What the Frak! – Our Ever-Evolving Language For New Profanities
As it’s the end of a short workweek, I wanted to dive back into the blog with something on the lighter side of things and what could be an easier topic to bring up than a discussion of a fictitious profanity word. As the title of this entry infers, I’m talking about that BSG colloquialism – frak.
In case you haven’t caught it, the Associated Press is carrying a news story about the prolific nature of this invented swear word. The article has its beginnings from a blog entry by writer Lee Goldberg appropriately titled “The Power of Frak“. In his entry, Goldberg applauds “Battlestar Galactica” series creator Glen Larson for doing what few writers/TV show creators have been able to do – create a random meaningless word to replace a contemporary profane one so that it passes by network censors and yet still retains the intensity and meaning of the actual word it’s replacing. And he’s right – when you watch BSG and one of the characters says “frak off”, there’s no question what word the character is really saying. But at the same time, this made-up word works brilliantly in the context of the show in that it creates another layer of realism to the show’s backdrop, of these people being from another planet like Caprica, Picon, or Gemenon – after all, it’s only natural being from another civilization that they would have their own swear words.
But as the AP article points out, what’s really remarkable about this word “frak” is just how invasive it has become in our society. My own personal experience can vouch for that as, being a father of young children, the last thing I want my kids to hear is their dad uttering profanities. So being able to use “frak” instead has come in handy. Granted, I don’t by nature swear much anyways since I think most times there are better words one can use to communicate with. I credit (or blame depending on how you want to look at it) that thinking on one of my English professors who berated the use of profanity, pointing out that we were inheriting a rich and evolving language that should allow us to express ourselves more appropriately. Of course, though I agree with that notion in general, the reality is that in some situations, the harsh and almost aggressive nature of swearing can’t be replaced with the use of a gentler, more sophisticated language. Hence my appreciation for this fictional product “frak”.
And yet, I can’t help but wonder if the growing popularity of “frak” has less to do with wanting to express oneself using a pseudo-profanity word, in cases where the use of real profanities would be frowned upon, and more to do with the ubiquitous use of its real-life counterpart. These days, the other “f” word is pretty much used as any type of word construct you can think of – it’s used as a noun, a verb, an adjective or however else you’d like to use it. And while it still carries a bad reputation, the over-usage of it in common discourse is perhaps dulling its sharp edge. Growing up, the “f” word carried a strong, negative connotation and thus, it’s usage had a powerful, immediate reaction on those who heard it. And let’s face it – that is one of the things profanity is supposed to do. And yet, as with anything that initially creates shock and aversion, repeated exposure eventually leads to a deadening of this reaction, if not a resigned acceptance.
So perhaps that’s why “frak” is now starting to take off – in addition to being socially acceptable, it can carry that power and intensity its real-life counterpart used to have.
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My own personal experience can vouch for that as, being a father of young children, the last thing I want my kids to hear is their dad uttering profanities.
I never really thought of it this way, but that’s an excellent point.
I never used to drop the f-bomb much (I think?), but ever since I’m into BSG I find myself uttering ‘frak’ quite some times. I guess it’s because of its quality of being a quasi-non-profanity swearword that makes me use it even though I don’t usually swear much… and I find it rather relieveing I have to say. Don’t know what that says about me though…
For a somewhat different point of view, it’s quite interesting to listen to various other people and their understanding of the word ‘frak’ in the SciFi special Battlestar Galactica Phenomenon that aired right before the start of BSG Season 4 (you can catch it on YouTube).