Frak

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For the inspiration for this term from derived from its Original Series counterpart, see Frack.
For other uses of the term "frak" not covered here, see: Frak (disambiguation).

"Frak" is a potent profanity in the language of the Twelve Colonies. It is a bowdlerized version of the real-life expletive "fuck," and can be used in the same ways:

Notes[edit]

  • "Frak" is derived from the Original Series expletive, "frack," a term used in character dialogue far less often (or "colorfully") than its counterpart in the Re-imagined Series. The Re-imagined Series's production team said they felt that "frack" should be a four-letter word, hence "frak".
  • This profanity's real-world derivation can be found in this article on Wikipedia. The term "frack" was obviously used in dialogue in the Original Series to comply with FCC and other broadcast decency standards because the FCC has jurisdiction over the content of broadcast TV. "Frak" carries over this standard to the Re-imagined Series despite the point that the FCC does not currently have jurisdiction to impose decency standards over paid services such as cable TV (where the Re-imagined Series airs in America). However, the use of a profanity substitute rather than the "real" word is convenient should episodes be broadcast on broadcast TV (i.e., NBC and its affiliates) because editing for verbal content would not be required. Further, language still qualifies for changes to the TV viewer rating for the show (Battlestar normally gets a TV-14 rating, but has had times where a TV-M rating might have been used for adult content). While frak is used as a substitute for "fuck," most other obscenities are retained in their real-world form, with the exception of "godsdamn" which is modified from the singular real-world version to reflect the multi-theistic society of the Colonies.
  • The Re-Imagined Series uses the word much more directly as a substitute for the word "fuck" than the Original Series ever did, including using it in terms like "motherfraker" and "clusterfrak," and even using it in its sexual connotation (for example, in the episode "The Ties That Bind," Kara Thrace says to Samuel Anders, "I wanna frak...All I wanna do right now is frak. Really frak, like it's the end of the world and nothing else matters.")

See Also[edit]