Gorram and Frack

[Dave Wilton]

The discussion of "gorram" (an expletive invented by Joss Whedon for his SF
series "Firefly") during the WOTY nominations caused me to notice another,
similar term this weekend.

On the new "Battlestar Galactica" series the characters use "frack" as an
expletive, as in "Frack me!" While not as inventive as "gorram," "frack" is
simpler and phonetically more abrasive. The term dates to the original 1978
series. Another term on the original series was "felgercarb," meaning,
roughly, shit. "You certainly have a way of cutting through the felgercarb."
Haven't heard that one on the new series yet.

(And if you're an SF fan, I recommend the new Battlestar Galactica. It's
really quite good--orders of magnitude better than the hokey, original '78
series. It's on the Sci-Fi Channel.)

--Dave Wilton
  dave at wilton.net
  http://www.wilton.net