Swear Words in Star Wars

I'm particularly amused by "sisterkriffer" and its Earth equivalent, myself. It sounds so... evil. Delightfully evil.

 

If used in the correct context, GFFA swear words will get the same effect. I was watching Battlestar Galactica and had to laugh because the insertion of "frack" in its various forms for its real world equivalent gets across all the same intention and vehemence, especially in the fights. The monitors must be in fits because they have to let "frack" through yet you watch the show feeling like it's an R-rated movie at times with all the "fracking" going on.

 

I think it also has a lot to do with what you're used to hearing. Frip, frack, son of a Hutt/Sith - those are all very similar to Earth terms, so I have no problem reading them (or using them in RL ). To me, words like kriff and droik (from Visions of the Future) don't sound anything like words I'd yell out when angry or annoyed.

Sometimes I just settle for the familiar "crap." It's canon, after all.

 

Yes. The thing is, though, that "frack" is extremely close to the actual curse, whereas "kriff" is, at best, an inversion of the actual word (plus a shift in vocalic articulation and an addition of an "r").

Bottom line--swearing is an entirely cultural thing, which depends not only on language but on context. If you've ever studied a foreign language, you know that the swear words don't really feel like swear words (and if you studied the language in high school, those were the words you probably learned right off the bat from older students). When I was in Spain for a semester, I used profanity all the time because the people I was with used it and it just didn't feel taboo at all to me.

It might be the case that we need to consider Star Wars swear words as entirely different from English ones, rather than trying to make some sort of equivalency between them. The other thing that's important is to make sure the characters react believably to the words. I just read TUQ about two days ago, and there's a part in it when Leia is flying the Falcon and she's arguing with the Alliance blockade, and Gavin Darklighter gets on the comm with a "Captain Solo, stop kriffing around." Then when he finds out it's Leia, he apologizes for his profanity. Another good example is in Specter of the Past/Vision of the Future, when Pellaeon's aide uses "kriffing" and then immediately apologizes for using it in front of him.

It takes a bit of effort to take words like "kriff" seriously, but it helps if your characters do. And keep it all in character, too. A couple of single guys drinking and watching smashball would probably be much less averse to using profanity than, say, a couple of married men with their kids in the other room.

Then again, maybe not. It all depends. Just be consistent.

 

just upping this so users can find it better!

meg

 

Earlier on in this thread I asked a question with regard to a fic bunny I was pondering, and may yet do. The question entailed Mace Windu and an acceptable way of using a certain maternal epithet that has shown up in other Samuel L. Jackson movies. The wascally wabbit in question is a spoof on Snakes on a Plane where Mace Windu has to be St. Patrick with a lightsabre and deal with snakes let loose on a passenger starship. If you are aware of the memes that have been floating around about this actual movie which will actually drop soon, you know the quote I was struggling with.

Anyway, I am almost finished with my AU "phantom edit" of the PT, "Knightfall," and will probably post a link to the .PDF version in the "Star Wars Screenplays" thread. However, before I link, I need to know whether this euphemism is allowed. Because that's how I solved things. Basically everything flows from the word "freak." Which, of course, is a proper word that describes something unusual or something that is mutated in some way. But in this case, it's used as a synonym for...well, kriff.

It's not mentioned in the FAQ so I had to bring it up here.

Please don't ban me please don't ban me please please please....

 

Okay I just read this whole thing so that I could get some swear words. I am doing a story about a man who becomes a stormtrooper. Any one who has been or knows a soldier knows that we are a raunchy bunch of guys, and even though some may say that I am taking some of the artistic star warsy feel away from the story, I feel like it would add some realism to the story by having them be the same. Having said that I am going to go to go as far with it as the TOS will allow me to go.

 

I got one ok two.

How you go about useing sh** and **** or ****


As in I don't by all the sh** that you say and i'm **** sick of it.

 

Kilik, you're missing three astrisks in your second bleep. You need to turn **** into a verb
..not that I have any idea what **** could possibly represent, of course


Though I would suggest that bleeping should be relegated to the same use meant for 'kriff' - humor. It's funny, not real. It's not in a bleep's nature to be real.

 

Oh thanks sorry about that.

 

It's not in a bleep's nature to be real.

I couldn't help but think of the X-Files episode "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." Scully relates the events of the case to Chung, and as you see everything unfolding, the main detective on the case keeps saying things like "Bleep" and "Bleepedy bleep."

Scully tells Chung, "Well, he didn't actually say 'Bleep.'"

I'm sure there similar jokes can be used in fanfic - say a Jedi is recounting a mission to the Council, and instead of repeating some dictator's colorful language, he uses "Bleep." Gives a great comic effect.

 

As a nonswearer, I do say "bleep" and even "expletive" when describing others' profanity. ["He told me to '(Expletive) off!' and stormed out of the room."]

I've been somewhat tempted lately to write a scene in which someone gives an angry profanity-filled rant but replaces every expletive with "smurf" (right down to the use of "mothersmurfing"). Or maybe not.

 

Though, since there's only one female smurf in all of smurfdom, might I suggest, "Ladysmurfing" instead?

Kilik, no worries. *'s are an easy replacement if you're recounting some real life event to other people on the boards. They work fine in that context. But in a fic, all the rules change. The last thing anyone wants to see is a laughing icon in response to something they though would be dramatic and heavy.
...now, if you're hoping for a laughing icon...well that's another story.
No pun intended.

 

Oh Yod, lets not forget lil' Sasiphratt (The Smurf that looked like a cross between the Wendy's girl and Carrot Top)

 

The only swear words that I believe would be acceptable would be d*mn and hell( because Han said this in The Empire Strikes Back).

 

Oh yeah, her! Silly me.
She came on much later though, didn't she?
I figure, if the smurf in question is not a 1st or 2nd season addition, it's not truly part of the show's original communist agenda, and therefore doesn't count as much.
Personal preference.

 

I recently used: "Call me a suspicious Bothan, but that made me curious." in my current story.

 

i havent had time to go through a couple of pages on here but KANEABAR springs to mind is a Yuushan Vong insult. something about beatles and excrement i believe...

 

Sorry if this was all ready mentioned, but I know I've seen the use of the word "space" before as a swear; as in something or someone was "spaced" or " Oh, space that!"

I'm 98.6% sure...

Anyway, I am a big fan of Jacen Solo's mental expression of disorientation as he wakes up on the newly formed Yuuzhan'tar..."Where in all nine Corellian hells am I?"

nice.

 

One more thing; isn't "vaped" one of the best slang terms ever? Love it like chocolate pudding...

 

I've always been partial to swear words based on Star Wars species. "That stupid son of a hutt!" for example. I can also see a lot of creative use of the gungan race...

 

Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but Shutta is used quite a bit in KotOR2.
Also, I'm not certain but I'm fairly sure that I read "Hutt drool" replacing "BS" somewhere.