment, am I the only one who thinks the vocabulary of swearwords used in the show is a little limited?

Yeah, I know there's only so far you can go on TV, and I'm not saying that the show should be a swearfest, but there's got to be more than just one expletive in their language, right? Every other aspect of the characterisation and dialogue is realistic, but where's the bloody, sh*t, cr*p and b*ll*cks?

Comments... :-)

[mjm800]

I am unsure of the real meaning of Frak because in the episode Colonial Day the reporters used the word during a live broadcast. If it was in fact prophanity I think that a professional broadcaster would know better than to use it. Also Adama has used it in front of the President although he excused himself after saying it I did not get the feeling it carried the same weight as fu*k.

[CylonGod]

Tigh uses hell sometimes. He was also rumored to use Christ once but I never actually heard it. It would be odd as their religon seems to be based in a Greek system and Chriest wasn't around during that period.

[Cosmic Superchunk]

I don't know if their religion is based on that of the ancient Greeks, but Tom Zarek makes reference to Apollo as being the name of one of the Gods and certainly new of the existence of Zeus. I would assume that there would be many religions among the people of the 12 Colonies as there are on Earth. In the Mini Series we see Starbuck say a prayer to the Lords of Kobol when she thinks that Apollo has been killed and we hear several references to the "Gods," so it's safe to speculate that polytheism or even ancestor worship may be practiced by some Colonials.

As far as the word Frack goes, I find it amusing. I haven't heard terms like felgercarb or pogees being used yet, but the Colonial military does seem to keep their language rather clean when compared to ours. ;D

[ladyrheena]

Maybe if they cuss too much they get thrown in the brig, or spanked or something.

But ***(SPOILER for "Hand of God")***







Is it me or during Apollo and co's run along the asteroid surface in HoG does Cat cuss in a more terrestrial way after she fires her missiles and they fly off-course? I could have sworn (pardon the pun) that she actually says f*ck rather than frak. Am I going deaf or did anyone else hear that too?

[Ravic]

ladyrheena said:

Is it me or during Apollo and co's run along the asteroid surface in HoG does Cat cuss in a more terrestrial way after she fires her missiles and they fly off-course? I could have sworn (pardon the pun) that she actually says f*ck rather than frak. Am I going deaf or did anyone else hear that too?

Well, according to some caring parents the act of swearing may well cause deafness... or in some cases a bit milder injuries... or the sudden disappearance of dessert from dinner table

As for poor Cat, it seems she might have missed her mark here a bit (Pun? What pun?) - after listening her little remark a few times I believe it sounded something like "What got into these fu*kin' missiles!?!"

I'm not quite sure of that being the exact sentence, but the last two words are clear enough and there is no smeggin' way there was a letter "r" in that f-word.

[ladyrheena]

Ravic said:

I'm not quite sure of that being the exact sentence, but the last two words are clear enough and there is no smeggin' way there was a letter "r" in that f-word.

Then my auditory capabilities are not entirely lost to the blue beyond. That's comforting.

[Callipygian]

Ravic said:

I'm not quite sure of that being the exact sentence, but the last two words are clear enough and there is no smeggin' way there was a letter "r" in that f-word.

Wow. I'll have to pay close attention when I finally get to see that episode. I wonder if they will edit it out or dub it for the U.S. broadcast.

[13thCylon]

CylonGod said:

Tigh uses hell sometimes. He was also rumored to use Christ once but I never actually heard it. It would be odd as their religon seems to be based in a Greek system and Chriest wasn't around during that period.

I know that Tigh said, "Jesus" in the mini, that might be what you're referring to. It's in the scene in the beginning, when Cmdr. Adama & Tigh are in Adama's quarters & Tigh is looking at the old pic of the commander & his two sons. The camera goes to Adama & you hear in the background, "Jesus". Just to make sure, I put the closed captioning on (DVD), and sure enough, Tigh said it! I was also puzzled as to why he would say this, personally I think that this was an oversight & it slipped through, being that most of us use it as an exclamation.

The writers need to come up with a list of cool swear words like FRAK! It would make it a lot more realistic!

[Blade Runner]

RDM says he wasnt even aware it had happened and it was probably adlibbed

[CylonGod]

I was watching tonight's US show ep4. Tigh says "I'll be dambed" and Starbuck and another pilot and Tigh say hell in responce to the Cylon raiders. It (hell) is said a lot during the combat portion. ;D I have all the Sky 1 eps' and plan to watch them now and then and will listen to see if any other words are used.

[futureworldruler]

Well, I think is fracking great that people on the show can use expletives - like many real people do - and not frack off the censors.

Frack seems like a replacement for the F bomb, which of course cannot usually be used on American television, while d*mn can be. Of course, American writers are never going to use b*ll*cks, which is a shame, 'cause its the dogs b*ll*cks.

[ladyrheena]

futureworldruler said:

Frack seems like a replacement for the F bomb, which of course cannot usually be used on American television, while d*mn can be. Of course, American writers are never going to use b*ll*cks, which is a shame, 'cause its the dogs b*ll*cks.

Or "bugger" which is possibly the greatest expletive in existence yet seems to be confined entirely to England, alas and alack.

[Darth Marley]

Frak me gently with a chainsaw. Do I look like Mother Teresa?

Comedy Central airs an unedited Southpark: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut after midnight, plenty of "f-bombs" dropped there.

Did I catch an f-bomb in an episode of Nip-Tuck?

[Ziptie]

Interesting comments people, thought this one would stir up a bit of discussion!

Use of "Hell" seems interesting, as that tells us quite a bit about the Colonials' belief system(s). If there's a hell, there's presumably a heaven as well.

ladyrheena said:

Or "bugger" which is possibly the greatest expletive in existence yet seems to be confined entirely to England, alas and alack.

Now now. The day that gets confined to England is probably the day they take Elton John's passport away.