What episode did O'Brien say 'bollocks' on air?

[Candlelight]

Apparently he said it and it got through the sensors cos the Americans didn't know what bollocks actually meant.

Not sure if this is a DS9 question of not, but I'm sure he said it in TNG.

 

[Spocktapus]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Time's Orphan.

 

[Geckothan]

It's definitely DS9 6x24 Time's Orphan.

 

[Candlelight]

Cheers for that.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Ha, like the Simpsons episode where they got away with saying "wanker" because Americans don't realise that it's quite rude.

 

[cultcross]

Buffy spent its last three seasons getting away with quite bad language by using British swearwords which got past the US censors

 

[SilentP]

Ha, like the Simpsons episode where they got away with saying "wanker" because Americans don't realise that it's quite rude.

I just listened to Willy get away with saying 'shite' (pronounced shy-T, but still means shit).

 

[JustKate]

Ha, like the Simpsons episode where they got away with saying "wanker" because Americans don't realise that it's quite rude.

Well, this American does - and she knows about bollocks, too. Note to TPTB: Read a book now and then or something, why don't you?

 

[Cuhl]

Remember the Han Solo novels written by Brian Daley? Where Han and Chewie were hanging around with a labor droid named Bollux?

When I was doing my junior year abroad in England, I saw one of those novels in a store, and I leafed through it for old times' sake. I saw that the labor droid's name was given as "Zollux." At first I thought that was a typo, but it was Zollux all the way through the book.

"That's odd," I said to my friend. "Why would they change a character's name by just one letter?"

"Why, what was his name before?" she asked me.

"Bollocks!" I said, or so she thought, and she almost fell down laughing.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I remember the Beer Baron episode of The Simpsons had Homer hold up a caulking gun and say " How about some caulk? Delicious caulk?"

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Remember the Han Solo novels written by Brian Daley? Where Han and Chewie were hanging around with a labor droid named Bollux?

When I was doing my junior year abroad in England, I saw one of those novels in a store, and I leafed through it for old times' sake. I saw that the labor droid's name was given as "Zollux." At first I thought that was a typo, but it was Zollux all the way through the book.

"That's odd," I said to my friend. "Why would they change a character's name by just one letter?"

"Why, what was his name before?" she asked me.

"Bollocks!" I said, or so she thought, and she almost fell down laughing.

Thanks for that, it really cheered me up.

 

[Thor Damar]

^. Sometimes I love being British.

 

[DevilEyes]

^ I use British slang and British spelling to get away with words like "arsehole" on the SyFy channel forums. The hilarious thing is that they don't censor "arsehole", "wanker" or "tosser" (which is particularly convient for the BSG subforum, how else could you get away with the term "TOSser"? ) but they censor words like "masturbation", "orgasm", or even "Philip K. Dick".

And of course, they don't censor "frak", "frakker", "frakking", which is either logical or ironic, take your pick, but in any case allows the posters to use the F-word all the time.

 

[Shazam!]

I just listened to Willy get away with saying 'shite' (pronounced shy-T, but still means shit).

LOL I saw that too. I almost did a classic spitting out my drink.

 

[Doug Otte]

I remember the Beer Baron episode of The Simpsons had Homer hold up a caulking gun and say " How about some caulk? Delicious caulk?"

Believe it or not, I had to think about that one for a second, but I didn't see the episode, and it helps to hear the word instead of reading it.

Doug

 

[Bones2]

What episode did O'Brien say 'bollocks' on air?

Should have been Shades of Gray.

 

[Canuck69]

I think there is also two instances where they have Picard saying "Merde" which means shit in French. Those got through too. One is in the episode The Battle and the other one is in season 2(I can't remember the episode name) I think. After that though I don't remember them using it anymore.

 

[JustKate]

Well, but there's plenty of precedent on network TV for allowing greater latitude with foreign words than would ever be allowed for English words. Take Yiddish, for example - I can't remember hearing any Yiddish on Trek (which is a darn shame) but I know I've heard schmuck (sometimes spelled shmuck) on primetime network shows, and the literal meaning of schmuck is...well, not very polite. Vivid, yes; polite, no.

And I believe I've heard cojones as well. Vivid, yes; polite, no.

However, last I checked, both bollocks and wanker would be considered English. What with originating in England and all.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Those frakkin' censors are so frakkin' uptight about frakkin' cussing.

 

[gastrof]

...last I checked, both bollocks and wanker would be considered English. What with originating in England and all.

Thing is, there's enough of a difference between "American" and English where they almost ARE separate languages. Certainly different dialects.

That being the case, British English, to some extent, IS a foreign language in the States.

As for "bollocks" even being used, I don't get what the problem is. I mean, American TV quite often allows the word "balls" to be used, in the very context we're discussing. (And I'm not talking about pay channels either.)