Basic Trope: Swearing in made-up languages.
- Straight: A Klingon calls Bob a petaQ.
- Exaggerated: The Klingon launches into a Foreign-Language Tirade that lasts a full ten minutes and leaves Bob very wet.
- Downplayed:
- The Klingon calls Bob a qoH.translation
- Bob makes up some words as profanity replacements, like “quack” in place of the F word.
- Justified:
- The Translator Microbes leave profanity untranslated because the inventors were prudes.
- The Klingon can speak English to Bob, but switches back to Klingon when he's upset out of instinct.
- The Translator Microbes don't translate the word because it is literally untranslatable into English, or doesn't carry the same force of meaning when translated.
- The Klingon wants to talk smack about Bob in his presence without fear of reprisal.
- Inverted:
- Told from the Klingon's perspective, Bob calls the Klingon a son of a bitch.
- The Klingon refers to Bob by a term that can be translated as "Worthy Opponent."
- Subverted: What sounds like Klingon profanity is actually an innocuous word.
- Double Subverted: But not in the context it's used in.
- Parodied: The Klingon's swear words sound like Baby Talk, making it impossible for anyone to take him seriously.
- Zig-Zagged:
- The Klingon alternates swearing in English and Klingon.
- The word for coward in Klingon is considered a harsh swear akin to "motherfucker" and anything hinting at it in other words is at least slightly dirty. Meanwhile, in Klingon, the word for "fuck" doesn't remotely have any even slightly naughty connections.
- Averted:
- The Klingon swears at Bob in English.
- The Klingon, rather than swearing, casually slices a nearby piece of furniture in half with his bat'leth.
- Enforced: The writers want to sneak some cussing past the censors, so they made up their own profanity.
- Lampshaded:Bob: Just what does "petaQ" mean, anyway?Klingon: It is profanity.
- Invoked: In a Klingon-language class, Bob specifically asks the teacher about swearing.
- Exploited: Bob makes it a point to remember what the Klingon called him so he can use it on another Klingon himself.
- Defied:
- The Klingon holds his tongue because Bob is a child, and even Klingons don't swear in front of children.
- Bob straight up tells the Klingon to shut it, thus making sure that said Klingon won't be able to swear at the former, much less in the latter's language.
- Discussed:Bob: It was a stupid plan, I told him it was a stupid plan, he called me a petaQ, whatever that means.
- Conversed:Alice: Why is it that 99% of the alien words ever written in fiction are profanity?
- Implied: The Klingon says "petaQ" at Bob. Bob doesn't know what the word itself means, but he can tell it was harsher than the rest of the Klingon's speech.
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob tries swearing at a Klingon, but ends up saying that his shitty hovercraft is full of fucking eels.
- The Klingon says "Hab SoSli’ quch!" which means "Your mother has a smooth forehead!" Bob shrugs it off, however, as what is gravely insulting for a Klingon means very little to a human.
- Played for Drama: The Klingon swears at Bob, who swears right back. The Klingon takes this as a challenge, and Bob finds himself in a fight to the death.
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