h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No less a luminary than Craig Charles (who plays Dave Lister in Red Dwarf) apparently sees 'smeg' as a short form of the word 'smegma', rather than a word made up from nowhere. In a tv interview some time ago he recalled a fan convention where a young fan asked him what 'smeg' meant. His account of the embarrassment this put him in made it clear what *he* thought the derivation was!

I was amazed to discover that a fridge manufacturer had adopted the word as their name - aren't they embrarrassed as well?

On the subject of new words coined to replace swear words, one that should have been included is 'plonker' from Only Fools And Horses - a word much beloved of Del Boy to insult Rodney with. Anyone unsure of the word it replaces might get a hint from A1060769.

The writers of Red Dwarf (Rob Grant and Doug Naylor) *claim* (though I don't believe them) that they made it up without realising how it could be connotated.
They wrote up a list of different words that had the right vowel sounds in order to 'feel' rude, but actually weren't.
Oberon2001

"I was amazed to discover that a fridge manufacturer had adopted the word as their name - aren't they embrarrassed as well?"

Reminds me of the comedian many years ago talking about how companies research new product names. In particular, he pointed out the Wang calculator - "Didn't anybody tell them what that meant?"

Ah, the Slartibartfast principle... Douglas Adams and John Lloyd wanted a name that sounded as filthy and embarrasing to the owner as they could get, but one that could still be broadcast, so they started from variations on a theme of "Phartifukborls" and toned it down from there..