Profanity
Profanity was slang language, such as a curse word or swear word, or a physical expression, such as "the finger", that was intended to emphasize derision, curses, or other emotional outbursts that may also be otherwise recognized as colorful metaphors. 

Although such usages were uncommon in the 23rd and 24th centuries, they were an essential part of 20th century conversation, seen in the novels of "giants" such as Jacqueline Susann and Harold Robbins. When the crew of the  time traveled to 1986, James T. Kirk began using "colorful metaphors" in an effort to blend in though he felt that Spock shouldn't attempt them, as he didn't "quite have the knack for it." () 

Saru once informed Sylvia Tilly that she should not curse while on duty, leading to her use of the term "freaking amazing," as opposed to something more colorful. ()

Spock mastered them fairly quickly, as he exclaimed "Damn you, sir!" to General Korrd to impel him to use his authority to command Klaa to stand down. Kirk had earlier shouted a series of curses on Spock for allowing Sybok to take over the Enterprise, "Dammit, Spock! Goddammit!" adding "I oughta knock you on your goddamned ass!" ()

Human profanity

Ass 
The word "ass" was a slang term for a "fool", someone's "buttocks", or a member of the horse family, especially in terms of a "jackass". "Badass" usually referred to someone who was admired for their strength, often considered macho.

In 2151, when Soval accused Jonathan Archer of being irrational, Archer responded by saying, "You don't know how much restraint I'm exercising to keep from knocking you on your Vulcan ass!" (ENT: "Broken Bow (episode)") 

The frustrated Montgomery Scott referred to Leo Walsh in 2266, as "that jackass" after he wrecked his own vessel, which caused the Enterprise to lose a number of lithium crystals, "in saving his skin…" Kirk sympathized with Scott, explaining that as for Walsh, "that's one jackass we're going to see skinned." ()

In 2364, Jean-Luc Picard asked his new first officer, William T. Riker, a favor: that he help him to avoid "making an ass" of himself in front of children, as he was not a family man. ()

In 2370, Miles O'Brien played a game of racquetball with Julian Bashir and claimed to have stumbled around the  for ninety minutes and made a complete ass of himself. ()

Phillipa Louvois, upon seeing Jean-Luc Picard for the first time in many years in 2365, stated, "You know, I never thought I would say this, but it's good to see you again. It brings a sense of order and stability to my universe to know that you're still a pompous ass. And a damn sexy man." ()

In 2380, Ensign Beckett Mariner and Brad Boimler were discussing who they thought was the "baddest baddass," and Boimler thought it was Roga Danar, although Mariner disagreed, saying that it was Khan Noonien Singh. ()

Raffi Musiker gave Soji Asha a hand phaser and told her there could be reptiloids or killer fungus on the surface of Coppelius, or even "someone's asshole Romulan ex-boyfriend." ()

After arriving to take part in the Defense of Coppelius, William T. Riker warned Oh that he was more than willing to "kick [her] treacherous Tal Shiar ass" if she did not surrender. ()

Bastard 
In 2152, when Silik desperately tried to contact his benefactor at the Helix, Jonathan Archer emerged and attacked Silik. He answered "I said you're an ugly bastard" to Silik, who had just asked his benefactor to repeat what he said before Archer arrived. ()

In 2257, after discovering that the Gabriel Lorca she had assigned to the  had been an  from a parallel universe, Katrina Cornwell angrily muttered "bastard" as she destroyed his bowl of fortune cookies as an effigy for him. ()

In 2258 of the alternate reality, , upon seeing Commander Spock at his hearing, asked , "Who is that pointy-eared bastard?". Later, upon seeing Spock on the , McCoy said to Kirk, "There's that pointy-eared bastard." ()

In 2263 of the alternate reality,  referred to James T. Kirk as a "handsome bastard" when introducing him to Jaylah. ()

James Kirk referred to the Klingons several times as "bastards". (; )

In 2375 on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), Commander William T. Riker, while preparing to repel attacking Son'a ships with metreon gas, said “We’re through running from these bastards.” ()

Bitch 
In 2152, Commander Trip Tucker referred to a neutron microscope as a bitch while trying to align the quantum filters. ()

In 2293, Montgomery Scott referred to the new Klingon Chancellor, Azetbur, as "That Klingon bitch killed her father." ()

Son of a bitch 
In 2152, when the Vulcan ambassador Soval maneuvered to end the mission of , Commander Charles Tucker III stated of him to Doctor Phlox, "They'll probably give the son of a bitch some gaudy medal and then cart him off to wherever they send bitter old Vulcans to retire." ()

In 2153, Charles Tucker III called Kessick a "stupid son of a bitch". Later, Captain Archer cursed, "The son of a bitch lied to us!", after discovering the destroyed Xindi homeworld Kessick sent  to. ()

Later that same year, Captain Archer described Commander Shran as a "son of a bitch" after he and his vessel, the Kumari, refused to surrender the second prototype of the Xindi weapon. ()

Archer warned Degra, "Listen to me, you son of a bitch!", before explaining what would happen if Earth was destroyed. ()

After being called a "son of a bitch" by Jeremy Lucas, Arik Soong told him that his mother was actually a chemist. ()

In 2285, Doctor Leonard McCoy referred to Spock as "that green-blooded son of a bitch", while suffering from the transfusion of the Vulcan's katra into his own mind. ()

In 2367, Picard learned that his brother Robert had described him to René as an "arrogant son of a…" ()

Bloody 
Chief Vanderberg of Janus VI referred to the Mother Horta as a "the bloody thing." ()

Harry Mudd claimed that the Denebians had "no respect for private property" after "they damaged the bloody spaceship" that he had stole. ()

After the  passed through an unidentified energy field in 2269, the ship's computer developed the personality of that of a practical joker. When the computer began altering the ship's artificial gravity, at one point causing Montgomery Scott to fall to the floor, he described the ship's computer, and thus the ship, a "bloody big scatterbrain." ()

Following the death of Klingon chancellor Gorkon in 2293, Scott accused Azetbur of possibly being behind her father's death, adding "…Take my word. She did not shed one bloody tear." Spock, however, dismissed his theory, adding, "Hardly conclusive, Mister Scott, as Klingons have no tear ducts." Later, when Spock called down to engineering to devise a stall for the  to not return to spacedock, he inquired to Scott how long repairs to the warp drive would require. Scott, who was at first not in on the operation, replied, "There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing." ()

While the  was transporting a group of Bringloidi colonists, they attempted to ignite a fire in the ship's cargo bay, unaware of the ship's automated fire system. Following the arrival of Worf and Picard to the cargo bay, Danilo Odell emerged from the cargo bay and exclaimed, "My God, Picard, the place is a bloody death trap! Lightning bolts falling from the ceiling!" Later, Danilo approached Worf and explained, that they were "brewing poteen, but we need to find a way to heat it without this bloody ship firing bloody lightning bolts at us," Worf then introduced them to the replicator. Also during this same voyager, when Riker explained to Brenna Odell that it wasn't necessary for her to clean up the cargo bay, because "the ship will clean itself," she remarked back, "Well, good for the bloody ship." ()

After Montgomery Scott was released from the 's transporter in 2369, he initially argued with the Enterprise-D's computer while attempting to view the bridge of the original Enterprise in the holodeck, finally (through gritted teeth and frustration brought on by intoxication) specifying the ship's registry number as "NCC-1701 – no bloody A, B, C, or D." A short time later, while speaking with Picard in the same simulation, Scott became frustrated with his being out of place in the 24th century before instructing the computer to "shut this bloody thing off." ()

Miles O'Brien frequently used the word "bloody" to express his initial frustrations with the operation of Cardassians or their technology. In 2369, he was quoted as saying, "bloody Cardassians", "these bloody Cardassian internal sensors", he described the station's carbon reaction chambers as "a bloody inefficient system." () Makbar once quoted O'Brien as stating, "the bloody Cardies can't be trusted". ()

He even stated the euphemism, upon spotting Q aboard the station, "bloody hell". () As well as on other various instances. ()

While searching for a runabout in the a particularly region of space with numerous planetary bodies, he described the venture as looking for a "bloody needle in a haystack." ()

When a Pah-wraith had taken over Keiko O'Brien body, and then continued to manipulate Miles into acting as if nothing was wrong, he had once uttered "You bloody…", after she took particular advantage of the situation with him while in front of Doctor Julian Bashir. ()

While on a salvage operation on Empok Nor, O'Brien complained to Nog that "I've already lost four crewmen trying to send out that bloody signal" during their attempt to escape murderous Cardassians who were left behind there. ()

After their runabout entered a recently discovered subspace compression anomaly and did not return to their original size after emerging, O'Brien exclaimed to Bashir, "Are you telling me that I'm going to be this bloody tall for the rest of my life?" Bashir responded, correcting O'Brien's visual size representation to an even smaller size, stating "This bloody tall, actually." ()

While the  was approaching a black hole the crew, not including T'Pol, had started to become adversely affected by the radiation it had been emitting to the point of obsessive behavior over various trivial matters, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed angrily exclaimed "This isn't a bloody pleasure cruise!" in response to Trip Tucker interrupting his new tactical alert program to show Captain Archer another schematic for a new captain's chair he had earlier been requested to build. ()

In 2399, upon seeing Agnes Jurati experiencing a seizure, the Emergency Medical Holographic program of La Sirena swore "Oh, bloody hell!" () 

In the anti-time future, where Data was the head of Cambridge University, he was visited by his friends Jean-Luc Picard and Geordi La Forge. Data's maid at the time, Jessel, later told the two visitors that "If you're really his friend, you'll get him to take that gray out of his hair. Looks like a bloody skunk." ()

Bollocks
On one occasion, when Molly O'Brien fell into  the past through a time portal on the planet Golana, Miles O'Brien used the expletive "bollocks" when some of the equipment he used in an attempt to retrieve her malfunctioned. ()

Damn
In 2259, Captain Kirk used the phrase "damn it" when he found out that the warp drive on the  had a coolant leak and that it would take twenty minutes to get to Qo'noS in the K'normian trading ship they had confiscated. ()

In 2285, during her Kobayashi Maru test, Saavik remarked "damn" upon hearing the description of the titular vessel. Admiral Kirk stated that the initial approach of the  was "damn peculiar" and later muttered "damn" when he had to use a pair of glasses to read. ()

When Charles Tucker III yelled, "Damn it!" upon sustaining a minor injury, this caused an alien named Zho'Kaan to mistake that as his name. ()

Shortly before his self-sacrifice, Sim called Phlox "a damn good father", to which Phlox replied, "You're a damn good son." ()

In 2368, Chief Miles O'Brien described Ensign Ro Laren's suggestion to separate the saucer of the Enterprise-D and put as much distance as possible between it and the drive section as being "damn cold-blooded," as the resulting warp core breach would destroy the drive section and all on-board. ()

When Guinan used the term "person" to describe Hugh, Picard replied, "It's not a person, damn it! It's a Borg!". She continued referring to Hugh as a person anyway. ()

In the anti-time future, when visiting the retired Captain Picard, Geordi La Forge greeted him as an old friend, calling him to the bridge and quipping that there was a "problem with the warp core, or the phase inducers, or some other damn thing." ()

God damn 
In 1986, Admiral James T. Kirk asked Spock, "Have you got any god damn feelings about that?" in regards to the crisis with the humpback whales. ()

In the 2250s Harcourt Fenton Mudd exclaimed "God damnit!" when Tevrin Krit didn't buy into his con. ()

In 2258 of the Alternate reality,  exclaimed, "Great! We have no captain and no god damn first officer to replace him." after  proved that  was emotionally unfit for duty. ()

In 2399, Raffi Musiker swore "god damnit" after Jean-Luc Picard brought her a bottle of '86 Chateau Picard wine and a message of secret Romulan activity on Earth and she realized that she was going to have to talk to him, despite her desire not to. () Upon hearing his request of her, she said that she wasn't sure what to say, but that the obvious way to go would be "You have some god damn nerve." ()

After encountering Q in an alternate 2401, Picard snarled "Q... god damn Q!" ()

Dick

In 2380, Ensign Beckett Mariner referred to a yeti she met at a Klingon prison as a dick. ()

When Captain Carol Freeman attempted to trick Mariner into transferring off the ship, Mariner said that she could see what Freeman was trying to do. Freeman simply said she was only being a captain, to which Mariner replied that she was "being a dick." ()

Feck
In 2399, Laris referred to the Zhat Vash as "sneaky feckers." ()

Frick 
In 2381, when the away team of the USS Cerritos was attempting to escape the late Kerner Hauze's ship, Siggi was not being helpful, and so Beckett Mariner asked him "You couldn't lend a frickin' tentacle?" ()

Fuck 
In an alternate 2240s, a young  played the song "" as he drove his stepfather's 1965 Chevy Corvette on a joyride through the Iowa countryside, which included "fuckin'" in its lyrics. ()

In 2256, when working with Paul Stamets and Michael Burnham to discover a way to operate the spore drive without the  "Ripper", Cadet Sylvia Tilly exclaimed, "You guys, this is so fucking cool." She immediately apologized for the outburst, but Lt. Stamets assured her that "it is fucking cool." ()

In 2380, Dr. T'Ana said "Congratulations, you look like a  scratching post," to Ensign Beckett Mariner, after Mariner declined to have the numerous scars on her body removed. ()

Also in 2380, Ensign Mariner threatened to "Kick his *bleep*ing ass" for accepting promotion aboard the USS Titan.

In 2399 Kirsten Clancy told Jean-Luc Picard "The sheer fucking hubris. You think you can just waltz back in here and be entrusted with taking men and women into space?" after the former requested to be reinstated into Starfleet. ()

Later in that same year, Cristóbal Rios stated that "I hate that fucking hospitality hologram." ()

When La Sirena was heading to Nepenthe, Agnes Jurati told Cristóbal Rios and Raffi Musiker that she didn't want to go there, stating that "somebody else can find that fucking synth." ()

Kirsten Clancy told Jean-Luc Picard to "shut the fuck up" after he kept arguing with her to help him by providing a squadron when she had already made the decision to do so. Not long after, Agnes Jurati told Picard, Cristóbal Rios and Raffi Musiker that she was turning herself in at Deep Space 12 for having killed Bruce Maddox. She stated that they were the closest she had come in a long time, or ever, to having a crew and that she was sorry she "had to fucking ruin it." ()

Hell
The word "hell" was often used in Terran vernacular as an epithet, as in an exclamation that Captain Kirk used at least once, when he exclaimed, "Let's get the hell out of here." () Doctor Leonard McCoy used the word in much the same way upon discovering that he and other members of a landing party from the  had unwillingly beamed into a bizarre and obviously incomplete Melkotian recreation of Tombstone, Arizona, from October 26, 1881; McCoy's response was "Hell for leather, right out of history." ()

In 2263 of the alternate reality,  used the word in that way too, remarking, "What the hell are you drinking?" upon seeing that Captain  was imbibing some Saurian brandy. ()

In 2285, James T. Kirk exclaimed "who the hell are they?" when the  attacked. ()

In 2293, Spock suggested that "Go to hell" might be an appropriate Human response to the order for the  to be decommissioned. ()

In 2368, when Krite told him that there was nothing that he could do about the fact that she and her her people had captured Soren to force her to undergo psychotectic therapy, William T. Riker replied "The hell there isn't." ()

In 2369, when systems in the body of Joshua Kelly showed signs of activity despite his being dead and her having conducted his autopsy, Doctor Beverly Crusher asked "What hell is going on?" ()

That same year, after being transformed temporarily into the physical state of a child and being relieved of duty, Ro Laren asked Guinan "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" ()

In 2373, when Jean-Luc Picard declared that he was going to violate Starfleet orders to aid in the Battle of Sector 001, Data spoke for crew in solidarity by proclaiming "to hell with our orders". ()

In 2385 after a shipyard worker at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards on Mars asked the Android F8 if he got into any trouble the night before, he replied "Hell yeah." to which she asked what he had done, after telling her he did nothing, both exchanged the phrase "Hell yeah" to each other before he started his shift. ()

In 3189, when the USS Discovery was refitted with 32nd century techonlogy, Keyla Detmer asked if they really needed all of it. "Hell yeah, we do!" replied Ronald A. Bryce. ()

Piss off
To be made very angry, or, alternatively, a rude way of telling someone to "go away."

After Spock saved James T. Kirk from falling to his death from El Capitan, Leonard McCoy complained that "you two of you could drive a man to drink." Kirk innocently inquired, "Me? What did I do?,", to which McCoy replied that "You piss me off. Human life is far too precious to risk on crazy stunts. Maybe it didn't cross that macho mind of yours that you should have been killed when you fell off that mountain." ()

In 2399, Raffi commed Cristóbal Rios, suggesting that he might want some company, on the suggestion of his Emergency Engineering Hologram. He told her to "piss off." She responded "Pissing off," and closed the connection. ()

A bit later that year, Jean-Luc Picard revealed to the crew of La Sirena that he had recently been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. He warned them, however, that "Anyone who treats me like a dying man will run the risk of pissing me off." ()

Puta madre 
A Spanish curse that roughly translates to "motherfucker."

When a snakehead piloted by Narek was chasing La Sirena, this angered Captain Cristóbal Rios, who shouted "Puta madre!" ()

Shit

In 1986, Dr. Gillian Taylor asked Captain Kirk if he was in the military, trying to "teach whales to retrieve torpedoes or some dipshit stuff like that?" Kirk simply responded, "No, ma'am. No dipshit."

In 2063, Lily Sloane used the expletive "bullshit" twice in response to Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the  when his crew traveled to her time to stop the Borg's attempt to prevent first contact. She first used it when Picard told her that he was here to help while she was firing at him and Data, she later used it when he denied that he had a desire for revenge against the Borg. ()

In 2256, Michael Burnham muttered "Shit, that worked" after managing to attract the  away from the rest of the away team she was part of. ()

In 2257, Sylvia Tilly exclaimed "Oh, shit! That is not a drone!" upon discovering that the "drone" in question was in fact a hydro bomb. ()

Later that year, Vice Admiral Katrina Cornwell told Christopher Pike and Leland to "cut the manlier-than-thou bullshit" and work together on finding Spock. ()

Later still in that year, Pike asked Cornwell "what kind of shitstorm" awaited the  at Section 31 Headquarters. ()

Still later that year, as the crew of Discovery prepared to engage the forces of Leland and Section 31, Una stated that she had taken the liberty of retrofitting the Enterprises shuttle and landing pod complement with enhanced phasers, as well as commandeering the new experimental tactical flyers under the assumption that "the shit would hit the fan." ()

In 2258, James T. Kirk, banished to  for attempted "mutiny" on the orders of , used the "accurate" version of this metaphor, "bullshit", when the old Vulcan who saved him from becoming a native beast's dinner – who not only recognized him on sight but professed to be his lifelong friend – identified himself as Spock. ()

In 2259, , upon discovering that the crew were aware that "John Harrison" was , uttered "Well, shit. You talked to him." Later, Kirk used "shit" when he lost track of Khan for a brief period on the . ()

In 2263, Spock was injured by shrapnel embedded near his iliac region while in a Swarm ship that crashed on Altamid. Assessing the wound,  told Spock that he would be fine, but Spock noted the forced optimism in his voice suggested he was trying to elicit a sense of calm. McCoy then said he would "cut the horseshit," although Spock failed to see how excrement of any kind bore relevance to their situation. Moments later, McCoy quickly removed the shrapnel and cauterized the wound, telling an agonized Spock that he heard it hurt less if it came as a surprise. Spock, in turn, replied, "If I may adopt a parlance with which you are familiar, I can confirm your theory to be horseshit." ()

In 2364, Picard uttered the curse, "Merde" when the  was drained of power by the Tkon Portal 63 near Delphi Ardu IV. ()

The following year, Picard used the same expletive when Geordi La Forge realized that he had inadvertently invested  with consciousness by misstating a command to the computer. ()

When the USS Enterprise-D was about to crash into Veridian III, Data expressed the shock and horror he felt (thanks to his newly-installed emotion chip) with the suitably profane comment, "Oh, shit." ()

The Species 8472 recreation of , stationed on Terrasphere 8, referred to the concepts making up the United Federation of Planets: "tolerance for all species, the Prime Directive" as "targ manure," during talks with Kathryn Janeway and the senior staff of . In response to those statements, Tuvok corrected Boothby and stated "your metaphor is colorful, but inaccurate." ()

In 2385, as rogue synths attacked Utopia Planitia, one of the workers swore "Shit." Following the attack, Raffi Musiker described the subsequent synth ban by the United Federation of Planets as "bullshit," stating that she suspected the involvement of the Tal Shiar. ()

In 3188, Michael Burnham remarked that Cleveland Booker "[couldn't] fly for shit" after encountering him. ()

In 3189 while speaking with Osyraa, Admiral Charles Vance explained that the apple she as eating was "made from our own shit", describing how the replicator rearranges molecules to create the food they eat. After taking a bite he remaked "Its not bad for shit."  ()

Klingon profanity
In 2366, William T. Riker commented that Alidar Jarok's knowledge of Klingon curses was impressive, after Jarok had referred to Worf as both a petaQ and a tohzah, adding that "only a Veruul would use such language in public." ()

Later that year, Klingon Governor Vagh swore at Picard in Klingonese after Picard denied the charges of supplying weapons to terrorists. Picard returned the favor. ()

Romulan profanity
In 2399, after a thwarted assassination attempt on Picard at his Chateau, a Zhat Vash assassin insulted Picard with the phrase, qezhtihn, causing Laris to strike the assassin in disgust. ()

That same year, as the Artifact was reclaimed by Seven of Nine and the xBs, Narissa said  quezh when her centurion was killed, and she was assaulted by multiple xBs. ()

Appendices

Background information
In addition to the above, the word "fuck" was also used by a native of 20th century San Francisco in the script of , though not heard in the final version of the movie.

In , at one point ambassadors at the meeting to form the Coalition of Planets noted that xenophobic Humans were using "language that is not programmed into the universal translator", which Nathan Samuels brushed off as emotional outbursts during a stressful time. The nature of that language was not explicitly explained.

Regarding the more frequent use of profanity on the streaming series  and  and particularly the use of "fuck," showrunner Michael Chabon stated that the reason Starfleet officers did not use such language in previous series had nothing to do with moral upstanding, but rather censorship. He stated that "The absence of swear words in Star Trek was never a matter of Federation principle, it was a matter of FCC rules. Writers of previous eras had no choice. They were censored. Swearing is one of humanity’s most ancient, sensible, and reliable consolations. Personally I would consider any society that discouraged, banned, or abandoned the use of curse words to be a fucking dystopia." 

Jean-Luc Picard actor Patrick Stewart described himself as being "shocked" upon seeing the first swear word in the script for Star Trek: Picard, and had a conversation with Chabon regarding the use of such language and how comfortable they were with it. He felt that Picard had made an active decision to not abuse language that would be unpleasant to hear and stuck to it. Despite this, he stated that he recognized that the world had changed.

External link

de:Farbige Metapher
Linguistics