Swearing in Star Wars

[AintThatASeamus]

What kind of curse words do people use in the galaxy far, far away? This may seem like a childish question, but I've played in a few Star Wars games and when I'm playing a pirate, smuggler, or mercenary I always feel at a loss for authentic dialogue since Star Wars, being comparatively kid-friendly seems a little short on curse words. I don't need every other word to be an f bomb, but it would be nice for my rough-around-the-edges characters to show that in their speech patterns, and using real-world swear words doesn't feel Star-Warsy to me.

I know KOTOR (and maybe the prequels or the cartoon) use "poodoo" from RotJ, but despite how it sounds that just means "fodder" in Huttese, apparently. I could see using "bantha fodder" in the way we do BS, but it's not going to be the kind of sharp expletive you use when things go south.

Han says that he'll "see you in Hell" in Empire, but that always struck me as odd. The people in Star Wars (barring isolated cultures) don't seem to believe in God or gods, so I'm not sure where a concept of Hell would come from. I'm more inclined to think that Hell is just a really unpleasant place (like the "angels" from Phantom Menace are just beautiful, ethereal life forms) rather than indicative of any concept of damnation. That means religious curses in general are probably out.

Most dramatically, Star Wars has no f word. Other sci-fi universes using have a censor-friendly parallel to it, but not Star Wars that I have ever seen or read. I don't have a clear idea of what attitudes towards sex and sexuality are like in Star Wars, so I don't even know if an equivalent to the f word would be sufficiently taboo to be considered an expletive. But a Star Wars f bomb doesn't have to mean the same thing. All I really want is a word with the same intensity and versatility.

I don't know if the novels give useful examples in this regard, or if anyone has made up their own for roleplaying games or fan fiction. But I'm very curious to know, not just to give my characters some authentic flair, but because the words a culture uses as curses tell us things about that culture, what they revere and what they hold in contempt, and I find that kind of glimpse into the broader universe of Star Wars fiction intriguing.

[Fawkes]

Han says that he'll "see you in Hell" in Empire, but that always struck me as odd.

I have a feeling that was one of Harrison Ford's additions.

Edit: This (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_phrases_and_slang) may have some stuff for you to use.

[GAThraawn]

To ensure that I'm taken seriously as more of a Star Wars nerd than I should admit to, lets see how many canon swears I can think of off the top of my head:
Sithspawn
Sithspit (I like the ring to it that one has, and yes, both of these get used under the Empire when most people don't actually know what a Sith is)
Kark
Kriff (Also, Karking and Kriffing as adjectives)
E chu ta

I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

Edit: oh, and popular with the rebellion were the exclaimations "Emperor's black bones!" and "Emperor's black heart!". Also of interest might be this page: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Echuta#E

[Tirian]

I'm trying to recall even mild profanity from the Boba Fett trilogy, and nothing is coming to mind.

It is strange, because there was no lack of prejudice in the SW universe, but it doesn't seem like anyone ever swore in Basic. Closest thing to an epithet I can remember is "nerf-herder".

[ScottishDragon]

I remember something like "Your mother is a......"it was some sort of animal,or maybe it was a hutt.

[Tirian]

Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Slang) seems to have a number of suggestions. I got as far as "frak", "frell", and "kark" before passing on the rest, so you should be able to develop a nice potty mouth.

[chiasaur11]

There's Blast.

Which, since even a tough guy like RC-1138 "Boss" won't admit to saying it, must be a fairly crude one.

[Mando Knight]

There's also "Fierfek." And a whole lot of Mando'a.

[Mystic Muse]

does Bantha Poodoo count? it's used in the same context as BS.

[Dienekes]

Han: Damn fool, I knew you were going to say that
Obi-Wan: Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?

So, they say damn.

Really, most of star wars is curse free. Though really it's not so hard to express yourself in other ways than to drop a cuss or two, and the SW universe seems to mostly follow this idea.

[darkblade]

Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Slang) seems to have a number of suggestions. I got as far as "frak", "frell", and "kark" before passing on the rest, so you should be able to develop a nice potty mouth.

It's even worse that they did indeed steal Frak and Frell from the original BSG and Farscape. The wiki even says as much about Frell and Frak came two decades after BSG.

[Yulian]

Anything Jariah Syn says, because he is an awesome pirate.

Heck, Cade Skywalker, too. They swear an apparent blue streak, lot of Huttese.

I personally like the chiding word "pateesa" (darling, sweetie). Kark is a great one too.

I've also seen "Kuzzzik Desh" as an expletive.

Son of a murglak is also fun.

Yeah, stick to Huttese for a pirate, it works pretty well.

- Yulian

[raitalin]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_expletives

[Telonius]

R2-D2 had some of the best curse words in the whole thing.

[Texas_Ben]

Want to know something interesting I noticed about Star Wars?

No Asians in the original trilogy. Prove me wrong.

[Vaynor]

Want to know something interesting I noticed about Star Wars?

No Asians in the original trilogy. Prove me wrong.

Maybe they just didn't exist in any of the worlds visited during the original trilogy. I doubt the evolution of a species accounts for whether or not their appearance will make a movie politically correct.

[Prime32]

R2-D2 had some of the best curse words in the whole thing.Anyone playing a droid in a d20 campaign can always use "What the slag?" :smalltongue:

[Closet_Skeleton]

No Asians in the original trilogy. Prove me wrong.

I'm not so sure about that. But it's mainly because the extras were all English actors.

There's this guy but the visor makes it ambiguous:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Unidentified_Gray_Squadron_Y-wing_pilot

[Yulian]

No, no Asians I ever saw. Hell, almost no black people either.

But maybe it's for the best. Look at this term: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Epicanthix

Epicanthix? Really guys?

- Yulian

[Finn Solomon]

Wookieepedia (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Slang) seems to have a number of suggestions. I got as far as "frak", "frell", and "kark" before passing on the rest, so you should be able to develop a nice potty mouth.

Those sound like Farscape swears.

[Renegade Paladin]

Want to know something interesting I noticed about Star Wars?

No Asians in the original trilogy. Prove me wrong.
I will do precisely that. :smalltongue: There's an Asian Y-wing pilot at the Battle of Endor, who is seen yelling that he's hit right before dying.

[Mando Knight]

I will do precisely that. :smalltongue: There's an Asian Y-wing pilot at the Battle of Endor, who is seen yelling that he's hit right before dying.

And in all fairness, the only racism there is anti-Y-Wing-pilot-ism. :smalltongue:

[Texas_Ben]

I will do precisely that. :smalltongue: There's an Asian Y-wing pilot at the Battle of Endor, who is seen yelling that he's hit right before dying.

I watched that scene like 70 million times while formulating my thesis, I am not convinced. Who played that dude? Can we get a pic up without the helmet?

[chiasaur11]

And in all fairness, the only racism there is anti-Y-Wing-pilot-ism. :smalltongue:

Who's that one Y-Wing pilot who survived the death star trench run?

You hear about Luke, and about Wedge, but never about that guy. You may be on to something.

[Deca]

Really, the GFFA is so hodge-podge and filled with such a massive amount of variety, you could make up whatever swears you wished and just claim they're from some incredibly obscure EU book somewhere.

[The Big Dice]

R2-D2 had some of the best curse words in the whole thing.

That's why all his dialog was bleeped out.

[Jerthanis]

I only ever heard it once in Jedi Knight 2, but when Kyle Katarn throws away the crystal in disgust he says, "Spast" (which I always interpreted as a coloquial "space it") and it remains my favorite Star Wars curse.

Nerf-herder and bantha fodder are curses that are only comfortably applied to people, not situations or objects.

Sithspit always seemed eyerollingly searching... like they felt they had to reference Sith to make it feel Star Warsy. Like "Lightsabers and Droids! I never thought we'd get out of that one!"

"Spast" comes out fast and emphatically, it doesn't sound too much like an English curse word* and it's not as bland as "Blast"

*(that's my problem with BSG's "frak", which sounds to me like if you censored "Crap" as "Carp" or something)

[Dr.Epic]

Pretty sure uncle Owen said "hell" (as profanity, not the specific place) in New Hope.

[Szilard]

Well, Correlians sort of believe in a Hell, which explains Han Solo's use.

Did you know that the original Star Wars had the most profanity of any kind in the entire series? They dropped mild explicatives to make the movie's rating PG so it wouldn't seem like too much of a kid's movie.

[chiasaur11]

Well, Correlians sort of believe in a Hell, which explains Han Solo's use.

Did you know that the original Star Wars had the most profanity of any kind in the entire series? They dropped mild explicatives to make the movie's rating PG so it wouldn't seem like too much of a kid's movie.

And they cut off the arm. It became a tradition!

[Platinum_Mongoose]

You could always follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool's idealistic crusade, like your father did.

[Optimystik]

That's why all his dialog was bleeped out.

All this time I thought my tv was broken when he was on-screen! Thanks for clearing that up.

[averagejoe]

I watched that scene like 70 million times while formulating my thesis, I am not convinced. Who played that dude? Can we get a pic up without the helmet?

According to this (http://en.allexperts.com/e/l/li/list_of_minor_star_wars_rebel_characters.htm#hd11) , the actor was Caucasian, even if the character's name (J'ef Hsu) is vaguely Asian. The surname is Chinese, anyways.

However, one is somewhat more convinced that Lt. "There's too many of them (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Telsij)" Telsij is played by an Asian actor. I'll admit that it's not conclusive, though, and I couldn't find anything else about the actor.