Unusual Euphemism: Difference between revisions

[[File:i050126fbofw.jpg|link=For Better or For Worse|frame|They're talking about screwing, right?]]

 

 

The characters are talking about an embarrassing issue by using a euphemism that the scriptwriters just made up.

 

{{examples}}

* The referral of the product as "bath tissue" in toilet paper commercials.

* An advert in the 1990s for the health drink ''Horlicks'' once had its participants exclaim 'horlicks!' when something went wrong.

* Commercials for Orbit gum featured people talking in this manner after having it (e.g. "What the French toast?"), since it is advertised as "cleaning dirty mouths".

** "Kiss my Madagascar fanny pack" and "I'll pineapple-slap your ascot."

** Similarly, a commercial for another brand of gum has a woman and a man in a romantic situation. The woman purrs, "Talk dirty to me." Having just popped a stick of the gum into his mouth, he says, "Skinnamarinky-dinky-dink, skinnamarkiny-doo..." (This is a reference to the closing credits of Sharon Lois And Brams Elephant Show.)

* An ad for Oreo Fudge Cremes has a family sampling the cookies and being moved to such exclamations as "Shut the front door!", "Mah Jongg!", and "Franklin Delano!"

 

* After one character in ''[[Best Student Council]]'' catches the Class President [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|coming out of the new girl's dorm in the morning]], she immediately and loudly assumes ''payapaya''. This is helped by a visual gag of "patty-cake", but amusingly enough most of the flabbergasted cast doesn't actually know what the word is supposed to mean.

* The ''[[Trigun]]'' fandom has adopted "Making Sandwiches" as their pet euphemism, after a scene where Milly and Wolfwood are discussing sharing Millie's freshly made lunch, then immediately following that up with a shirtless Wolfwood staring out a window, and an obviously naked Millie asleep in the background.

*** [[Kissing Cousins|Cousins]] [[Dub Text|who]] [[Incest Is Relative|kiss.]]

* In episode 5 of ''[[Strike Witches]]'', the [[Covert Pervert|seemingly innocent]] protagonist Yoshika has a very... [[Homoerotic Dream|interesting dream]] about her best friend in the Strike Witches. Her best friend misinterprets her trying to explain her dream as 'flying in formation with her'. Yoshika is about to correct her and say "No, 'perverted misconduct'" but quickly sees the writing on the wall and substitutes "Y... yeah, 'flying in formation'. That's it exactly." The pun being that the words Yoshika used to describe it can also be heard as 'flying in formation', and it took her a second to catch on.

* The title of ''[[FLCL]]''. Throughout the series, these four (intentionally) ill-defined syllables are used throughout the series to refer to, among God only knows what, sexual acts. This has lead viewers to (falsely) believe it to be an onomatopoetic Japanese expression referring to breast fondling.

** That mistake isn't unwarented. In the first episode's manga page interlude, Naota's grandfather hears "furi kuri" and mistakes it for "kuri kuri," which is the actual onomotopeia for... well, [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|he calls it dough kneading.]]

** And let's not forget the claiming of "Vital Regions". Made significantly worse in the show (both sub and dub) when Prussia's invasion of Silesia is referred to as an invasion of Austria's "little happy place".

** To "pull a Turkey" is to hold in your pee. [[Hetalia Bloodbath 2010/Memes|Don't ask.]]

* Considered how [[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]] has to almost vaporize people with her magic, who later become [[Defeat Means Friendship|her friends]], [[Memetic Mutation|befriended]] has gained a completely new meaning in the fandom. As seen on the page:

{{quote|befriend (v.): to use mecha-class beam weaponry to inflict grievous bodily harm on a target in the process of proving the validity of your belief system.|From a post on rpg.net}}

* I will be short, "[[Nana to Kaoru|Time for a breather]]." The funny thing is the one usually saying this also has quite the ''[[Buxom Is Better|talent'', among other things]].

* In the series ''[[DearS]]'', the [[Lady Killer]] of the series often asks if the woman with him would like some Coffee. How the situation is (like how the girl is getting dressed in the background) strongly suggest this is a euphemism for sex.

{{quote|'''Yusuke:''' The family jewels have not been stolen.}}

 

* In [[Marvel Comics]]' 2099 universe, the standard epithet is "shock".

** Which led to a hilarious adaptation in Italian where "razzo" (rocket), was used instead of "cazzo" (cock, an actual Italian interjection used in similar way to the English "crap!")...nobody was able to see Marvel 2099 characters [[Have a Gay Old Time|ejaculating]] "Rocket!" in front of flabbergasting or intense situation with a straight face.

** ''[[Spider-Man]] 2099'' writer [[Peter David]] said he had considered introducing "shuck" as another futuristic epithet, on the grounds that it was a combination of "shit" and "fuck".

* In Jhonen Vasquez's ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', Johnny C. sometimes says "Fook!", though he usually just uses the plain ol' F-Bomb.

{{quote|'''Zodon:''' What the '''Gumball''' did you do to me, you '''Windshield'''?!

'''Herschel:''' I just gave you what I call a "Barry Ween" chip. We can shut it off if you learn to tone down the cussing, and it'll dissolve completely when you turn 18.

'''Zodon:''' You '''Flower Garden''', I'll '''Fox Trot''' all over your '''Drinking Fountain'''! '''Umbrella'''! '''Crunchberries'''! '''Cordless Telephone'''! }}

** And if he gets ''really'' upset and starts swearing non-stop, the chip causes him to sing show tunes.

* ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' often shouts "Stom!", "Grud" and "Drokk!".

** "Grud" is a Mega-City corruption of 'God'. The Vatican, which is a police state equivalent to a Catholic Mega-City, sort-of worships him, although the majority of high-ranking members of the Vatican's establishment seem to not care either way.

* The ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (comics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' comic had a variety of alternate swear words, including "Pain in the klordny", which an editor translated as "neck" when challenged on it. Why "pain in the neck" would need a euphemism was unanswered, and later usage included "get off your klordny"... There was also a completely unexplained "klordny week" holiday/festival... which is probably better not thought about much.

** Most of them are used inconsistently. "Sprock" usually means what it ends like, but "Sprock happens" once appeared. "Grife" appears to be the name of a deity - never used except as a curse. And on occasion, curses from other universes are used (Oh, frak.")

** Tintin himself was prone to shout "Great Snakes!" while Thomson and Thompson sometimes used "Scotland Yard!" as an exclamation.

* Kl'lrt the Super-Skrull did, in his miniseries, use such expletives as "Son of a Sch'mag!"

{{quote|'''Bumblebee:''' Hey Arcee, if I win, you owe me a kiss!

'''Arcee:''' ''Please''. If you can beat ''me'', I'll ''rotate your tires''.

* In ''[[Orc Stain]]'' the eponymous race are rather proud of their [[Biggus Dickus|gronches]].

 

* A ''[[Torchwood]]'' fic once referred to sperm as "cheap white carbohydrates." Made even worse when in context the author easily could have meant bed sheets, and out of context, white bread could be assumed. And ejaculate is more protein than carbs anyway.

** Incidentally, the town that the main characters reside in is called "Oyster District"; this term gives the town name a whole new meaning.

* A particular (pre-[[Ship Sinking|clonebomb]]) fanfic somewhere in the ''[[Homestuck]]'' fandom has [[Cloudcuckoolander|Jade]] decide that "tangle buddies" is an appropriate name for nervous interlacing of fingers, which then gets seized on for some reason as a euphemism.

"Oh," Jade interrupted, "I already knew that." [...] "But now you're tangle buddies, which is even better!" }}

* ''[[Forbiden Fruit: The Tempation Of Edward Cullen]]'' features appearances by Edward's "throbbing lavender man-fruit thing," also known as his "mancarrot" or his "massive throbbing gigglestick." Jacob's is referred to as his "male genital item" and described as resembling a "horrible wet mushroom."

{{quote|"Kohlrabi freakin' slaw salad with hoisin-sauced ''duck''!"

[[Lampshade Hanging|Who knew food could sound so much like profanity?]] }}

** Leading to the priceless moment where Hermione and Danger team up on Draco:

[[Beat]]

* A ''[[Kim Possible]]'' fic has this, "Drakken's face was pressed into Warmonga's ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|huge tracts of land]]."

** The same fic also mentions that her "quarlaps" were getting very warm.

* In the [[Mega Crossover]] [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007|Roommates]]'' [[The Phantom of the Opera|Erik]] swears almost entirely in musical terms. What. The. Forte.

* Corwin Ravenhair from ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' tends to use "slag" as an all-purpose epithet, especially in his youth. Which makes a kind of sense, as he's the son of the Goddess of Technology, and slag is the waste product generated by refining ores. Also, as ''UF'' is a [[Mega Crossover]] [[Space Opera]] which incorporates the [[Transformers Generation 1|Transformers]] as a major race on the Galactic scene, it's possible the expletive comes from them.

 

* In ''[[Anchorman]]'' Ron Burgundy does this quite a bit, at one point saying "Son of a beesting" and, more oddly, things like "Great Odin's Raven!" or "Knights of Columbus, that hurt!"

* In ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' just before Jason and Gwen are forced to go through the Chompers? She ''says'' "screw", but it's obvious she's saying something else...

* W.C. Fields movies. Fields was the grandfather of this trope, since he wrote his own movie screenplays under bizarre pseudonyms. Phrases like "Godfrey Daniels!" littered his movies so that he could get around the censors of the day.

* In ''Splash'', the tour guide who first sees the naked Madison shouts "Bocce Balls!"

* In the first ''[[Spy Kids]]'' movie, Carmen reacts in dismay in one scene with "Oh shiiiiiiiiiitake mushrooms." Also done in the sequel. "You are so full of..."

* ''[[Idiocracy]]''. Since most businesses have been converted into brothels, whatever their previous product was, is now used as a euphemism for sexual acts. For example, in Starbucks lattes are really handjobs and H&R Block now has "adult" tax returns.

* ''[[Sex Drive]]'' has "visiting my grandma" as a euphemism for having sex.

** Incidentally, this is also a [[Shout-Out]] to a skit in ''The State'', in which a character mentions visiting his grandma, his tablemates tease him by suggesting that he has sex with her, and then he coolly admits it.

* ''[[Pineapple Express]]'':

{{quote|'''Dale:''' I'm sorry, that sounded really mean... just to hear that, that sounded really mean.

'''Dale:''' What? That's not even... a figure of speech.

'''Saul:''' Pandora can't go back into the box - he only comes out. }}

* ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' had one of the canines exclaim "Son of my Mother!" for a [[Parental Bonus]].

''(Later in the same scene.)''

'''Baby Herman:''' The paper said Acme had no will. That's a load o' ''succotash''. }}

* A young [[Thora Birch]] brought us "yabbos" as a completely unbelievable euphemism for breasts in ''[[Hocus Pocus]]''.

* In ''[[Fantastic Mr. Fox]]'', all swear words are efficiently replaced with "cuss". People in the audience who catch on shouldn't have any trouble deciphering the uses of "cluster-cuss" and "cussin' with their heads", for example. In the background of one scene, "CUSS" is written in graffiti on a wall.

* Used in the 1994 movie ''Threesome'' when a character reveals what he has found out about the main character.

{{quote|'''Stuart:''' Eddie is a proud homeowner. A homeboy. Homo Erectus... A fag.}}

* ''[[A Christmas Story]]'',

** Ralphie says, "Oh fudddddddddddddge!" when he drops the lugnuts. The narration makes it clear that he didn't really say "fudge," but the "eff dash dash dash" word.

* In [[Disney Fairies|The Tinkerbell Series]] much strange fairy slang is used. Including, but not limited to: "Who gives a pile of pebbles?", "Flitterific!", "Splinters!", "Teetering Teapots!", "By the second star!". And from the book: "Fly with you", "I'd fly backwards if I could" and the popular slur for humans: "Clumsies."

* In ''[[Spartacus]]'', [[Depraved Bisexual]] Crassus indicates his interest in his slave Antoninus by means of a metaphor involving oysters and snails. Antoninus gets the point...and runs off to join Spartacus's slave rebellion.

* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (film)|The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy]]''

** Also played with when Zaphod is running around, yelling "Hummakavula!" Once the group meets the character, Arthur says, "So that's Hummakavula. I thought [Zaphod] was just swearing."

 

* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''

** In the original radio play and the American version of ''Life, the Universe, and Everything'', the word "Belgium" is recognized everywhere in the Universe except on a certain [[Insignificant Little Blue Planet]] as such a rude word that it's only used in serious screenplays (one character has an award for Most Gratuitous Use of "Belgium" in a Serious Screenplay). The UK version of the book simply used "Fuck", but the "Belgium" joke seems to be more popular with many readers. For the same reason, the American edition of ''Life, the Universe, and Everything'' borrowed "swut" from the radio series, and changed an insult for Arthur Dent from "arsehole" to "kneebiter" (again, some readers prefer the latter).

** The name of The Great Prophet Zarquon is also [[Oh My Gods|taken in vain]] occasionally. The term "zark", used in similar contexts as "fuck" (e.g. "zarking", "zark off"), was said by Douglas Adams to have been derived from this.

** "Photon" and "dingo's kidneys" (occasionally "flying dingo's kidneys" were also used for swearing, mostly by Zaphod in the radio series.

** "Frak" is used in the [[Ciaphas Cain]] books, as a deliberate shoutout.

** The Imperium as a whole has a variety of other phrases, largely [[Oh My Gods|replacing religiously-inclined curses]], Including oaths such as "Emperor on Earth", a variety involving the word "Throne" ("Throne Damn It", "Golden Throne!" and so on), and the best of all: "Emperor's Bowels!"

** Indeed, Klono is popular among spacemen '''because''' of his plethora of adjectival bodyparts, making it easy to swear by him.

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' Virgin Publishing [[Expanded Universe]] novels had the term "cruk". In one book a character [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|from the mid-21st century]] claims it's from a kids' TV series and means "tired", but the Doctor says that by the 24th century (where his companions picked it up) it means "something very rude indeed".

** The novels were also fond of using "spack" as a multi-purpose cussword. It actually derived from a fluffed line in the original series story "Destiny of the Daleks" where, trying to say "Stay back" or "Back off", the Doctor ends up shouting "Spack off!" to some Daleks. In the early days of the novels series, real-life words were used. Repeatedly. To the point where the BBC stepped in and told them they weren't allowed to use the F-bomb any more, or they'd lose their license. (Later on, they did lose it.)

‘Why didn’t I what?’ said Sam, locked in battle with her shoelaces.

‘Break bits off him.’ }}

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' mostly stuck to "damn" and "hell", at least from the human characters, but the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] features a wide variety of made-up profanity. Some of it is a thinly disguised substitute for real-world swearing, such as "shavit" in which the middle two letters might as well not be there. The word "kriff" (invented by [[Timothy Zahn]] in one of the better EU novels) seems to be used as a substitute for "fuck" in all its contexts, especially on some of the stricter Star Wars fan forums that don't allow Earth-based expletives. One site doesn't even allow initialisms that suggest the word "fuck", as a result of which such terms as WTK, KUBAR and SNAKU are widely used and understood. Unfortunately, which words each character uses is one of the many things authors don't share with each other, so there are a lot which [[Depending on the Writer|only come up in a particular book or series]], which implies that specific swear words spread, meme-like, and are replaced over a very short period of time.

** His more recent story ''[[Star Wars/Allegiance|Allegiance]]'', by virtue of being about a bunch of [[Space Is an Ocean|navy men and pirates]], is littered with all kinds of krinking swears. It's a bit strange to hear Han Solo "swearing" in front of Leia like that. Zahn also uses "fusst," and has a stormtrooper wondering "What in the worlds?"

** There's also "rodder" (Kriffin' rodders!), and the decidedly hilarious "lube" (He got lubbed!). There was also another from the Dark Nest books which was an obvious stand-in for "fuck", since there was a whole "Mommy, what does mean?" bit between Mara and young Ben.

** Karen Traviss once condemned about half of the existing swear words - all the ones that get said as an expression of surprise - including "Stang" and "Bloah", claiming that all ''real'' profanities had to be sharp-sounding and easy to say! Like "fierfek" and "di'kut". ...People paid about as much attention as you'd expect.

*** ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] 2'' introduces "charge up her loading ramp" and "hooked up a power coupling" to round out the list.

** [[Troy Denning]] is apparently slowly trying to insert real-life profanity into the EU; "bugslut", anyone?

** [[Matt Stover]] has Han mock unusual euphemisms in ''[[Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor]]'', apparently unaware that ''Han'' has said more awkward things than "By the Emperor's Black Bones!" before.

** In others, the characters curse - and mean it! - by using the literal words ''censored'' and ''bleep''. Apparently, the media of his universe had never relaxed the censorship that ours started with, and the replacement words stuck.

*** This is lampshaded in the novella ''The Defenseless Dead'' when one character explains that 'censor' and 'bleep' were originally euphemisms for words which they wouldn't let you use, and not actual expletives. It's also pointed out that 'damn' was originally "a technical term in theology".

*** It's not terribly unusual if your familiar with Finagle's Law "Anything that can go wrong, will--at the worst possible moment".

*** "Merlin's saggy left--", on the other hand...

** Don't forget Moony's "furry little problem", as James called it.

** In one memorable chapter Ron stubs his toe and exclaims "Suck an ELF!"

** This one originated with [[Gore Vidal]]'s ''Myron''. In the original version of the book, Vidal replaces all the swear words with the names of Supreme Court Justices who had just voted in favour of some pro-censorship measure or other. So we have Burger = bugger, Father Hill = tit, Rehnquist = dick and so on.

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novels have several of these. Some examples:

*** Apparently he has a "speech impediment".

** Combining "Plonker" with "todger" gives us the term "tonker", originally supposed to be dwarfish, but now firmly entrenched in Morporkian, much as certain Yiddish terms found their way into Cockney.

** Various characters are described as going "librarian poo". The Librarian of Unseen University is an orangutan (an [[Stealth Pun|ape]]).

** The Tiffany Aching books are usually preluded by a short glossary of Nac Mac Feegle terms, compiled by a rather prim and proper witch. As a result, the entry for "pished" reads: "I am ''assured'' that this means tired."

* Anthony Buckeridge's [[Jennings]] schoolboys swear very politely. "Fossilized Fish-hooks!" and the like.

** This was done to avoid the language in the stories becoming outdated. Nice try, anyway.

* The baddies in [[C. S. Lewis]]' ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'' use "buck" and "bucking" way too often (which makes it rather startling when someone says "infernal bitch").

* In one of the [[Narnia]] books, a talking dog says that its kind call their puppies "boys" when they're being naughty. Another dog adds that "girls" is also used, but is shushed by the other dog because the term is considered so very rude.

** This is even lampshaded in the series, when at least one character's internal dialog mentions having no idea why this is a rude thing to say.

* In ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', Stationery sex is described by some as ''thripping.'' It isn't nearly as offensive a word to them as its alternative form is to us.

** "Mrifk" is evidently a being of some sort, given that Grignr swears "by the surly beard of Mrifk" near the beginning. Beyond that, it's unclear who or what it is.

*** I thought it was the author's cat jumping on his typewriter.

* In the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' books, a common expletive is D'Arvit, which is revealed to be a curse that is untranslated from the fictional fairy language in order to avoid censorship.

* In [[John Ringo]]'s ''[[Council Wars]]'' series, the word "fisk" makes the obvious replacement, though it's [[Justified Trope|legitimized]] by the fact that the series takes place roughly 2000 years in the future.

** His ''[[Into the Looking Glass]]'' series uses "maulk" for {{spoiler|shit}} and "grap" for {{spoiler|fuck}}, which are loan words from some friendly aliens, though the accuracy of their use is never gone into.

*** Just for the sake of completeness (and, yes, be an annoying smarty-pants showoff), those words were originally from the [[Prince Roger]] series he co-authored with [[David Weber]]. He ported them, and one of the characters, into the [[Into the Looking Glass]] series.

** These curses are quite consistent with the philosophy and cultures depicted. One which was rather vulgar that I remember was "Mother's milk in a cup" (said by Elaine, who is noted to try to remember the courser language she hears). One of the Forsaken does use a curse word, ''tsag'', which another Forsaken finds strong, although it is meaningless to us.

** Not sure if it really counts, but saying the Dark One's name (Shai'tan) (which is actually a slight corruption of the Arabic word for the devil) "draws his attention" and causes nasty bad luck, leading to rather strong reaction from any other characters present.

* [[Peter David]] gave his Xenexian ''[[Star Trek]]'' captain the curse word "grozit", which is about what you'd expect.

** Also, David is one of quite a few to use "Kolker" as a swear word on par with "Jesus Christ" or "God". Apparently a lot of writers revere Robert Kolker.

** The use of "fug" in ''The Naked and the Dead'' inspired the name of the '60s rock band The Fugs, who preferred the uncensored version of the word in many of their songs.

* C.S. Friedman's ''[[Coldfire Trilogy]]'' uses "vulk", as in 'vulcanism' - since volcanic activity can stir up the planet's fairly unpleasant magic.

** [[wikipedia:Nadsat|Nadsat]], a language invented by the author, which based many words on Russian.

* [[Madeleine L'Engle]]'s book ''[[A Wind in the Door]]'' uses "fewmets" (deer droppings) as a swear word.

* ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'':

** Rodrick and Greg have several of these so their mom doesn't catch them swearing, like "spooky stork" and "raspberry plastic tickle bear". Greg has to be careful not to embarrass himself by accidentally saying these words at school.

** Apparently, in Fregley's secret language, "juice" means "I have to go to the bathroom."

* In Ysabeau Wilce's second novel of the [[Flora Segunda|Flora]] series, ''Flora's Dare'', it becomes clear that the Republic of Califa's preferred four-letter word is "fike". This is a disappointment after the first book's more imaginative exclamations, such as "Pigface Psychopomp!"

* Jane Yolen's ''[[Pit Dragon Chronicles]]'' uses "fewmets" as a swear word.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' has a few of these; Harry typically uses "Stars and stones" or "Hell's bells" when exasperated/surprised/frustrated, and the [[Our Vampires Are Different|incubi and succubi]] of the White Court tend to use, "Empty night..." in the same context.

* [[H. Beam Piper]] showed one way this could come about in the short story ''Naudsonce''. It features an exploratory team of humans landing on an inhabited planet to find that the inhabitants seemed to have four different words for "me" - fwoonk, pwink, tweelt, and kroosh. A fair amount of time later, they were no closer to translating the local language, and the expedition's military contingent had begun using those four words as profanities. {{spoiler|It turns out the aliens had a unique "nonauditory sonic sense", or naudsonce, that essentially let them feel sound.}}

* At least one [[Star Trek]] novel has a rather amusing case of this trope: to the Ferengi, "Charity" is the equivalant of dropping an F-Bomb.

** Philanthropist!

* Holly Lisle's ''Talyn'', a fantasy, includes "pogging" to refer to sex. The character's a soldier, so she uses it quite a bit.

* In ''[[An Abundance of Katherines]]'', the main characters use "fug" and its derivatives (fugging, fugger, etc). They explain that this was taken from a war novel where the publishers wouldn't allow the F-bomb to be used.

* [[The Culture]], dues to its nature as a machine and biological society, has several curses devoted specifically to describe AI's. "Meatfucker" is a common one for an AI that somehow transgresses a biological (usually through mindreading). Less frequently, biologicals use the word "Motherjunk" to describe drones who misbehave.

* ''[[Book of the Short Sun]]''- after the protagonist has come home from a very long trip, the local priest wishes to know if he engaged his wife in the-hum-"warm commerce".

* In ''Chess With A Dragon'', the backstabbing culture of the InterChange is such that "interesting" has become a euphemism for "dangerous", on the basis that a matter of survival is always interesting.

 

** In addition to the usual cursing, colloquial usages, there was at least one instance where Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) used "frell" literally, to refer to actual sexual intercourse.

** Frell was also used on ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'', which at the time was airing on the same night and channel.

** Spoofed in a ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' [http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66708/detail/ episode], lampooning [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|clueless FCC censors]].

** Rather hilariously, someone at Kentucky Fried Chicken ''really'' didn't get the point, and created a BSG tie-in promotion involving a "Frak Pak" of chicken.

*** There was an in-universe poke at the simple substitution with Cally saying "motherfrakker", which obviously wasn't a common in-universe usage.

** "Frak" also appears in some ''[[Babylon 5]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] material, almost certainly a [[Shout-Out]].

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' was an unusual case, in that the writers found out later that their made-up word ("smeg") did, in fact, have a [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=smegma borderline-naughty meaning]. Actually entered semi-common usage in the UK for a while.

** The trade name "Smeg", completely independently, is also an Italian line of cooking ranges. The writers of RD, hearing about this, expressed regret they had not thought to copyright the word.

** Gibby's "Oh, mustard!" and "Sha-Boom!"

*** [[Dan Schneider]] does this so often in general that the trope could easily be renamed "Schneiderism" in his honor. In addition to [[iCarly]], [[Victorious]] has given us such gems as Jade being a "gank" to Beck, Sikowitz exclaiming "What the hairballs?" in one episode, etc.

{{quote|'''George''': Well, uh, Jocko and the Badger bought it at the first Ypres, unfortunately. Quite a shock, that. I remember Bumfluff's housemaster wrote and told me that Sticky'd been out for a duck, and the Gubber had snitched a parcel sausage-end and gone goose-over-stump frogside.

'''Blackadder''': ''Meaning?''

'''George''': Copped a packet at Gallipolli with the Aussies. So did Drippy and Strangely Brown. }}

* ''[[El Chavo del Ocho]]'', ''[[El Chapulin Colorado]]'' and all Chespirito's works including "Chanfle" (Scurl) as any kind of profanity becoming so famous that this use is spread more, over its original soccer meaning .

** This was because NBC censors wouldn't allow the show to say the word "masturbation," and thus, a pop culture reference is born.

** At the Hamptons, Jerry and Kramer are stunned at George's date matter-of-factly going topless. "Yo Yo Ma!"..."Boutros-Boutros Ghali!"

* Chandler from ''[[Friends]]'' once came up with the most brilliant example of an unsual euphenism, to describe a character who unknowingly has shorts so short that everyone in the room can see his penis - "The man is showing brain!"

** The Ross fist-bump. Nothing more need be said.

** Somehow subverted for laugh, in episodes where Ross gets his capuchin monkey, Marcel.

** ''[[The X-Files]]'' also played with this trope in the episode "Jose Chung's from Outer Space":

{{quote|'''Dana Scully:''' Well, of course he didn't actually say 'bleeped', he said -

** ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|Darn me to H-E-Double hockey sticks!]]''

** In a network that almost certainly wouldn't let them call someone a pussy, nor drop the c bomb, a rogue cop managed to happily call a a post office employee a quim. Archaic words rule!

*** It's possible that they would have gotten away with it, but the episode in question ("The Message") was only included on the DVD and didn't actually air on TV.

** The f-word is considered pretty grave in the Father Ted universe. As Mrs. Doyle commented with regards to the works of a visiting novelist, "And of course the F-word father, the bad F-word. Worse then Feck. You know the one I mean." Also, wall-to-wall ''bastards''.

** According to the Scrabble dictionary, 'feck' means 'value', hence the derivative 'feckless', or 'worthless'. Therefore, I can use it as a swearword and say, 'it means value!'

* Doug Heffernan on ''[[The King of Queens]]'' occasionally says things like "Son of a mother!" and "Mother of ass!"

* ''[[Cheers]]'' has plenty of this. One example:

{{quote|'''Diane''': (to Sam) '''YOU''' are a ''sand flea''!}}

{{quote|'''Barney:''' For the record, "reading a magazine" means masturbating, right?}}

** And [[Lethal Weapon|"I'm too old for this shit."]] being replaced by "I'm too old for this stuff."

**** Although that last case was past Ted, bowdlerising a story in order to convince Marshall to stop interfering with the stories he wants to tell in his best man speech.

** Absolutely hearbreakingly deconstructed with {{spoiler|"pole-vaulter" in place of "mother".}}

* On early episodes of ''[[Full House]]'', D.J. calls Stephanie, "nerdbomber", "geekburger", and "double geekburger with cheese".

** On one episode of ''[[Full House]]'', Joey told Michelle that newlyweds Jesse and Becky haven't been able to play with her lately because they're "doing their taxes"

'''Joey''': For the first few months, yes. }}

* The "Chemist Shop" sketch on ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' included a list of slang words, mostly anatomical, that the censors who interrupt the sketch request not to be repeated. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|The last word on the list is "Semprini"]]. What's a Semprini? If it isn't [[wikipedia:Semprini|this dude]], nobody knows just what, except that the (fictional) censors don't want to hear about it.

** "You're not suggesting we should tax...thingy?"

* The Goa'uld of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' consider Jack O'Neill a "pain in the ''mikta''":

{{quote|'''O'Neill:''' Neck?

'''Teal'c:''' No. }}

** Lampshaded in that Ryan once responded with "No, I don't know what you mean."

** Another has Colin ending the game with a deadpan "I'm going to go to the bathroom."

* The Armstrong and Miller Show had a sketch dedicated to this, featuring two men who decide on the words for the dictionary of a predictive text message dictionary. A notable inclusion: pigt (the abbreviation of the human gene coding for phosphatidylinositol).

* On an episode of Ellen, Paige Clark (Joelly Fisher) used "go camping" as a euphemism for "have sex", as in "I want to go camping!"

** His predecessor, Henry Blake, would occasionally come up with some goodies, too. (Entering a tent on a cold, windy night: "Hoo, boy! Better keep the brass monkeys in tonight!")

* ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' has come up with a few quite creative ones, like "fustercluck," "Bass-hole," and "Oh my effing god."

** Don't forget "Motherchucker."

:Since Royalty tend not to swear in real life, Princess Anne once famously had to resort to using "Naff Off!" herself. This made headlines at the time.

* Another British sit-com, ''[['Allo 'Allo!]]'', inverted this quite creatively. The show was set in France and had a convention whereby they simulated French dialogue by having the actors speak English with thick French accents. One character was a British spy who couldn't speak French very well at all. They had him speak English, in a thick French accent, but get the English words slightly wrong in order to simulate mangled French (if you can follow that). Sometimes the writers chose mispronounced words that - if played straight - were actually outright swearing that would never have made it on to an early evening family show. Examples such as "I was ''pissing'' by the door when I heard two ''shats''." were common.

** And my favorite: "I was just pissing by and decided to drip in"

* Shaun Micallef has taken the use of the word "freak" (and every conceivable variation upon) to something of an art form. When combined with the deliberately bad acting of his David McGhan sketches, this results in lines like this:

{{quote|"You call that justice? I call it freakin' of someone, entirely!"}}

** I think he actually meant a Sharpie as in a pen- he was probably tallying the numbers with said Sharpie.

** It's still a pretty blatant [[Double Entendre]] that could easily be translated as a euphemism if that's how he keeps track of how often he gets to "Uncap his Sharpie".

** "I can read his lips and he is not praying."

{{quote|"This man was translated!"

"No evidence of translation." }}

* In ''[[Student Bodies]]'' the guys begin talking about all the girls they've "Been to Wonderland" with.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' spent most of an episode with Rose asking whether on not The Doctor ever "dances." At the end of the episode he then "dances" with both Rose and Jack. In a later episode he leaves Rose and Mickey alone while he goes off to "dance" with Madame De Pompadour.

*** The producers themselves have said that in 'The Doctor Dances', they were using 'dance' as a euphemism. The Doctor himself doesn't use it though, it was just a joke by the creators.

**** He sort of does. When Rose expresses surprise that humans have relationships with aliens she says something along the lines of "So we seek out alien species and--" "Dance." Not to mention every time it's said in that episode you can hear the air quotes. He also uses it when talking to Madame de Pompadour.

* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'': In the first season, Lilly sometimes insulted Oliver by calling him "donut," which was probably a euphemism for "asshole."

** The main character's catchphrase, "Sweet Nibblets!", is one.

* Vyvyan of ''[[The Young Ones]]'' may have ''invented'' one of these, in the course of being snarky:

{{quote|'''Neil's Father''': Felicity Kendal is a wonderful woman, and I want to protect her.

'''Ted''': Thank you, everyone. For those of you not sure what's happening, we'll have this meeting again tomorrow. }}

* ''[[Monk]]'' uses "BM" for "shit" and "haul bottom" for "haul ass".

* An ''[[NCIS]]'' episode has Gibbs bringing Abby (who [[Must Have Caffeine]]) an extra-small Caf-Pow because that's all that was available. Her response: "What the bio-hazardous material is ''this''?"

* ''[[The Borgias]]'': "Invading France."

{{quote|'''Deena:''' I heard he can drink milk for five hours without finishing the carton.

'''Dave:''' Wow. That sounds ... painful. }}

'''Geraldine:''' Well, duck me. }}

** In a later episode, Alice describes having sex with Hugo as "playing the odd round of Hide the Purple Parsnip".

 

* Roy Zimmerman's song "Firing the Surgeon General" established the title phrase as a euphemism for masturbation (by paralleling it to a number of other such euphemisms) to satirize the controversy that resulted in the 1994 dismissal of [[wikipedia:Joycelyn Elders|Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders]].

* [[Limp Bizkit]]'s ''Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water''. "Chocolate starfish" here being a euphemism for asshole, while "hot dog flavoured water" comes from an in-joke about how Wes Borland saw flavoured water on sale at a truck stop while touring, and jokingly wondered if they also come in meat or hot dog flavour.

* When Emilie Autumn performed her song "Misery Loves Company" on a morning news show, she replaced the line "pray for me you fucker, if you fucking dare" with "pray for me you muffin, if you muffin dare".

* Bloodhound Gang's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-F16WoHO4A "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo"] is just full of these.

** Almost ''every'' one of BHG's songs are like this. The most obvious being "Uhn-Tiss Uhn-Tiss Uhn-Tiss", "Bad Touch" and the aforementioned "Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo"

* [[The Decemberists]]' "The Chimbley Sweep":

** "Muff" may be dated, but it's not an unusual expression, at least not in 1975.

* [[Insane Clown Posse]] use the terms "Neden" and "Cotton Candy" over "vagina" or "pussy"; other [[Psychopathic Records]] artists have used this term as well: [[Anybody Killa]] released a song called "Your Neden's Haunted", loosely about sexually-transmitted disease ala ICP's "Bugz On My Nugz".

* ''[[Cab Calloway]]'', in "Minnie the Moocher" tells how her boyfriend taught her 'how to kick the gong around', which meant 'how to smoke an opium pipe' in the 1920s.

* "Weird Al" Yankovic's ''One More Minute'' mentions being "stranded all alone in the gas station of love", and having "to use the self-service pumps"

''With every guy in town }}

 

* ''[[For Better or For Worse]]'' used "boxcar" to represent swearing (for aphasic Grandpa Jim), and "going roadside" to indicate having sex.

** Don't forget "foob."

{{quote|''Calvin's Dad'': "Slippin'-rippin'-dang-fang-rotten-zarg-barg-a-ding-dong!"}}

* ''[[Doonesbury]]'' was known for substituting inappropriate words with a description of the words in parens, for example ''(expletive)'' or ''(body part)''

* In ''[[FoxTrot]]'', Paige once told Peter to [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|"eat spit and die".]]

** In another strip, when Andy asked Jason how it was like golfing with his father, Jason replied that it was "colorful." Andy then asks whether he meant the color of nature, the ball, the clubs, or his dad's orange plad golf pants, Jason elaborated to mean that he was actually refering to Roger's language. Cue Roger swearing.

* ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'': "Rowrbazzle!"

* And, lest we forget: "[[Peanuts|Good grief!]]"

 

=== [[Professional Wrestling]] ===

* The independent wrestling company CHIKARA promotes itself as family-friendly and discourages foul language. This led to fans chanting "Holy Poop" after impressive moves or dives.

* [[Dwayne Johnson|The Rock]] used a lot of these, notably using "pie" as a nickname for vaginas, and "strudel" as a nickname for penises.

** Double Subverted. Contrary to popular belief, the word 'ass' can be and is said by John Cena and others in the PG era. He only did that in one or two promos [[Just for Pun]]... it would have turned into a [[Cluster F-Bomb|Cluster A Bomb]] otherwise.

{{quote|And let's not forget: "BALONEY, FUDGE AND MUSTARD! MY LIFE IS BEING RUINED BY THE INTERNET!"}}

 

* Ancient BBC radio comedy ''[[Round the Horne]]'' features Rambling Syd Rumpo (Kenneth Williams), a parodic folk-singer who sang such things as "Vain she was and like a grusset / Though her gander parts were fine, / But she sneered at his cordwangle / As it hung upon the line".

** Or the song about the Highwayman who "scrooped all the ladies and whirdled the men, then he straddled his nadger and rode off again". When he is finally caught and brought to be hung upon Old Tyburn Tree (a historic euphemism for London's most well-known gallows), he said:

* A ''[[Fibber McGee and Molly]]'' episode had McGee exclaim, "Well, I'll be an old Hemingway expression."

 

* Irish comedian Dylan Moran discusses how, even in modern times, topics such as homosexuality are still dressed with euphemisms.

{{quote|"Well you know what they say about John, don't you?"

{{quote|"Did you have a drink last night?"

"Are you joking? I got utterly gazebo'd." }}

 

* In ''[[Shadowrun]]'', the vulgar lingo of the streets required a number of less offensive stand-ins for common curses. Most commonly, you would "kick hoop" because that "fragger" fed you a line of "bulldrek". This has mainly been discarded in Fourth Edition in favor of more traditional forms of swearing.

** Interestingly, "drek" is Yiddish for "shit". So this may be an example of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]

*** [[Literal Metaphor|Literally...]]

 

* At the first act of ''[[Angels in America]]'': ''Perestroika'', Prior refers to his ejaculate as "spooge", a term even Belize seems not to have heard before.

* The off-Broadway musical ''[[Altar Boyz]]'' had a character claim he had just come out of rehab for "exhaustion". Thereafter, the play makes a [[Running Gag]] of using "exhausted" as a euphemism for "drunk", leading to such lines as "Don't blame me, I was incredibly exhausted at the time!"

* A Boy Scout skit involves a Scoutmaster teaching a kid to say "whisper" instead of "pee." [[Hilarity Ensues]] when the kid later tells another adult that he desperately needs to whisper this instant, and is told to "Whisper in my ear."

* In ''[[The Merchant of Venice]],'' Launcelot employs a [[Hurricane of Euphemisms]] to describe his father's promiscuity: "...for indeed, my father did something smack, something grow to, he had a kind of taste..."

* ''Li'l Abner'', "The Country's In The Very Best Of Hands":

Up there they calls 'em their thighbones. }}

 

* Interestingly, in the Next Generation ''[[Bionic Commando]]'' two tidbits go on the opposite direction. Once, prior to facing a boss, Super Joe tells you that "There's no way around [the boss], you'll just have to fight.", to which Spencer replies "My pleasure". However, if you die and try again, Super Joe tells "you'll just have to ''fuck'' it", leaving us with a puzzled "Hmmmm...?" response.

** Then, later, on a less humorous stance, Spencer is mumblimb about how the last boss 'shouldn't have messed' with him. Again, if you die, it becomes 'shouldn't have ''fucked'' ' with him.

* The third ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game had a level inhabited with pirates who came up with some rather amusing insults rather than traditional profanity. The title character even lampshades this at one point.

* In a probably unintentional example - being a game targeted to a younger audience - within the game ''[[Mechquest]]'', there was a holiday event in which you could go into a house where a randomized NPC would say a rumor about your character. One included: "I heard that *your character name* does somersaults with Nurse Helia!" Nurse Helia is female, if you were wondering. Or maybe [[Freud Was Right]] in just my case.

** For certain sexual terms, the "Pirate-ize" filter will substitute "John Thomas" and "harmonica lesson". The full list is available [http://yppedia.puzzlepirates.com/List_of_known_filtered_words here].

* Miscreants like Garrett are called "taffers" in the world of ''[[Thief]]''. Lower-class citizens use variants on this word, making sure nobody is "taffing about", "taffing with me", or "giving me taff". Though fans of the series speculated that "taffer" was derived from some real word from a European culture the universe resembled, the creators assures us the word was made up.

* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' games, "space" is frequently used. Examples include "Space off," and "Go space yourself".

*** Specifically : leaving the Jedi to be with a woman (since Jedi are Shaolin monks {{smallcaps|IN SPACE}}, and thus supposed to be celibate)

** Also there's this double example with no naughty meaning at all: "Now that we're off that [[Gambit Pileup|dejarik board of a planet]], I say [[Subspace or Hyperspace|we burn sky until we see lines]]."

* Marcia of ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Path of Radiance'' has used the following words as expletives: crackers, chestnuts, mutton chops, horsemeat, jerky, and barnacles. She's just as colorful when coming up with an insulting term for someone.

** In fact, Fire Emblem is full of this stuff. "Moldy onions" and "hornet hairs" in particular stand out.

* ''[[The Sims]] 2'' has pairs of Sims "Woohoo", rather than have sex. Used consistently, though the original [[The Sims]] would only have "Play" in similar contexts.

** Fans of the game has since adopted it as their own euphemism.

* In ''[[Nintendo Wars|Days of Ruin]]'' an unnamed IDS agent uses terms such as "Oh good gravy" and "Sweet corn casserole!". This and her other funny dialog (such as being the only one to care that the plane they are on is crashing) is key in framing the theme of the [[Breather Level|breather chapter]] she appears in.

** Her dialog is completely straight faced and purely expository in Dark Conflict

* In '''Reality Breakdown: Kel's War''', the third game in the [[Reality Breakdown]] series and the first to happen chronologically, protagonist Kel's home dimension seems a bit different from most other dimensions, in that they use energy from the sun to perform their "magic", and have "frap" as a swear word. The word is versatile, too, as one NPC is seen running into town yelling "One frapping huge army is coming!", while another time Kel wakes up and asks a party member how long he was out. When hearing how many days he was unconscious, he says "frap, I missed the weekend". Amusingly, Kel uses the word in another dimension later in the game, and naturally no one knows what he's talking about. The word is likely a combination of "fuck" and "crap".

** Interesting combination, as "fuck" and "crap" are two words on opposite sides of the swear scale (with "shit" being about between them, but leaning slightly more to the "fuck" side of the scale). Of the five most common expletives, they rank fuck, shit, crap, damn, ass. Just check most TV programs. Censorship seems to only allow swears up to a certain level of the scale depending on the program, and likely the time it's on. Futurama will allow crap, damn, and ass (lots of ass), but not shit or fuck. They say "bastard" a few times, though.

** There's also the memorable, "You will be gone, and you'll be burning in...well, you'll go to heaven!"

* In ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'', Alistair will ask the player character in they've ever "licked a lamp post in the winter." In context, this becomes a euphemism for sex...or something. Also, Oghren will ask "Where can I get some sauce for that rump roast?"

'''Spoonbender:''' What the [bleep] are you doing?

'''Sam:''' Swearing in longhand, asterisk-mouth. }}

* One of the questions on the G.O.A.T. character-design test in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' is, "A crazed vault scientist runs up to you and yells 'I'm going to stick my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber!' How do you respond?" It's a euphemism for ''something'', but we're not quite sure ''what''.

** And oddly enough, [[Freud Was Right|the obvious answer]] isn't on the list of responses. "Up yours" is, however.

 

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' characters are notorious for made-up swears:

** In the [[Show Within a Show]] ''Teen Girl Squad'', Tompkins often uses the expression "Aw peas!".

{{quote|'''Bubs''': Aww, zagnut!}}

 

* Piro and Largo from ''[[Megatokyo]]'' say "Fsck!", which is a UNIX command that scans the hard drives for errors and fixes them. Since its usage is [http://catb.org/esr/jargon/html/F/fscking.html common in hacker culture], this insult makes sense, since ''Megatokyo'' features a lot of influence from the hacker culture.

** The legend behind the fsck command is that it was originally more colorfully named, being what one types when the disk is broken, but that the name had to be changed to satisfy lawyers in an early release; '''f'''ile'''s'''ystem '''c'''onsistency chec'''k''' is thus a backronym. Or, as the ''Unix Haters Handbook'' puts better, "think of a good English word to describe what you want to do, then think of an obscure near- or partial-synonym, throw away all the vowels, arbitrarily shorten what's left, and then, finally, as a sop to the literate programmer, maybe reinsert one of the missing vowels."

* In ''[[Erfworld]]'', Parson finds that any cussword he attempts to utter (and he attempts to utter several immediately after being summoned) comes out as "boop". Apparently, the [[RPG Mechanics Verse|"game mechanics"]] that govern Erfworld include a profanity filter.

** Parson thus likes it when he finds a curse not covered by the filter, and in the meantime has begun to use some unusual language of his own.

** Astute readers will notice that "spiroratstar" is actually a written-out rendering of an instance of [[Symbol Swearing]] that appeared in an earlier strip.

* ''[[Achewood]]'' features Philippe, a five year old otter, who obviously can't be allowed to swear like everyone else in the comic can (and does), on account of being five forever. For example, when Philippe comes across straight man Teodor watching gay porn and is informed that it's really Superman helping another man out of the shower: "Superman wouldn't wear a police hat in the shower! Applesauce!"

* For a while, ''Everything Jake'' had "Quck" which even the other characters were unsure of.

* The characters from ''[[Bob and George]]'' often use, "Nutbunnies!"

* The comic ''[[1/0]]'' lifted its first character, "Barnacle" Jones, from the comic Absolute Tripe, which introduced him as "the first man in history to seal a fart in a mason jar". The jar came along with Jones, though 1/0 never shows it in-panel. Later in the strip, characters begin using "Jar Breeze" as profanity.

** Junior attempted to use [[No Fourth Wall|the author's name]] (Tailsteak) as a curse word for a period of time because he reasoned that the author can't bleep out his own name.

** She also uses "freg" to stand in for the f-word - generally at least once per comic she appears in. Yeah, she's pretty foulmouthed.

** Don't forget to ask Gwynn about her Monkeys. Especially if they have escaped and you need your friends to help you look for them.

* ''[[Terinu]]'' makes frequent use of "Frell" (borrowed from ''Farscape'') and "Fragg", both standing in for the usual F-word. [[Word of God]] reports that "Fragg" came from her husband's attempt to not swear in front of their children, instead substituting ''Fraggle Rock''!

* Leslie from ''[[Friendly Hostility]]'' uses *swear* as the author does not know a word strong enough for him to say.

* In one strip of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' Grace and Sarah are talking about Sarah and Elliot "getting a room". The title of the strip "clarifies" that they are referring to "playing boardgames". "Playing boardgames" has now become a euphemism used by the EGS fandom. Considering how EGS has also mentioned at various points [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-15 "Strip Scrabble"], [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-04-23 naked games of Twister], and the "[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-07-15 Best. Card.] ''[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2004-07-15 Ever!]''", this euphemism is not unjustified.

** Another one has a cat use "[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-04-01 What The MEOW?]" in an April Fools strip. Or "[http://egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-14 Meowwit]".

** A ([[Fourth Wall Mail Slot|non-canon]]) comic feature a gender swapped Elliot asking Justin if he wants to [http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-07-22 "Join the non-canon club."]

** Which is also a real-world euphemism. Mab, on the other hand, yells "Friggernaffy!"

** Author and artist Sam Boyd says the word is really just because, quote "hamster profanity is fun".

* Subverted in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0269.html this] comic of [[Order of the Stick]], where Celia catches her boyfriend "slipping the wood" to some dryad hussy.

{{quote|'''Durkon:''' [[It Makes Sense in Context|Those leafy wankers have broken many homes.]]}}

*** [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2009-03-15 Cluster-fluffle].

*** Later on Kathryn Flinders uses "ficus foxtrot" and, on one particularly harrowing occasion, "creeping Charlie ficus foxtrot".

** The phrases "crap on a crutch" and "hellfire and blamnation" are occasionally used as well. According to writer Howard Tayler, these are profanyms (or, more specifically, blasphenyms): [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-08-06 words that sound naughty, but aren't].

** ''[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-11-09 Thin air.]''

* ''[[Drowtales]]'' gives us, [[No Periods, Period|Moonblood]].

* According to ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/7/22/ "ham doctor"] will soon be a horrifically offensive swear. Make it happen.

* While the dwarves "fukken" in ''[[Oglaf]]'' may seem to be only a slightly unique pronunciation of an obvious word, their tendency to use it as their only swear and interject it at seemingly random points leans more to this trope.

* The ''[[Walkyverse]]'' gives us "Cheese" and "Cheesus" in place of God in most contexts. "The Cheese" is a nickname for a godlike entity in the 'verse, which half-explains it, but several characters with no idea who the Cheese is use it from time to time.

* ''[[Wonderella]]'' tries to take a day off from heroics to play "Hello Kitty the home version".

* ''[[Ménage à 3]]'': "[http://www.menagea3.net/d/20100626.html Rubbing my earlobe]". [[It Makes Sense in Context]]. .

 

{{quote|'''Vegeta:''' "Son of a g{{spoiler|um-chewing}} f{{spoiler|unk monster}}! Why the f{{spoiler|ruit}} does all this f{{spoiler|unny}} stuff happen to me?! F{{spoiler|orget}} my life! Always surrounded by miserable f{{spoiler|ail}}ing clods! Like this whole world just likes to bend me over and f{{spoiler|ind}} me in the A{{spoiler|lps}}! Like I'm some sort of s{{spoiler|lot receptacle}}! Well as far as I care, these miserable c{{spoiler|ow}}s can have a f{{spoiler|ancy barbeque}}, with a Goddamn pig!"}}

* How many of you had heard "fark" before Drew Curtis launched the [[Fark|eponymous website]] in 1999?

* In [[Stupid Mario Brothers]], Ash often says things like "Son of a Bulbasaur".

* A [[YouTube]] ROM Hack reviewer named [[Azureblade 49]] used "Ferjuckers" as a minced oath several times. In one instance, he even left a comment explaining that he uses this word whenever something doesn't ''quite'' call for a WTF.

* [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] said "What the pluperfect hell has that got to do with [[Batman]]?!" in his review of [[Frank Miller|'The Dark Knight Strikes Again: Part 1.']]

** He also asked, I think in the same review, "What the Flying Dutchman is up with this background?" And his [[Running Gag]] of saying "What the Funk and Wagnall?"

** Similarly, Seorin's [[Let's Play]] of [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Tsukihime/ Tsukihime] uses the names of breakfast cereals, cookies, and other foods to partially censor the ero scenes. You will never look at breakfast the same way again.

** Later on, in the epic LP of Sonic 2006, Pokécapn tended to scream "PHYSICS!" whenever he died. It stopped being hilarious after 500 times. But only after.

* Knock knock. Who's there? [[Red vs. Blue|You are a shizno.]]

* Kit-chan's [http://inulovinkit.livejournal.com/tag/capsummary capsummaries] include endless amounts of these! "I would like to 'work under you', Sir.", "Keep an 'apple pie' warm for me!" are two notable ones.

* In keeping with [[Toilet Humor|"number one" and "number two,"]] masturbation has been referred to on the podcast You Look Nice Today as "number three."

* The Drunk Tank Podcast, by the guys at [[Rooster Teeth Productions]], uses the term "hands" for breasts. Eventually, Geoff refers to a bartender they call "angry boobs" as having "huge, pendulous, beautiful hands."

 

* In ''[[The Smurfs]]'', the word "smurf" is applied to anything the writers feel would be funny, but especially as a rather transparent substitute for expletives; in some cases, they are then upbraided by another character for using "such language."

** Likewise ''[[The Snorks]]'' and "snork." Only they don't do it quite as much but there have been allusions to the "F-Word", with them saying "Snork off!".

{{quote|'''Chorus:'''"Barnacles is the way we say what they say we can't say."}}

** Plankton has the habit of saying "What the Davy...?" since "Davy Jones's Locker" is portrayed as the series' equivalent of Hell.

** In "Wet Painters", Spongebob exclaimed "Flapping Flotsam!" when he saw that he and Patrick got a drop of permanent paint on Mr. Krabs's first dollar.

** They also use "Captain's Quarters" to refer to butts on ocassion.

* Warmonga, in ''[[Kim Possible]]'', uses "frakkle", although she says it so casually it may be the equivalent of "darn" or "whoops" rather than anything else.

** Mr. Barkin, also from ''Kim Possible'', has several of these, including "cheese and crackers", from which it's not hard to deduce a prime suspect inspiration.

* There's a kind of variation in the 1970s British animated puppet show ''[[The Clangers]]''. None of the title characters had any actual dialogue. They all "spoke" in echoing slide-whistle notes that had the cadence of English speech, so that it was often possible to work out what they were saying from the context of the story - for instance, "Whee-oo, woo-oo woo-oo" could be interpreted as "Hello, Tiny Clanger". On one occasion it was claimed that one of the character's whistles meant "Sod it! The bloody thing's stuck!" although this could never be proven.

** As a matter of fact, the offending phrase was used in the voice-box for the Clanger toys, and is "Oh sod it! The bloody thing's stuck again".

** Plus there's Hawkgirl telling the Flash that he wouldn't have a good chance with Fire because she's [[Ambiguously Gay|"Brazillian"]].

* One ''[[The Berenstain Bears]]'' cartoon has an episode about how cursing is wrong. The curse word? ''Furball''. It's apparently treated as an ethnic slur in Bear Country. Despite being a largely homogenous society.

** An episode of ''Arthur'', dealing with the same subject matter, did have the guts to use a bleep, as in actually showing that, yes, D.W. was actually swearing.

* On ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', Boris Badenov often shouts "Raskolnikov!", which is the name of the protagonist in ''[[Crime and Punishment]]''. Bullwinkle has "Jumpin' G. Horstat!" and Rocky "Hokey smokes!"

** Boris spouting words with good connotations in succession such as "Purity" and "Innocence" when enraged has also been treated as if he was spewing expletives in context.

* On ''The Adventures of [[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Dr. Robotnik often calls his robots "nincombots" or "metal morons" when they fail him. In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FWqnHF_4DU one Youtube video,] this is parodied.

* Butters, one of few ''[[South Park]]'' characters who rarely swear, often uses "Aw hamburgers" and "Son of biscuit!"

* Inevitable ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' example: Aang expresses frustration by exclaiming "monkey feathers!"

** Even earlier, a pirate yells "Bleeding hogmonkeys!"

** If it is a case of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] and not the fans pretending it is, "Fruit Tart" may actually mean... something else completely.

* ''[[Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!]]'' character Daizy uses "lavender lollipops" as an expletive.

* In Goodfeathers shorts of ''[[Animaniacs]]'', pigeons use the word "Coo" in dirty ways, such as "Coo you" and "Coo off".

** In one episode where one of their girlfriends leaves them for another Pesto I believe it was says to the new boyfriend says "have you been cooing my girl?"

** In the Treehouse of Horror segment "Starship Poopers" upon hearing Maggie's distress call Kang exclaims "Holy flerking schnidt!"

* In the ''[[P.J. Sparkles]]'' pilot cartoon, after seeing that his evil plot has failed, the villain cries out [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|"Oh, spit!"]]

** In ''Blue Harvest'', they use [[The Phantom Menace|Phantom Menace]] as a swear. (In geek culture, that actually ''is'' an offensive term.)

** Used in the form of a series of increasingly ridiculous gestures made by Peter to try to imply to Death that he might get lucky with a girl.

* Katy from ''Katy Caterpillar'' is fond of exclaiming "Whippety Pow!" when she's excited.

* ''[[Halloween Is Grinch Night]]'' deserves special credit here: an outhouse is referred to as "the euphemism."

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' set some 40 years into the future has young Gothamite youthes using slang like, "Shway" and "Twip" in place of words like, "cool" and "twerp", they still [[Department of Redundancy Department|totally say 'totally']].

* Lion-O is usually good for a cool, calm, and collected 'Whiskers.' in ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' whenever he is in deep trouble.

** In "Putting Your Hoof Down", Fluttershy doesn't give a "[[Precision F-Strike|flying feather]]".

** The periphary demographic has a few as well. For instance, "Plot" refers to pony... [[Memetic Mutation|rear]].

* ''[[Clone High]]'' uses "Dinger!" where one would usually use a stronger word to mean [[Oh Crap]].

* Rocket J. Squirrel used "Hoboken, New Jersey" and "Holyoke, Massachusetts"

 

* A request from the commissioner of an independent wrestling promotion requested that foul language be avoided. This spawned chants of (literally) "HOLY BEEP".

* English slander laws make it unwise to describe someone as "drunk" unless you've got medical evidence of an elevated blood-alcohol level to back it up. Hence the euphemism "tired and emotional". This is doubtless the source of the "tired" for "drunk" references elsewhere.

** Probable origin of the phrase: the official explanation for the behaviour of [http://uffish.net/archives/000327.html this] gentleman.

** A similar one is "unwell", from the note "Jeffery Bernard is unwell". It appeared in ''The Spectator'' whenever he was too drunk to write his column in that magazine, and was later used as the title for a play about Bernard's life.

*** Though arguably if someone's drinking is affecting their commitments to this extent, they might be an alcoholic, which is regarded less as a moral failing and more as an illness nowadays. The point of Bernard's column ''was'' that he was a drunk (in fact, a barely [[Functional Alcoholic]]) in the ancient tradition of British boozer cultural critics (the column was called "a [[Suicide Note]] in weekly instalments").

* Likewise, rather than directly accuse people of having sex while on official duty (which, again, could net them a libel suit if they don't have proof-positive), the satirical magazine ''[[Private Eye]]'' coined the term "Ugandan discussions", after a journalist who had had a "meaningful confrontation" with a former Ugandan Cabinet minister at a London party claimed she was merely [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|"discussing Uganda with him"]].

** [[John Major]]'s campaign for "family values" used the slogan "Back to Basics," so naturally when a number of his ministers were caught having affairs, "Back to Basics" became a fashionable alternative to "discussing Uganda."

* Rounding out the ''[[Private Eye]]''-fest, the magazine also uses "the reply given to the plaintiff in the case ''Arkell v. Pressdram''" instead of "fuck off", after the magazine famously responded to a libel allegation by Mr Arkell with the response "''We note that Mr Arkell's attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: Fuck off''".

* The US military uses the term ''blue falcon'', or the phonetic ''bravo foxtrot'' as polite versions of the epithet "Buddy F-cker".

** One more, usually considered a rude farewell, was "Alpha Mike Foxtrot" (Adios, Mother F—).

* The name of the famed Japanese store [[Gratuitous English|"Violence Jack Off"]] was supposedly intended to be an anti-violence slogan on the mistaken basis that "jack off" was a euphemism for other "off" phrases.

** And there are unusual euphemistic versions of those same words, used more publically when one doesn't wish to offend; these are based on the original words, but with serious alterations to make them into nonsensical words: ''Calvace'' or ''Calvaire'' for ''Calice'', ''taboire'' or ''tabaslak'', and so on. ''Calvaire'' might be the only exception, since it's also the french word for ''Ordeal''.

** Interestingly, this contrasts with French (the country) or English (the language) curses, where most swear words are related to sex, the f-bomb being the most obvious english example.

**** What about Japanese? Although they have "shit" ("kuso", somewhat milder in impact than the English equivalent), most Japanese vulgarity is based on altered word forms or synonyms with no difference of literal meaning (don't use "temee" for "you" in polite company!), and the most common terms of abuse mean "fool" ("baka") and "beast" ("chikushou", also used as an exclamation).

***** The Japanese have very little actual profanity. Due to the highly complex nature of courtesy encoded in the language, with multiple levels of politeness and propriety depending on the context the usage, insults and expletives are most often accomplished by varying the usage of words and phrases to something other than what would normally be appropriate for the context. The farther outside of normal usage, the more serious the language. Metaphor and comparisons are also common. For example, referring to someone as a "tiger" means that he's a drunkard. Modifying that to "little tiger" or "great tiger" alters the severity of the insult (the former being more of a playful jab; the latter a scathing insult). Even more commonly used terms of profanity also depend greatly on context. "Baka", for example, can be used to refer to someone as "silly" in an affection manner, or as the equivalent of "fucktard", depending on the situation and how it's used. And there are plenty of regional variants, with those typical of the [[Kansai Regional Accent|Kansai province]] the most [[The Idiot From Osaka|well-known]].

* Some from an earlier generation: my father used many euphemisms for 'I'm going out to take a pee', some of which still turn up in comedy shows. Examples include: 'I'm going to see a man about a dog', 'I'm going to wet the tiles', and my favourite, 'I'm going to turn my bike around.'

** Or 'water the roses', which is probably even older and a bit more explicit.

* Some of the more hardcore Twilight fans say "OME" (Oh my Edward!) instead of "OMG". [[Face Palm|Head, meet desk]]. (Also, "OMC" for "Oh my Carlisle!/Cullen!" I am ashamed.)

** Similar thinking led to "Oh my [[The Colbert Report|Stephen]]!"

* The blog Go Fug Yourself has many euphemisms for what might be seen if a celebrity's dress is too skimpy: ladyparts, the world is your gynecologist, assets, the girls, puppies...

** A review of ''[[Basic Instinct]]'' once remarked on the scene where Sharon Stone displayed her ''acting ability.''

* The whole unusual euphemism trope is played with in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOKojyCLIQY this] highly entertaining video about ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]''. It has to be watched to be believed...

* One of the more humorous things about Madlibs is the unusual euphemisms you infer from common words when put into an unusual context.

* In China the phrase "hitting airplanes" refers to... self-pleasure.

* A Seattle-area couple once tried to set a world record for having sex. Rather than say "having sex" on air, a local conservative news program substituted "visiting Tukwila", a nearby town which probably didn't appreciate the [[Unfortunate Implications]] about their community.

* On ''[[QI]]'', [[Stephen Fry]] related the following entry from an eighteenth-century wager book:

{{quote|"Lord Cholmondely has given two guineas to Lord Derby, to receive 500 guineas whenever his lordship 'plays hospitals' with a woman in a balloon [[Mile-High Club|1,000 yards from the Earth]]." For "plays hospitals with" I think you can [[Accidental Innuendo|insert your own]]-- [[Last-Second Word Swap|word]]."}}

* A lot of fansites for the Toronto Maple Leafs substitute "God" with "Wendel", in tribute to legendary forward Wendel Clark. On at least two of those, "Jesus" is also replaced with "Luke", for defenseman Luke Schenn.

* Back in 2008 in the UK, a few secret documents were leaked from a Government department. One of the arrested politicians was accused by the police of "grooming" a mole. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlwHvT_HW_o Made fun out of] by ''[[The Now Show]]''.

* Thanks to a sex scandal where anti-gay crusader George Rekkers was caught hiring a male prostitute the phrase ''lift my luggage'' has come to be a euphemism for gay sex.

** "Taking [[Cleveland Rocks|the Browns]] to the superbowl" is also a reference to defecation.

* EM Forster used the phrase 'parting with Respectability' to refer to losing his virginity in letters to a friend. Later, he noted that 'R. has been parted with'. Possibly a case of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] given his letters were being censored and homosexuality was still very much illegal in England.

* In many places in the American South, a euphemism for an [[Ambiguously Gay]] man is "sugar in his tank" or "sweet", as in "I think Bob has a little sugar in his tank" or "I think Bob is a little sweet".

* Many police departments radio codes (and security departments who subsequently adopt the same codes) have "enhanced" them. For example, Las Vegas Metro uses 421A to refer to someone with a mental illness, and 421AAA (Four-twenty-one-triple-A) to refer to someone who is nucking futs. And while 469 is officially a "bar/perimeter check" the term is used for prostitutes.

* Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the controversy over the "dodgy dossier" on nuclear weapons in Iraq as "a complete Horlicks".

* In Canadian politics in the early 1970s, the Prime Minister was said to have said "[http://www.parli.ca/fuddle-duddle/ Fuddle Duddle]" in Question Period. The term became a common Unusual Euphemism for a few years.

 

 

== [[Bowdlerise|Bowdlerization]] ==

* ''[[Repo Man]]'', a cult movie which was broadcast on network TV with the expression "motherfucker" repeatedly dubbed as "melon farmer." The voices are done by the original cast members, and the choice of words was made by the director as a humorous commentary on censorship.

** That's because the Coens themselves apparently wrote the new lines for Goodman to read.

** One that isn't added later on is when The Dude calls [[The Big Lebowski]] for a "human paraquat".

** There's a scene where Robo interrupts an armed robbery in a mom-and-pop store. The robber watches as his bullets bounce off and backs away, exclaiming "Why me? Why me?" which seems to work better, and be funnier, than the original version.

* The Eddie Murphy remake of ''The Nutty Professor'' is a strong example of this, including numerous instances of "face" replacing "ass".

* ''Who's The Man?'' had a TV Edit where Ed Lover calls someone a "Lousy motherLIAR!".

** And another character utters the immortal, "Motherfunny please, motherfunny please."

** The related "bar-steward" is a common humorous euphemism for bastard in the UK.

** On the ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' commentary, director Edgar Wright expresses his surprise that Timothy Dalton, even at sixty, can still cause "ladyquakes."

** And the security guard's reaction to seeing Neo armed to the teeth becomes "Holy smokes!"

* A TV broadcast of ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' included the immortal line "Hand me the keys, you fairy godmother."

* The for-all-ages trailer of ''[[Being John Malkovich]]'', which can be found on the DVD, has a fairly glaring example of changing a seemingly innocuous word into something that makes the context weird. In the trailer, Maxine says to Craig -

{{quote|And fifty other lines to get into a girl's hands.}}

* In ''[[Kill Bill]] Vol. 1'' the 'Pussy Wagon' was turned into the 'Party Wagon' for the edited-for-TV version with the word pussy digitally altered to read party on the back of the truck.

** Which became even funnier in Vol. 2 when Esteban brings up why The Bride isn't driving the 'Party Wagon.' When she explains that the truck broke down, Esteban utters, "The Party died."

{{quote|'''Doc Brown:''' When this baby hits 88 miles an hour, you're gonna see some serious ''STUFF!!''}}

** In some TV runs, Biff's line "You cost 300 bucks damage to my car, you son of a bitch" is changed to "...you son of a butthead."

** Marty's numerous uses of the word "asshole" are frequently changed to "idiot" - resulting in a full-on [[Hong Kong Dub]] effect - for TV runs.

* In ''The Ninth Gate'', a woman who just slept with Johnny Depp's character tells him "don't fuck with me," to which he responds, "I thought I just did." The TV Edit changes "fuck" to "mess" making Johnny Depp's response unintentionally bizarre.

** Another network's version had them dubbed with "Thank you!"

* The network TV airings of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]?'' contain several instances of this. Most notably, when one of the weasels reaches down Jessica Rabbit's dress and gets his arm caught in a bear trap, Eddie Valiant's line "Nice booby trap" was re-dubbed as "Nice going, Jess".

** According to many fans of the films, "scum bum" actually fits the character's persona better.

* In a TV broadcast of [[Up in the Air]], when Alex tells Ryan, "Just think of me as you, only with a vagina" into "Think of me as you, only with a miffler." Uh-huh. Weird.

* In a rather amusing TV edit of Adam Sandler's movie ''Mr. Deeds'', every instance of "shit" or "bullshit" was dubbed over with "spit" or "bullspit", resptively. It's rather amusing when a raging football player screams that he wants to renegotiate his "bullspit contract", and Adam Sandler's character immediately tells him to watch his language in the presence of ladies.

** Unfortunately, one of the most hilarious lines in the movie, where Sandler exclaims "Buh-buh-buh-BULLSHIT!!!", was changed to "Buh-buh-buh-bullspit". It wouldn't have been so bad had the dubbing over not toned down the intensity at which Sandler had said the final word. Originally he was nearly screaming the last word in rage, but in the edit it seemed like he was just using the word dismissively.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]