Today I decided to start figuring out where some words come from that are used as expletives on Sci-Fi shows. The first one that I started with was “Smeg” or “Smeghead” from Red Dwarf. With the use of Wikipedia I was able to find a reference to an Italian Appliance company and that they believe Smeg comes from the word smegma.
Smegma is a sebaceous secretion, especially the cheesy secretion that collects under the prepuce or around the clitoris. Now that sounds like a word that could be used as an expletive.
On the Smagma page there was a whole list of gma words. This list created a new fondness for words ending in gma. Some are very common or at least words I already knew such as magma, stigma, sigma, enigma, or dogma.
Others that I didn’t but have decided I already like are
bregma The junction of the sagittal and coronal sutures at the top of the skull
Pragma,
A standardized form of comment which has meaning to a compiler. It may use a special syntax or a specific form within the normal comment syntax. A pragma usually conveys non-essential information, often intended to help the compiler to optimize the program.
zeugma
The act of using a word, particularly an adjective or verb, to apply to more than one noun when its sense is appropriate to only one or in different ways.
So now the goal is to find the tenth “gma” word and try to use them all in one paragraph that makes sense.
