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I'm in the process of writing a novel/novella set in the 40k universe when I suddenly stumbled on the problem of curses.

In the Gaunt's ghost series "feth" is accepted as the ubiquitous curse word but that is a Tanith based word. For obvious reasons my novel has nothing to do with Tanith and that leaves me with a problem.

Are there other curse words spread in fluff? What are they and how are they used? Am I better off inventing my own or should I consider some words "high/low gothic"? Should I use real world curse words or would that be considered offensive (the f-word or the s-word for instance)?

Cheers and thanks for any advise

PS. No I'm not going to use a lot of cursing in my novel but there are one or two places where it will be impossible not to.

As far as I've read they don't use modern swear words (f***,s*** etc.). You could just make words similar to modern ones, such as feth...

From what I've read in the HH series, 'Throne' is used a lot (unsure as to whether it is post-heresy) and Fug was used in a Legion book. Feth is quite common I think however

IMHO, I have to say that it would be easier to simply make up the curses, for lack of official sources. 'Freck' is used in Battlestar Galactica, so perhaps you could us the following:
F***- Fergh
S***- Sherk
I know they're pretty horrendous, but with a little work its easy to improve.

I've see Frak and Gak used a well, not to mention the Ork swear word: Zog

Just Dave wrote:As far as I've read they don't use modern swear words (f***,s*** etc.). You could just make words similar to modern ones, such as feth...

From what I've read in the HH series, 'Throne' is used a lot (unsure as to whether it is post-heresy) and Fug was used in a Legion book. Feth is quite common I think however

Oddly, Throne seems to be in use pre-heresy in the Thousand Sons HH novel. To me, that word makes a lot more sense as a curse/swear only after the Emperor ascended the Golden Throne, but apparently BL had other ideas...

Ruckdog: The Throne was built pre-heresy. it was only Post-heresy that the emperor was Interred there.

Also it makes a lot of sense that the 1k-sons would use it as a curse as it was being built so that their Primarch would(be forced to) sit in it and use it's great powers.

Kommissar Kel wrote:Ruckdog: The Throne was built pre-heresy. it was only Post-heresy that the emperor was Interred there.

Also it makes a lot of sense that the 1k-sons would use it as a curse as it was being built so that their Primarch would(be forced to) sit in it and use it's great powers.

Well obviously, but I didn't think it was common knowledge enough that it would be so common a swear. "Throne" is essentially a replacment for "God," as in "Throne -it!" Thus, I figured the Emperor would have to have been elevated to God-hood for a good long while for the term to come into such use. Thus, the term makes a lot of sense in the 41st millenium, but not so much in the 30th. As I said though, that was just my understanding, and based on the recent body of work out there it appears I had it wrong.

Didn't think about the Thousand Sons angle, that is an interesting point.

actually, in Ghostmaker they do say "crap", "Gak" is a traditional vervunhive swear word and "feth" is a word invented by Ibram Gaunt off the cuff when confronted by a psyker.

Cadet_Commissar_Ludd wrote:actually, in Ghostmaker they do say "crap", "Gak" is a traditional vervunhive swear word and "feth" is a word invented by Ibram Gaunt off the cuff when confronted by a psyker.

Uhh...I thougt Feth was the name of a forrest god from Tannith mythology?

Great, thanks for the replies so far. So no-one knows of any cross-imperial swear-words but instead it's localized (planet/systemwide) words that's the model to follow then.

Thanks for the quick replies

Savis wrote:Are there other curse words spread in fluff? What are they and how are they used? Am I better off inventing my own or should I consider some words "high/low gothic"? Should I use real world curse words or would that be considered offensive (the f-word or the s-word for instance)?

Swearing by the Emperor or Throne is popular, and 'warp' can be used as a substitute for hell (e.g., "Warp take you!"). You can also yell "Emperor's [whatever]" for occasional comic effect.
Other than that, I suggest you either make up your own 'local' curses, or just avoid the situation (telling the reader that the character swore, but without recounting the exact words. That sort of thing). Try and shy away from most real world curses, as they have the potential to be offensive, and many are rooted in our own history and religions. Unless of course your characters come from a world with a belief structure strikingly similar to one of Earth's, which happens to have the Emperor at the top instead of Zeus, Yahweh or whoever.

Cadet_Commissar_Ludd wrote:"feth" is a word invented by Ibram Gaunt off the cuff when confronted by a psyker.

Feth is a Tanith tree-god. Gaunt says as much when Inquisitor Lilith takes it for a 'barbaric euphemism' in Ghostmaker. And if you're thinking of the incident I'm thinking of, Gaunt was being catching the fringe effects of the psyker's precognition. Gaunt later picked up the word 'feth' from the Tanith 1st, as it was events while he was leading the Ghosts that were being foretold. The psyker also calls Gaunt an "anroth", but is ignorant of it's meaning, and Dorden later also calls Gaunt an anroth. (A kind of household spirit in Tanith fairy tales.)

I Quote...

A Memory, Darenda
Gaunt struggling with the lock not really listening "What the feth does that mean?"...
Gaunt hesitated. He had no idea what the word meant or why he had used it...

Ludd puts down book.
"I rest my case."
However, the above sentiment is correct.

While this is out of the threads scope. Feth is indeed a tanith tree god and Aescholt is correct. From 'Ghostmaker':

And the images you were broadcasting, feth is one of the Tanith tree-gods. Not some barbaric euphemism. I'll work with you, but not for you.

I believe the passage where Gaunt claims he doesn't know what feth means is when they are generally influenced by psychic powers all around. Eldar if I'm not mistaken.

okey dokey, hats off to you gentlemen, let's get back OT...

Savis wrote:I believe the passage where Gaunt claims he doesn't know what feth means is when they are generally influenced by psychic powers all around. Eldar if I'm not mistaken.

You are, unfortunately. It's from a flashback at the end of First and Only, set 20 years before the main events of the book. Cadet Commissar Ibram Guant is called to interrogate a captive psyker (human) who asked for him by name. The psyker foretells events that occur 20 years later, and that Gaunt will find his "Ghosts". Gaunt's use of 'feth' is attributed to "his future impinging on him".

Rest assured that people in the 41st millenium use all the same curses we use currently.

With a very few exceptions (TANJ springs to mind) the substitution of other words for our current curse words is patently ridiculous. BSG, Farscape, Firefly, etc - the medium of TV has been especially bad in popularizing this trope.

Assume that in the 41st millenium, no one is actually running around speaking english as an actual language. The same is true for every sci-fi setting, really. The convention that *every single word spoken* is translated to modern english convention except this small group of words that mean the same thing...it's lazy, absurd, and pandering to people who are under the mistaken belief that words have power inherent in themselves.

/off the soapbox.

Also, Frakk is used a lot both in Storm of Iron and a few of the Ciaphas cain novels, I think.

I think "zogoff" is some form of a swear as far as orks go. I have seen it used a few times in well the same way you would use F*&% off.

I distinctly remember a Space Marine calling someone 'dogs***t' in Heroes of the Space Marines.

Would Space Marines even curse?

It's not very pious. I could see Space Wolves doing it, maybe. I can't picture Black Templar using naughty language though.

In a lot of books, "Emperor's Body Part" is used as a curse. For example, Frauka says "Emperor's Tits" in Ravenor Rouge.

Personal favorite (though, admittedly, better to read than to say):

"ninker"

-found in the Eisenhorn books. Used, IIRC, by Kara Swole.

Honestly, unless you have an entertaining or illuminating curse word (ninker qualifies as the first, feth as the second), just use current curse words. The words in the books are presumably actually High or Low Gothic, rather than English anyway.

I've never read the Gaunt's Ghosts series, and I've come across 'feth' a lot. I'd say it's ubiquitous.

I recent novel I read, Cadian Blood I believe, used sh** and I was rather surprised. I had thought that 40k cuss words were used as replacements, but apparently not. We all know what 'feth' really is.


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I like the 'Emperor's (Insert body part here)' formula. Works every time.

sh!t is used in the GG novels on occasion, and others

Emperors Teeth!

Frag!

Feth!

Frickin' Xeno!

And so on.

Vostoryans use khek as f**k

At games day Dan Abnett read a passage from prospero burns and some guy calls someone else a sh*thead

"by the high lord's Balls"- Dead sky Black sun

Emperor's Sexy Disco Shirt- TSOALR( not canon, but my fav.)

Emperor Damned - nightbringer

Frag- Alot of BL books

Ethereal's Teeth- TSOALR again (second fav.)

Also, the Foudning Legions in the books use the Primarch for their Legion as a replacement for Emperor in their cussing.

Don't use feth, it's a Tanith word.
One thing they do use a lot is grox which is a type of large animal similar in function to an ox and used as a meat source.
As in: dumb as a grox, bigger/stronger than a bull grox, uglier than a grox etc.
Frag would seem to be common and is the equivalent of feth.
You could always make up your own local word for whatever planet or culture your characters are from. Even make up your own blends like grokfugger or jockfrugga.
Curse words could also be the names of saints or famous people in the Imperium like Macharius or Sabbat.

You could always swear in another language like in Firefly.