The writing staff used their individual childhood experiences as inspirations to come up with much of the story lines for this episode. The idea for "Sailor Mouth" was inspired by creative director Derek Drymon's experience "I got in trouble for saying the f-word in front of my mother." Drymon said, "The scene where Patrick is running to Mr. Krabs to tattle, with SpongeBob chasing him, is pretty much how it happened in real life." The end of the episode, where Mr. Krabs uses more profanity than SpongeBob and Patrick, was also inspired "by the fact that my [Drymon's mother has a sailor mouth herself."