Anyone who’s been following the new Battlestar Galactica has undoubtedly crinkled their brow at one particular bon mot invented by the show’s writers: frack. The genius of this move is indisputable: take a gibberish word, add context, and let that off-color dollop of yogurt between your viewers’ ears transform it into an obscenity with a minimum of training.
Observe:
“The cylons look like humans now? What the frack?!?”
“This mission is a fracking nightmare!”
“Frack you!”
Ta-da! You can now enjoy primetime television programming, complete with actual adult conversations, cursing and all!
Let this be a lesson to the FCC that no matter how you try to regulate obscenity, the human brain can make anything into a dirty word. Until the time when they figure that out and implant us all with thought monitors, perhaps it’s time to update the classic treatise on the versatility of the human language?