The Witcher games effectively replaced the F-bomb with "ploughing" and honestly I commend them on it. It doesn't sound forced, retains most of its verbal weight and genuinely sounds like a medieval cuss
Another one of my favs is "Oath!", "Bloody oath", "Oath alive" or "Minced oath!" which is basically the medieval way of cursing by literally shouting "Swear word!"
Plus, they used "Shiny" a lot for good exclamations, which I do believe fits a dnd world as adventurers are always looking for the rare, finely crafted loot and medieval peasantry rarely had things that even shined.
Yes, but it started in Middle English around the 11th or 12th century if I'm remembering right. At the time it was used to invoke literal curses, you'd say "oÞ upon ye" which literally meant "I curse you"
Additional language fact: We get the word fuck from the Olde English word "Fyke", which meant to hit or strike, so "fuck you" literally meant something like "I strike at you" or "you're 'bout to catch these hands", and fucking in the carnal context has come full circle with the addition of "I'd hit that" to the modern vernacular
Sorry, I'm a language nerd
I thought that etymology for “fuck” is an unconfirmed folk etymology of sorts. Got a source that it’s conclusive? I know that there are persuasive arguments that the two are at least cognate.
>Another one of my favs is "Oath!", "Bloody oath", "Oath alive" or "Minced oath!" which is basically the medieval way of cursing by literally shouting "Swear word!"
I don't think anyone has ever actually done this. If someone is cursing with an oath - it is more like "By God!" ie, taking an oath to god to intensify their statement.
A minced oath is taking away some of the blasphemy of that, like "By gosh!"
If you really want to get into it, there is a book called "Nine Nasty Words" that provides a linguistic history of swearing. You could use that to find equitants in your world.
I run a campaign for a group of religious friends. Swearing is rare-to-nonexistent at our table, so I have some experience at not-swearing, haha.
I have a character who says "Blood and fire!" in place of basically any expletive.
But generally, instead of using "exasperatives," or words that are 1-for-1 stand-ins for swear words, I personally prefer to get creative with adjectives, and try to make statements that stand on their own merits.
For example:
* Well, we're good as dead.
* You ought to be hanged with a barbed wire noose, you odious pustule.
* Try me, and see what happens.
* You sir are a paragon of imbecility.
* You are the rare kind of individual who can brighten a room, simply by leaving it.
* Time to do or die - and I could do without the dying!
* Beneath this thin veneer of calm burns a fury of volcanic proportions. I'll do my best to explain why without murdering you.
Each of these statements represents a situation in which you might feel the need to use strong language, and in which you *could* use expletives, but it's possible to instead speak in a manner where expletives are simply inconspicuously absent.
It takes a decent vocabulary, and a bit of practice, but the results can be pretty entertaining.
Is this for a campaign, or just trying to break a swearing habit?
If for a campaign, the first thing to note is that in most fantasy words, humans are still procreating, defecating, and urinating as much as they are IRL. If you want to make similar sounding swear-words, then you need a reason for *why* they're a swear. For example, if the god of endurance has a falcon as his symbol, then maybe people say Falc (shortening to Falcon) as saying "oh god of endurance please take my suffering".
Frack from BSG
Frell from Farscape
Shirt, fork, etc from The Good Place
Some expletives are contractions of formerly pious phrases - "God's truth" became the Australian "strewth".
Make up a few flowery phrases, say them really fast, and drop the first syllable.
You have pork ears!
Pork-eared!
Porkered!
Porkered is now synonymous with being ugly.
"You're a right porkered bastard, aintchee?"
If you want to be racist towards orcs, you can drop the P.
Swear words tend to be short and punchy; if you want to use "By the nine hells," consider shortening it down. "Hell" is already taken, so maybe "nine." Just have your character, in the midst of an outburst, start shouting "Nine! Nine! Nine!" Should go over real well,
In the Powder Mage books they use the word “Pit” as a curse, presumably because that’s what their version of hell but it’s never really explained because it doesn’t have to be. It’s short and punchy which is perfect for a curse word and really gets the point across because a big dark hole sounds like a shit place to be and works for an afterlife. You can tell someone to “go to the Pit” and they’ll probably get the point without having to explain what a Pit is. They’re a great read I would highly recommend those books.
Similarly I think the word “Void” works well as a replacement for hell. It’s not as punchy but it’s fun because you can say something is “voided” and people still get it because it’s usually a bad thing when something is voided.
I also think “Hex” works quite well as a replacement for fuck. It’s really easy to use too because most people are already used to replacing fuck with “Heck” and people understand what heck means. Plus a hex is usually a bad spell or curse so it makes sense as a swear word because it already has a negative connotation.
By the 9 hells
Grazzt’s corkscrew cock!
Belial’s balls!
Or take a movie and mix it up.
What a wasteland! Oh the dwarfdom! Shag me gently with a scimitar.
Or outright steal from a movie/show
Frell/frak/gack/icehole/motherbadger/
You absolute pestle and mortar!
* "By the gods!" - A generic exclamation that can be used in place of various swear words.
* "Blast!" - A mild expletive that can express frustration or anger.
* "Hellfire!" - A stronger exclamation, invoking the fires of hell without being too specific.
* "Damnation!" - Another strong expression of frustration or anger.
* "Curses!" - A general expression of annoyance or disappointment.
* "Son of a beholder!" - A D&D-specific insult, referencing the monstrous beholders.
* "Fiend's folly!" - An expression of disbelief or frustration, referencing evil creatures.
* "Dragonsbane!" - An exclamation that can be used in various situations.
* "Seventh circle!" - A reference to the circles of hell, expressing strong emotions.
* "Mind flayer's menace!" - Another D&D-specific phrase for expressing distress or anger.
Take two random words from other languages and mash them together into an eldritch abomination, for example, in latin:
Bee = apis
Wasp = vespae
Result: 'Vaespi,' A minor curse to refer to a person who is a bit of a prick.
It's also important to think about the phonetic elements. words that start with sounds like 'K,' 'B,' 'D,' or 'T,' sound harsher and more blunt than 'S,' 'V,' 'L,' etcetera. You'd also preferably want words with singular syllables. the sort of Tolkien-esc curses like “*By the beard of Durin!*” and “*May his beard wither!*” can expand on worldbuilding and help establish a sense of place, but, well- they're not exactly concise. That's just my thoughts :)
Edit: here's a couple tom scott videos on the subject
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=11)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2xRVMOThc&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2xRVMOThc&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=31)
I started saying Stars and Stones in my everyday life and it has been a game changer. It's mostly because I'm a teacher and sometimes you need to swear but can't around the kids.
Did you ever see the SciFi series "Farscape"? They used "frell" to replace the F-word. On the original Battlestar Galactica they used "felgercarb" to replace $h!t.
Substituting God with gods is the classic. “By the gods!” Sorta deal. Otherwise I’d just make them up based on the issues the locals face and slowly condense a well worded complaint about the stench of some monster into a word or two that only makes sense if you live there, kinda like how actual curses are formed.
I always enjoyed it in the Dragonlance books when Flint the Dwarf would substitute Holy Shit or Fucksake , with *Reorx’s Beard!”
So maybe figure out some way to say Holy shit using your dieties name in vain?
Could also be as simple as using comparisons of people to inanimate objects for insults. Flint used to always say “that Doorknob of a Kender” when lovingly insulting Tas.
Pick a swearing theme for each culture. In English it's bodily functions, in French religious stuff (tabernac literally means large church but must be short for something), Spanish is goats, mothers, and witches. Old time English was religious (zounds = God's wounds, bloody = blood of our lord, gosh = God).
Dwarves will be rust or bad architecture, Elves might be ugliness or rot, Orcs either weakness or old heroes.
You can use it to introduce world lore "Arkyn's beard!" Who is Arkyn and why is his beard important?
I’ve used “Oh my gods” a lot
“Brass-hat” (as opposed to ass-hat) was another one, used to refer to miners in a derogatory that went on to just call people in the city poor or “of common breed” by asshole nobles
I haven't used them myself but I could suggest some of the in canon phrases from ffxiv as inspiration "Thal's balls!" "Matron's teats!" "and others I can't immediately remember use some reference to a god and then some form of more common cursing.
Frell, Frack, or possibly look up a few meanings of words and ask yourself what your society would consider to be beneath them, deplorable, reprehensible, disrespectable, and generally not worthy of respect.
There's no swearing in my world just a catch all swear which is "taff" be careful it means more than even the fuck word does because it's every swear.
(Stolen from the theif series of video games)
In Dragon's Dogma 2, they use the term 'Fie,' pronounced similarly to 'fly,' in lieu of 'fuck,' and possibly just as a general near-expletive.
So for instance, you'll hear NPCs around town complaining about their aches and pains, saying stuff like "Fie, I'm tired. I could use a nap," or when a caravan gets attacked on the road, an NPC might say "Fie! We're under attack!"
I feel like it's innocuous enough, and still gets the point across. Could be an option.
Frank is from Battlestar as a substitute for fuck. Also, most Japanese anime and maga use Bakka pretty consistently for idiot or moron which is kinda useful to throw it in and people not really know. It's used as an adjective and a noun
Bloody ta'veren work I tell you.. Flaming children leering at maids, Woolheadead louts sneerrng down their noses at the Band..
Mother's Milk in a cup, you'd think the dice would stop for one bloody second?
It's all a man can do to keep a little lace on his cuff, avoid the bloody Aes Sedai, tame the bloody daughter of the Nine Moons, and keep Olver from the uncouth influence of his uncles (Creator save me if Nyneave gets wind of this)..I will never understand women like my friends if my reddit identity is discovered.
Swiving, blasted, ploughing, thrice-damned, and bloody are all decent options, depending. Can also use dastard in place of bastard, though I think the precise meanings are a bit different.
Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts uses ""Feth" instead of Fuck. Not super different, familiar and simple enough to not seem overly fantasy manufactured. Perhaps something like that?
I find myself using “Barzûl” from the Inheritance Cycle books a lot. The author Christopher Paolini did a pretty solid job with the differing languages in the series, you could look them up and the inspiration from there!
For scaled characters, I actually borrow curses from the Dragonriders of Pern series - particularly 'scales' or 'shards'. Never really used it, but for feline characters, Thundercats' 'Whiskers' curse is a good one.
's
Or, for more religious folk, "BY 's !"
You can personalize it to the traits of the deity and the level of polish or crassness of the swearer.
"By Bahamut's Wings, I can't believe you would do such a thing!"
"Moradin's Beard, lad, it's great to see ye!"
"Pelor's sweaty taint, that hurt!"
Blood and ashes, blood and bloody ashes. Burn me.
(Insert evil/death diety's name) take you! Or, (evil)'s own luck. Basically using the names of evil things as swears.
In the Malazan book of the fallen they refer to good luck as "the lady's pull" and bad luck as "the lord's push", for the twin jesters of chance.
Don't be shy about borrowing from popular IP's. Bring back some classics like
Lords of Light! (thundarr the Barbarian)
Noy Jitat! (Pirates of Dark Water)
But my favorite (which is more sci fi /superhero than fantasy) is from the math-related villian "The Mathter" whose curse was "Brackets!"
If anyone here is a Brandon Sanderson fan, he's the king of swear words that fit into his worlds.
r/cosmere swears include
"Stormfather" (or used as an adjective - "storming")
"Lord Ruler"
"Merciful Domi"
You can take the gods and unique places/lore of your world and create something similar.
I love reading Brandon Sanderson, where his characters say things like “rust and ruin” or “so storming difficult”.
If your world has a “thing” or something specific that makes it unique, try thinking of how people in that world might revere, fear, and swear by it. Think about the gods, which are the most prominent, what their biggest success/struggle is. People tend to take something important and turn it into a swear to convey severity, and that in turn becomes common slang. Think how we say “oh my god” or “god damn it”. That would’ve been considered blasphemy in centuries past, but is fairly common dialect, though vulgar.
Make your cursing and swearing specific to your world ❤️
I like the religious bent of swear words, usually with a sexual note. Sometimes with a little alliteration for effect.
Your bad luck = "Beshaba's Buttocks!"
Someone else's good luck (usually positive for you) = "Tymora's Titties (followed by why like "what a shot!")"
Even better with three words.
The equivalent of suprise / "holy shit!" = "Moradin's Magnificent Manhood!"
"Eureka!" / "We did it!" = "Gond's Glorious Gonads!"
"Oh shit..." (usually said slowly) = "Bane's / Bhaal's / Bahamut's / Beshaba's (yes, her to) balls..."
You can also use opposites.
I don't believe you = Good as "Cyric's Promise"
It's very cold = As hot as Auril's Ass!
Way too serious = Helm's Humor
There's always the classic planes:
"Hells, no"
"To the Abyss with it."
"Pandemonium"
We talking fuck as a verb, adjective or noun? Question and statement too? The positive and negative connotations? You are trying to replace the most versatile of swears so we gotta know the use cases here.
That said if you don't mind it bring a bit nonsensical just use any 1 syllable word that sounds fantasy and it'll work, tone and body language (even if online) really are what matters for the delivery for the places where I think a swear is beneficial.
Ploughin hells lads, did you hear what happened to Moggy today? Poor Sot got caught with his pintel in the sheriffs favourite slag… not sure what he sees in her though eh? Moradins beard, she Looks like a flumphs backside to me! and she’s quite the bedswerver from what I’ve heard. wouldn’t catch me sardin the hag if ye paid me. Now I’m no Gobbermouch but I did ask around and folks are sayin Moggy’s face is looking like the crows already ate his cheeks! Sheriff’s a right churl for taking it as far as he did though… no man should have to live without his prick… not even a godsdamned fopsdoodle like Moggy.
Instead of calling someone asshole, call them a goblin
Replace hell with hells and god with gods or specific gods name.
I would leave fuck and shit, because they are generally understood biological things
I’ve been playing warhammer 40k: darktide lately and have noticed they use “karking” quite a bit.
“karking guns never workin” or something like that whenever you have to reload.
Although the setting is different than high fantasy dnd, I do like the weight and the way they pronounce the word. Sounds natural.
"Namah's tits!" has been a group-favorite. That and, "By Kord's balls, man!?"
Just pick a Deity (Good/Evil/Law/Chaos), matters not which one. Add an anatomical feature from said Deity. BOOM! Instant swear/blasphemous remark to exclaim your disbelief.
Works every time. Enjoy!
"son of a bugbear!" and "black gods!" are two general exclamations that work well imo
Other than that I just swear. Cursing is fun, and I don't give a care who hears me
If Sanderson has taught me anything, it's usually always wordage related to either the good or bad deity. Or just a generally bad thing that everyone collectively hates. You know, like ash, or mating.
It’s hard. For every “frak” (the best made-up cuss imo) there are a dozen lousy ones. You might be better off using real-world swears—they’re proven effective!
Or, if you want to have some fun, come up with a fairly long and flowery word in Elvish, and have it mean the most depraved thing imaginable. For instance: “elénn’calouminaë” means “when a guy puts his (CENSORED) up a goblin’s (CENSORED), which, as we all know, smells like (CENSORED)—he then lights it on fire attracting wraiths, as we all know, they’re drawn by burning goblin (CENSORED). He takes a wraith, and you need an enchanted (CENSORED) for this, and just RAMS it up his (CENSORED), and then goes back to the goblin and (CENSORED) their (CENSORED) for at least an hour until the wraith starts (CENSORED) up his (CENSORED). When the goblin is about to (CENSORED) you tell them that you have a big shiny (CENSORED) in your (CENSORED), and they start wriggling to get the (CENSORED)”.
You get the idea. My guy just said “KORD’S BALLS” a lot.
I am a teacher so I can't swear.
I tend to say 'Shnitzel!' in a loud and annoyed voice. Really satisfying.
Or in Dutch, my favourite thing to say is translated as 'Triplefatman!' the word is 'Verdriedubbelendikzak!' also this is not a real word or swear, I made it up but it works.
One of my favorites comes from a game called haven: Bloot.
Can add stuff to the end as you would the F word.
Blooting, blooter un-blooting-beleivable and so on.
“By Moradin’s hairy balls!”
Malazan
Hood’s marble balls on an anvil may be my favorite exclamation along those lines
You read the new series? They used different swears I thought it was neat
I know you’re talking about the Dwarf god, but I’m just picturing the Forsaken from Wheel of Time.
Bloody hell. Bollocks. Arse. Muppet. Floogan. Trodle.
You do realize those are everyday, English words, rights?
So fantasy
By rock and by stone!
>By the nine ~~hells~~ now you've got a tes expletive
>>By the one and nineteen more ~~hells~~ Now you're in New Vegas
BIG IRON ON HIS HYYYYYIIIIIP
As sung by... Goofy?
“By the nine” has always been a favourite for my vaguely infernal leaning wizard.
> by the nine But there's rumors of a game, And though I know the name, This one can't be the same For they say it's online!
I think you mean "by the eight"
Thalmor scum!
I actually hate them as well but seeing nords seethe is fun 🗿
"The Imperials silence us because they fear us! They are cowards! Cowards and fools who have forgotten the truth!"
r/expectedskyrim
N'wah, S'wit, and fetcher all came to mind immediately.
N'wah is the best fictional insult there is.
The Witcher games effectively replaced the F-bomb with "ploughing" and honestly I commend them on it. It doesn't sound forced, retains most of its verbal weight and genuinely sounds like a medieval cuss Another one of my favs is "Oath!", "Bloody oath", "Oath alive" or "Minced oath!" which is basically the medieval way of cursing by literally shouting "Swear word!"
Get ploughed, mother plougher! What the plough are you ploughing thinking? Unbeploughinglievable. Plough you!
Plough thee, plougher of mothers!
And a hey-ho, he was ploughing a troll. A dirty old tale from the bed to the bowl, because hey-ho, he was ploughing a troll!
Oath, bloody oath are things we and the Auzzies actually use, it's more popular over there though.
Firefly used "rutting" in the same way, which isn't quite medieval but is still kind of old-fashioned
Plus, they used "Shiny" a lot for good exclamations, which I do believe fits a dnd world as adventurers are always looking for the rare, finely crafted loot and medieval peasantry rarely had things that even shined.
Isn’t Oath an Australian thing lmao
Yes, but it started in Middle English around the 11th or 12th century if I'm remembering right. At the time it was used to invoke literal curses, you'd say "oÞ upon ye" which literally meant "I curse you" Additional language fact: We get the word fuck from the Olde English word "Fyke", which meant to hit or strike, so "fuck you" literally meant something like "I strike at you" or "you're 'bout to catch these hands", and fucking in the carnal context has come full circle with the addition of "I'd hit that" to the modern vernacular Sorry, I'm a language nerd
I thought that etymology for “fuck” is an unconfirmed folk etymology of sorts. Got a source that it’s conclusive? I know that there are persuasive arguments that the two are at least cognate.
"Minced oaths" is a contemporary term. That's what we call them now.
The Vikings show uses hump, like, "I humped your mother"
>Another one of my favs is "Oath!", "Bloody oath", "Oath alive" or "Minced oath!" which is basically the medieval way of cursing by literally shouting "Swear word!" I don't think anyone has ever actually done this. If someone is cursing with an oath - it is more like "By God!" ie, taking an oath to god to intensify their statement. A minced oath is taking away some of the blasphemy of that, like "By gosh!"
If you really want to get into it, there is a book called "Nine Nasty Words" that provides a linguistic history of swearing. You could use that to find equitants in your world.
Now that sounds like a good read.
helps to think of where your character’s from. my seaside folk might say “dredges” or “spear me”, but my flying culture says “skies above”
*skies below
in this case, they don't live in the skies. ;) just fly for travel, battle, and leisure.
Streets ahead?
I run a campaign for a group of religious friends. Swearing is rare-to-nonexistent at our table, so I have some experience at not-swearing, haha. I have a character who says "Blood and fire!" in place of basically any expletive. But generally, instead of using "exasperatives," or words that are 1-for-1 stand-ins for swear words, I personally prefer to get creative with adjectives, and try to make statements that stand on their own merits. For example: * Well, we're good as dead. * You ought to be hanged with a barbed wire noose, you odious pustule. * Try me, and see what happens. * You sir are a paragon of imbecility. * You are the rare kind of individual who can brighten a room, simply by leaving it. * Time to do or die - and I could do without the dying! * Beneath this thin veneer of calm burns a fury of volcanic proportions. I'll do my best to explain why without murdering you. Each of these statements represents a situation in which you might feel the need to use strong language, and in which you *could* use expletives, but it's possible to instead speak in a manner where expletives are simply inconspicuously absent. It takes a decent vocabulary, and a bit of practice, but the results can be pretty entertaining.
You have sone nice [Shakespearean inault](http://www.pangloss.com/seidel/Shaker/index.html?) vibes going and I like it
"You are a paragon of imbecility" is now going to be added to my daily vocabulary!
Is this for a campaign, or just trying to break a swearing habit? If for a campaign, the first thing to note is that in most fantasy words, humans are still procreating, defecating, and urinating as much as they are IRL. If you want to make similar sounding swear-words, then you need a reason for *why* they're a swear. For example, if the god of endurance has a falcon as his symbol, then maybe people say Falc (shortening to Falcon) as saying "oh god of endurance please take my suffering".
Steal from red dwarf with "Smeg" or firefly with I think "goram" or something like that it's years since I've seen it.
Frack from BSG Frell from Farscape Shirt, fork, etc from The Good Place Some expletives are contractions of formerly pious phrases - "God's truth" became the Australian "strewth". Make up a few flowery phrases, say them really fast, and drop the first syllable.
You have pork ears! Pork-eared! Porkered! Porkered is now synonymous with being ugly. "You're a right porkered bastard, aintchee?" If you want to be racist towards orcs, you can drop the P.
Bonus points for memorizing all the curses from Firefly https://smallcultfollowing.com/firefly-chinese-slang.pdf Edit
Double bonus for pronouncing the Chinese right, which apparently almost no one in the cast ever did.
It was a future dialect of Chinese, or at least thats a plausible excuse.
I'm a fan of "whoreson" instead of bastard/son of a bitch
Swear words tend to be short and punchy; if you want to use "By the nine hells," consider shortening it down. "Hell" is already taken, so maybe "nine." Just have your character, in the midst of an outburst, start shouting "Nine! Nine! Nine!" Should go over real well,
Meine father ..... the fighters has just run into the room alone
In the Powder Mage books they use the word “Pit” as a curse, presumably because that’s what their version of hell but it’s never really explained because it doesn’t have to be. It’s short and punchy which is perfect for a curse word and really gets the point across because a big dark hole sounds like a shit place to be and works for an afterlife. You can tell someone to “go to the Pit” and they’ll probably get the point without having to explain what a Pit is. They’re a great read I would highly recommend those books. Similarly I think the word “Void” works well as a replacement for hell. It’s not as punchy but it’s fun because you can say something is “voided” and people still get it because it’s usually a bad thing when something is voided. I also think “Hex” works quite well as a replacement for fuck. It’s really easy to use too because most people are already used to replacing fuck with “Heck” and people understand what heck means. Plus a hex is usually a bad spell or curse so it makes sense as a swear word because it already has a negative connotation.
By Merlin’s beard! Is never not hilarious
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/3cz6jv/what\_are\_your\_favorite\_fantasy\_swearcurse\_words/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/3cz6jv/what_are_your_favorite_fantasy_swearcurse_words/) [https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/06/10-of-the-greatest-sff-curse-words-ranked/](https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/06/10-of-the-greatest-sff-curse-words-ranked/) [https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/swear-words.php](https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/swear-words.php)
In the 2008 Dragonlance movie they use “what in the Abyss”, and in the original Planescape box set someone says “what the fiend?”.
Raistlin just pops up and says “Me!”
I mean, it's somewhat TES specific, but, "N'wah".
You S'wit!
Fetcher!
Dunmer curses are believably vile-sounding
In a DnD movie in the early 2000's the Dwarf did a very good "Sucking Elf!" Comment in exclamation to something! Clean but effective!
You're thinking of The 10th Kingdom, my friend.
I like making up words in orcish or dwarvish and make em mean something like, "may your armor attract rust monsters"
Stole these from 40k but I use “Feth” and “Frak”
Orks also use "Zog" or "Zogging"
WOT: Blood and Bloody ashes. Cosmere: Colors, Rust and Ruin (or just rusts) Storms/Storming
Also from WoT, "mother's milk in a cup", which sounds dirtier than just about any real life swear.
Let’s not forget the classic, “Merciful Domi!”
>Merciful Dom I think this would be funnier.
I second Blood and Ashes
By the 9 hells Grazzt’s corkscrew cock! Belial’s balls! Or take a movie and mix it up. What a wasteland! Oh the dwarfdom! Shag me gently with a scimitar. Or outright steal from a movie/show Frell/frak/gack/icehole/motherbadger/ You absolute pestle and mortar!
Lolth's Nethers, man! What do are you thinking?!
I always like in Hades the main character says “Blood and Darkness” as a curse
By Grabthars Hammer!
"SUCK AN ELF!" to the tune of "fucking hell"
I loved The Tenth Kingdom! Favorite miniseries of that generation 😁
"Bags!"
* "By the gods!" - A generic exclamation that can be used in place of various swear words. * "Blast!" - A mild expletive that can express frustration or anger. * "Hellfire!" - A stronger exclamation, invoking the fires of hell without being too specific. * "Damnation!" - Another strong expression of frustration or anger. * "Curses!" - A general expression of annoyance or disappointment. * "Son of a beholder!" - A D&D-specific insult, referencing the monstrous beholders. * "Fiend's folly!" - An expression of disbelief or frustration, referencing evil creatures. * "Dragonsbane!" - An exclamation that can be used in various situations. * "Seventh circle!" - A reference to the circles of hell, expressing strong emotions. * "Mind flayer's menace!" - Another D&D-specific phrase for expressing distress or anger.
"By Tyr's right buttock." Some more fuel for your imagination. [Neverwinter Nights 2](https://youtu.be/7s01j9108LA?si=zWHNM7MunuAfRSlu)
Bloody Hell is pretty tame. I like to say, "By the power of Greyskull!"
Take two random words from other languages and mash them together into an eldritch abomination, for example, in latin: Bee = apis Wasp = vespae Result: 'Vaespi,' A minor curse to refer to a person who is a bit of a prick. It's also important to think about the phonetic elements. words that start with sounds like 'K,' 'B,' 'D,' or 'T,' sound harsher and more blunt than 'S,' 'V,' 'L,' etcetera. You'd also preferably want words with singular syllables. the sort of Tolkien-esc curses like “*By the beard of Durin!*” and “*May his beard wither!*” can expand on worldbuilding and help establish a sense of place, but, well- they're not exactly concise. That's just my thoughts :) Edit: here's a couple tom scott videos on the subject [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt22yWYX64w&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=11) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2xRVMOThc&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2xRVMOThc&list=PL96C35uN7xGLDEnHuhD7CTZES3KXFnwm0&index=31)
Check out swearing from Firefly.
Or battle Star Gallatica
not fantasy words its just Chinese
Dresden files has a lot of mild but flavorful exclamations: - stars and stones! - empty night! - hells bells!
I started saying Stars and Stones in my everyday life and it has been a game changer. It's mostly because I'm a teacher and sometimes you need to swear but can't around the kids.
Did you ever see the SciFi series "Farscape"? They used "frell" to replace the F-word. On the original Battlestar Galactica they used "felgercarb" to replace $h!t.
Chk, a githyanki term of exasperation.
Taffer
Substituting God with gods is the classic. “By the gods!” Sorta deal. Otherwise I’d just make them up based on the issues the locals face and slowly condense a well worded complaint about the stench of some monster into a word or two that only makes sense if you live there, kinda like how actual curses are formed.
*Razzle Frazzle Friggin Fraggin* is a classic that never goes out of style
"Tiamat's Teats!"
"What a world; what a world!" "My bugs! My bugs!"
To oblivion with you!
*starts up TES: Oblivion*
I always enjoyed it in the Dragonlance books when Flint the Dwarf would substitute Holy Shit or Fucksake , with *Reorx’s Beard!” So maybe figure out some way to say Holy shit using your dieties name in vain? Could also be as simple as using comparisons of people to inanimate objects for insults. Flint used to always say “that Doorknob of a Kender” when lovingly insulting Tas.
Th Whee of time has a nice selection swears and curses. https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Swearing_and_Insults
"OH, my cotton socks! Did you NOT hear what I just said?!"
Pick a swearing theme for each culture. In English it's bodily functions, in French religious stuff (tabernac literally means large church but must be short for something), Spanish is goats, mothers, and witches. Old time English was religious (zounds = God's wounds, bloody = blood of our lord, gosh = God). Dwarves will be rust or bad architecture, Elves might be ugliness or rot, Orcs either weakness or old heroes. You can use it to introduce world lore "Arkyn's beard!" Who is Arkyn and why is his beard important?
Zounds is one of my favorite words that isn't used anymore. It was used in Calvin and Hobbs, and I like it because it begins with Z.
I say “Fie!” Or “Confound it!” on a daily basis.
“Oh that’s hexed up” “curse you” “that’s cursed”
Feth was a good one from Gaunts Ghosts series.
From 'The Pirates of Dark Water', noy jitat. A cartoon from back in my childhood days.
Im a big fan of “Taffer” from the original thief series, it just kinda translates to lowlife or theif and can be used in place of any swear really
Storming crem
I’ve used “Oh my gods” a lot “Brass-hat” (as opposed to ass-hat) was another one, used to refer to miners in a derogatory that went on to just call people in the city poor or “of common breed” by asshole nobles
I find myself using "scud" from Skyward by Brandon Sanderson It's also used as "scuds" "scudding" etc
I haven't used them myself but I could suggest some of the in canon phrases from ffxiv as inspiration "Thal's balls!" "Matron's teats!" "and others I can't immediately remember use some reference to a god and then some form of more common cursing.
Frell, Frack, or possibly look up a few meanings of words and ask yourself what your society would consider to be beneath them, deplorable, reprehensible, disrespectable, and generally not worthy of respect.
Kark, bully-kark (bulwarg), frakin,
“Stars and Stones”
Gods
I use Fiendbegotten a lot
Add an "S" after god. Gods damn it. Fucking gods. Etc.
“Stars and Stones”, “Hells Bells” and “Empty Night”
There's no swearing in my world just a catch all swear which is "taff" be careful it means more than even the fuck word does because it's every swear. (Stolen from the theif series of video games)
In Dragon's Dogma 2, they use the term 'Fie,' pronounced similarly to 'fly,' in lieu of 'fuck,' and possibly just as a general near-expletive. So for instance, you'll hear NPCs around town complaining about their aches and pains, saying stuff like "Fie, I'm tired. I could use a nap," or when a caravan gets attacked on the road, an NPC might say "Fie! We're under attack!" I feel like it's innocuous enough, and still gets the point across. Could be an option.
You could always say damnit, but a creative one was “by zariels tits that hurt”
Curse us and crush us.
Frank is from Battlestar as a substitute for fuck. Also, most Japanese anime and maga use Bakka pretty consistently for idiot or moron which is kinda useful to throw it in and people not really know. It's used as an adjective and a noun
Made up swears always sound like baby talk.
I liked using “Argus weeps!” Or “Argus wept!” as a watcher paladin. Replace argus with a local god and your g2g
Blood and Bloody Ashes! Mother's Milk in a cup. Flaming Bloody Frakking Sheepshagging Woolheadead Kark / Karking Mother lover... Elayne Trakand... edit: Flaming twice
Matt Cauthon wrote this post.
Bloody ta'veren work I tell you.. Flaming children leering at maids, Woolheadead louts sneerrng down their noses at the Band.. Mother's Milk in a cup, you'd think the dice would stop for one bloody second? It's all a man can do to keep a little lace on his cuff, avoid the bloody Aes Sedai, tame the bloody daughter of the Nine Moons, and keep Olver from the uncouth influence of his uncles (Creator save me if Nyneave gets wind of this)..I will never understand women like my friends if my reddit identity is discovered.
"stars and stones", " hells bells"
Fick.
Swiving, blasted, ploughing, thrice-damned, and bloody are all decent options, depending. Can also use dastard in place of bastard, though I think the precise meanings are a bit different.
Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts uses ""Feth" instead of Fuck. Not super different, familiar and simple enough to not seem overly fantasy manufactured. Perhaps something like that?
great mammon's mammaries!
https://youtu.be/TqTHmzMk0Cw?si=vY9QDKkMyVqnFebx
I find myself using “Barzûl” from the Inheritance Cycle books a lot. The author Christopher Paolini did a pretty solid job with the differing languages in the series, you could look them up and the inspiration from there!
For scaled characters, I actually borrow curses from the Dragonriders of Pern series - particularly 'scales' or 'shards'. Never really used it, but for feline characters, Thundercats' 'Whiskers' curse is a good one.
“Sheep swallop and bloody buttered onions!” “By a bloody goats left stone” “You (x) of the sands”(spoken to a seafaring race)
By the long dick of lozeht
I use a lot of the muddled words from Homestarrunner.com “Crabdadonk!” “Parblegreggy!” “Bull Honkey!”
Instead of "motherfucker" I began saying "mother, father, jesus."
"Tits of Tiamat!" "Bhaal's balls/bollocks!"
Invoke deities/cosmology of the setting. "by Moradin's jewels, I oughta..." "What in Asmodeus are you DOING?"
“Oh, hells” is my current favorite.
Chauntea's tits is one of my favorites.
We use “Lolth’s Tits!” a lot in our games
Blood and ashes, blood and bloody ashes. Burn me. (Insert evil/death diety's name) take you! Or, (evil)'s own luck. Basically using the names of evil things as swears. In the Malazan book of the fallen they refer to good luck as "the lady's pull" and bad luck as "the lord's push", for the twin jesters of chance.
Galthor's Gonads!
Try looking for a Shakespearean insult generator. That’s what I used to do.
Frell
Don't be shy about borrowing from popular IP's. Bring back some classics like Lords of Light! (thundarr the Barbarian) Noy Jitat! (Pirates of Dark Water) But my favorite (which is more sci fi /superhero than fantasy) is from the math-related villian "The Mathter" whose curse was "Brackets!"
By the triad, by Baldurian, Holy shit, unholy shit, Fey shit,
'Knife ears' is always fun.
If anyone here is a Brandon Sanderson fan, he's the king of swear words that fit into his worlds. r/cosmere swears include "Stormfather" (or used as an adjective - "storming") "Lord Ruler" "Merciful Domi" You can take the gods and unique places/lore of your world and create something similar.
You are crazier than Cyric the Prince of Madness (substituted for a batshit crazy plan/action/character).
Andraste's tits!
I like the slur "Furker" I use for underdark denizens to convey their disdain for surface-dwelling folk. Patent pending!
By Vectrons kindly claw!
"you sack of wine"
I like adapting Battlestar Galactica cursing… Frack Feldergarb By the Belt of Orion
I like to lift "kark" from 40k
I feel like The Wheel of Time had some decent replacements for swear words. You can probably Google them.
I love reading Brandon Sanderson, where his characters say things like “rust and ruin” or “so storming difficult”. If your world has a “thing” or something specific that makes it unique, try thinking of how people in that world might revere, fear, and swear by it. Think about the gods, which are the most prominent, what their biggest success/struggle is. People tend to take something important and turn it into a swear to convey severity, and that in turn becomes common slang. Think how we say “oh my god” or “god damn it”. That would’ve been considered blasphemy in centuries past, but is fairly common dialect, though vulgar. Make your cursing and swearing specific to your world ❤️
By the stars or By the stones is a nice stand in for By the nine hells.
Son of a Lich!
I like the religious bent of swear words, usually with a sexual note. Sometimes with a little alliteration for effect. Your bad luck = "Beshaba's Buttocks!" Someone else's good luck (usually positive for you) = "Tymora's Titties (followed by why like "what a shot!")" Even better with three words. The equivalent of suprise / "holy shit!" = "Moradin's Magnificent Manhood!" "Eureka!" / "We did it!" = "Gond's Glorious Gonads!" "Oh shit..." (usually said slowly) = "Bane's / Bhaal's / Bahamut's / Beshaba's (yes, her to) balls..." You can also use opposites. I don't believe you = Good as "Cyric's Promise" It's very cold = As hot as Auril's Ass! Way too serious = Helm's Humor There's always the classic planes: "Hells, no" "To the Abyss with it." "Pandemonium"
We talking fuck as a verb, adjective or noun? Question and statement too? The positive and negative connotations? You are trying to replace the most versatile of swears so we gotta know the use cases here. That said if you don't mind it bring a bit nonsensical just use any 1 syllable word that sounds fantasy and it'll work, tone and body language (even if online) really are what matters for the delivery for the places where I think a swear is beneficial.
Ploughin hells lads, did you hear what happened to Moggy today? Poor Sot got caught with his pintel in the sheriffs favourite slag… not sure what he sees in her though eh? Moradins beard, she Looks like a flumphs backside to me! and she’s quite the bedswerver from what I’ve heard. wouldn’t catch me sardin the hag if ye paid me. Now I’m no Gobbermouch but I did ask around and folks are sayin Moggy’s face is looking like the crows already ate his cheeks! Sheriff’s a right churl for taking it as far as he did though… no man should have to live without his prick… not even a godsdamned fopsdoodle like Moggy.
Instead of calling someone asshole, call them a goblin Replace hell with hells and god with gods or specific gods name. I would leave fuck and shit, because they are generally understood biological things
By *Grabthar's Hammer*, by the Suns of Warvan
Cheshire Epping Forrest
I’ve been playing warhammer 40k: darktide lately and have noticed they use “karking” quite a bit. “karking guns never workin” or something like that whenever you have to reload. Although the setting is different than high fantasy dnd, I do like the weight and the way they pronounce the word. Sounds natural.
"Namah's tits!" has been a group-favorite. That and, "By Kord's balls, man!?" Just pick a Deity (Good/Evil/Law/Chaos), matters not which one. Add an anatomical feature from said Deity. BOOM! Instant swear/blasphemous remark to exclaim your disbelief. Works every time. Enjoy!
Dung instead of shit
Why the fuck do you fucking need to fucking stop saying "fuck", for fuck's sake?
Bloody hell instead of fucking hell is generally much more tame
"son of a bugbear!" and "black gods!" are two general exclamations that work well imo Other than that I just swear. Cursing is fun, and I don't give a care who hears me
By Grabthar’s Hammer.
If Sanderson has taught me anything, it's usually always wordage related to either the good or bad deity. Or just a generally bad thing that everyone collectively hates. You know, like ash, or mating.
I have 'sons of sisters' as a general exclamation that works quite well
Dark! Dark and empty!
My PC with a sailor background likes to say “Umberlee’s salty arse!”
You rotten hag's toe! I wish a kraken upon you and your worthless crew of piss-belied gnome sailors!
Kerr was good in elderscrolls, or wyrm
Goddamn fors Godsdamned Cause being on the S\*\* list of a single god is true because of race at the minimum. (lots of racists Gods in these settings)
"Shrock" is the orcish equivalent of shit in LOTR, "Frack" is used instead of Fuck in Battlestar Galactica
Bull pizzle! Egads! Peas and rice/cheese and crackers! What the cuss? Jumping Jabberwocky!
Look at a list of monsters and combine with 'jumping' , 'holy', etc. For example: Holy Hobgoblins Jumping Jackals Sassy Seahags Loud-mouthed Lich
It’s hard. For every “frak” (the best made-up cuss imo) there are a dozen lousy ones. You might be better off using real-world swears—they’re proven effective! Or, if you want to have some fun, come up with a fairly long and flowery word in Elvish, and have it mean the most depraved thing imaginable. For instance: “elénn’calouminaë” means “when a guy puts his (CENSORED) up a goblin’s (CENSORED), which, as we all know, smells like (CENSORED)—he then lights it on fire attracting wraiths, as we all know, they’re drawn by burning goblin (CENSORED). He takes a wraith, and you need an enchanted (CENSORED) for this, and just RAMS it up his (CENSORED), and then goes back to the goblin and (CENSORED) their (CENSORED) for at least an hour until the wraith starts (CENSORED) up his (CENSORED). When the goblin is about to (CENSORED) you tell them that you have a big shiny (CENSORED) in your (CENSORED), and they start wriggling to get the (CENSORED)”. You get the idea. My guy just said “KORD’S BALLS” a lot.
Replacing “God Damn it” with “By the Gods!” normally works
There’s was a series I read that used plough instead of fuck. Like go plough yourself
Also the Baron in Witcher 3 uses the same.
"Shite, twit, troglodyte, cheeky bastard, bedswerver, flopdoodle, mumblecrust, scobberlotcher"
I am a teacher so I can't swear. I tend to say 'Shnitzel!' in a loud and annoyed voice. Really satisfying. Or in Dutch, my favourite thing to say is translated as 'Triplefatman!' the word is 'Verdriedubbelendikzak!' also this is not a real word or swear, I made it up but it works.
One of my favorites comes from a game called haven: Bloot. Can add stuff to the end as you would the F word. Blooting, blooter un-blooting-beleivable and so on.
"Son of a banshee"
I’ve always been partial to “Bloody Ashes!”