Smeg (vulgarism)

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Smeg is a mild vulgarism which is conjectively a shortened version of the word "smegma." It gained greatly increased prominence through its use as a supposedly inoffensive expletive in the British sci-fi/sit-com Red Dwarf,. The word was used to replace almost every vulgar term used in the shows conversations, with the exception of the very mild. Additionally, the word itself had many variants including "smegging", "smeghead", and also some terms including "smeg off", "for smeg's sake", "smegging' hell" etc. The shows creators have continually claimed that they knew nothing of the word "smegma", and that "smeg" was entirely made up as an excuse to swear in a pre-watershed show.

It has been stated by the producers/cast of Red Dwarf in the past that its use in the show and thus its popularisation stemmed from a SMEG kitchen appliance catalogue.

Lexicographer Tony Thorne, in his 1990 Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (ISBN 0-7475-2856-X), reports instances of "smeg" (and derivatives) being used as a term of "mild contempt and even affection" among "schoolboys, students and punks" as early as the mid-1970s – a decade or so prior to the inception of the Red Dwarf phenomenon – and claims unequivocally that the etymology of the term traces back to "smegma".

In the 'Let's Swear' item in Bachelor Boys, the Young Ones book, one of the characters (Rick), played by Rik Mayall calls another character 'smeg face'.