10 Shocking Moments Star Trek Used Profanity

The 23rd century was a very different time. It made for "a different breed of officer" who'd be booted out of Starfleet of the 24th century, as Captain Janeway once noted, although not without a degree of irony. Scotty wasn't reprimanded, then, when he speculated about slain Chancellor Gorkon's daughter Azetbur: "I'll bet that Klingon b**ch killed her father."

There have been several other instances of the word 'b**ch' in Star Trek, both on its own and in its variant 'son of a…' — the most humorous of which is one where it is not said at all. "What does it mean, 'arrogant son of a…'?" future-BBQ enthusiast René Picard starts to ask in The Next Generation episode Family, before being promptly cut off by his uncle. Never insult a Soong's parentage either unless you want a sassy response: "Actually, mother was a chemist." (Arik Soong to Dr Jeremy Lucas; Star Trek: Enterprise, Cold Station 12)

Of course, it could only really have been Chief O'Brien who gave us 'b**locks'. In Time's Orphan, a Deep Space Nine episode that was originally slated as a way to kill off Worf's son Alexander (by having him fall into the time portal), O'Brien becomes increasingly frustrated with the state of his repairs and lets slip the testicular term. Whilst not likely to shock American ears, 'b**locks' is a bit more problematic for UK and Irish audiences (pre-watershed). In fact, the BBC cut the word when the episode first aired, although somewhat strangely Irish broadcaster RTÉ apparently kept it in.

Sticking with the Irish, actress Orla Brady was responsible for the inclusion in Star Trek of one of the most delightful swear words in the English language. In an episode of Picard that bludgeons us over the head with another f-word (to be discussed later), the character of Laris was originally scripted to say, "Those sneaky b**tards" regarding the shady Zhat Vash. In an interview with JOE.ie, writer/producer Michael Chabon stated that it was Brady herself who suggested the change to "sneaky feckers" as "b**tards [didn't] sound right".

As for 'frick,' that comes from Ensign Mariner in the Lower Decks episode Kayshon, His Eyes Open when she asks collector Siggi, "You couldn't lend a frickin' tentacle?"