Curse Cut Short

Fu-what? Fu-what?!? What was he trying to say?!?

"It's not swearing if you don't enunciate the last phoneme. PRO TIP"

—Dinosaur Comics' Alt Text

"Screw you, fu--flight lieutenant."

—Jack, Mass Effect 3

A character is part way through saying a rude word when they are abruptly interrupted, often for comic effect. Often, the interrupter will finish the curse with his/her first syllable. Likely began be a means of Getting Crap Past the Radar.

More common in post-watershed viewing, for obvious reasons, but family shows can also get away with it. Possibly related to the practice of censoring written swear words by blanking all but the first letter, the rationale being that the reader will understand the sentence without being offended.

This can happen in different ways:

The phrase "son of a..." is such a widespread variant that it's practically become a valid expression in its own right. Similarly, "why you little..."

For the non-cursing variety where important information is cut off instead, see Lost in Transmission. See also Catchphrase Interruptus. See also Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion, for the common case where a speaker sets up a rhyme to lead you to expect a bad word, then says something else.

Examples of Curse Cut Short include:

Another character interrupts

Anime and Manga

  • Slayers Try has Amelia comment that a mountain they were about to climb "looks like a pile of--" before Lina steps in with a reminder that she's a royal princess (and thus shouldn't be cussing).

Comic Books

  • Hellboy usually only gets as far as "Son of a..." before getting struck by his opponent.

Fan Works

Crowley: You quite liked the fu--
Aziraphale: Crowley!
Crowley: Fur rug in front of the fireplace, I was going to say. Thought I was going somewhere else with that, didn't you?

Prussia: And by talking, I'm guessing you mean f-
Canada: I mean talking!
Prussia: I was going to say fighting, but your interpretation works too. *beat* So are they f-
Canada: NO!
Prussia: Sensitive much?

  • In The Tainted Grimoire,this has happened at least twice.
    • One time, Sasasha got interrupted when two members of the Targ Wood Police put a hand each over her mouth.
    • Another time, Luso got interrupted by an announcement.

Film

  • In the title song for the movie Shaft:

Isaac Hayes: They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother--
Female Chorus: Shut your mouth!
Isaac Hayes: But I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft!
Female Chorus: And we can dig it.

Chosen One: Well, I'm gonna count to three, and if I hear one more friggin' squeak, I'm gonna take his shoes, and shove em' up his...
Chosen One's Friend: Chosen One, Master Pain's in town!

Gurgle: Don't you realize we are swimming in our own sh--
Peach: Shh! Here he comes.

  • In one scene from The Lion King Timon is trying to help Pumbaa through a narrow gap, and complains "Why do I always have to save your--AAAAHHH!"
  • In The Matrix Reloaded, Link, returning after a long deployment, bursts into his quarters with the inquiry "Where's my puss---" which is quickly strangled off at the sight of his sister-in-law, niece, and nephew with his wife.
    • To her credit, though, sis shuffles the kids out post-haste.
    • Hilariously mocked in that movie's Riff Trax: "But I wanna help Uncle Link find his cat!"
  • Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey: While chasing chickens, Chance encounters a turkey.

Chance: Whoa! What the-
Turkey: *angry gobble*
Chance: AHHH! It's Birdzilla!

Radar Operator: Colonel, you better have a look at this radar.
Colonel: What is it, son?
Radar Operator: I don't know, sir, but it looks like a giant...
Jet Pilot: Dick. Dick, take a look out of starboard.
Co-Pilot: Oh my God, it looks like a huge...
Bird-Watching Woman: Pecker.
Bird-Watching Man: (raising binoculars) Ooh, where?
Bird-Watching Woman: Over there. What sort of bird is that? Wait, it's not a woodpecker, it looks like someone's...
Army Sergeant: Privates! We have reports of an unidentified flying object. It has a long, smooth shaft, complete with...
Baseball Umpire: Two balls! (looking up from game) What is that? It looks just like an enormous...
Chinese Teacher: Wang, pay attention.
Wang: I was distracted by that giant flying...
Musician: Willie Nelson.
Willie Nelson: Yeah?
Musician: What's that?
Willie: (squints) Well, that looks like a huge...
Colonel: Johnson.
Radar Operator: Yes, sir?
Colonel: Get on the horn to British Intelligence and let them know about this.

    • It goes on like that for a further 90 seconds.
    • At the end of the film:

Basil: Did we get Dr. Evil?
Radar Operator: No, sir, he got away in that big spaceship that looks like a huge...
Teacher: Penis. The male reproductive organ. Also known as tallywhacker, schlong, or...
Friendly Dad: Wiener? Any of your kids want another wiener?
Friendly Son: Dad, what's that?
Friendly Dad: I don't know, son, but it has great big...
Peanut Vendor: Nuts. Hot, salty nuts. Who wants some?... Lord Almighty!
Woman: That looks just like my husband's...
Circus Barker: ONE-EYED MONSTER. Step right up and see the One-eyed Monster!
Cyclops: RARRR. Hey, what's that? It looks like a...
Fan: Woody. Woody Harrelson. Could I have your autograph?
Woody: Sure. Oh, my Lord! Look at that thing!
Fan: It's so big.
Woody: No, I've seen bigger. That's...
Dr. Evil: Just a little prick.

    • The exact same gag was used in the next film, Goldmember, with a satellite that looked like a certain part of the female anatomy, leading to this Lampshade Hanging:

Ozzy Osborne: Boobs!
Sharon Osborne Boobs, Ozzy?
Ozzy Osborne: These filmmakers are just a bunch of f** cking boobs.
Kelly Osborne: What do you mean, Dad?
Ozzy Osborne: I mean, they're using the same f** cking jokes as they did in the last Austin Powers movie.
Sharon Osborne: What f** cking joke?
Jack Osborne: You know, the f** cking joke about the rocket that looks like some guy's--
General Clark: Johnson!

Agent: ...who's going to fill in?
Sawyer: (sarcastically) You?
Agent: Nah, I only fill in for those dashing, Clark Gable types.
Sawyer: Frankly, Clark, I don't give a d--
Agent: Sawyer!

  • Amusingly played with in Predator 2, where the titular alien cuts Harrigan's assessment of its looks short by choking him, then finishes it off anyway.
  • Even Disney pulls this one, in A Goofy Movie:

Max: My life's a living...
Mascot: HELL-O, little buddy! Who's your favorite possum?

Esmeralda: You sneaky son of a...
Pheobus: Ah ah ah, watch it. You're in a church.

"Winter is a grand old time. On this there are no if or buts. But remember all that salt and grime can rust your bolts and freeze your…”
(Enter main character Lightning McQueen)
"Oh! There he is!"

  • There's a really weird instance of this in some versions of the song Mark It Up from Repo! The Genetic Opera. In the film, IIRC, Pavi manages to quite clearly sing "My brother and sister should fuck!" before Luigi turns on him, but in one of the soundtrack versions, it's a Curse Cut Short.
    • The hilarity is that it's cut short by a phrase involving a Precision F-Strike: Pavi! Shut the FUCK UP!
  • In Avatar, as Grace is putting Jake into his link pod:

Grace: Just relax and let your mind go blank. That shouldn't be hard for you.
Jake: Kiss the darkest part of my lily white-

The Gap Band: I'm gonna git you, sucka/dirty mother--
Female: Don't say that!

  • The a Team film has "AMF" or "Alpha Mike Foxtrot".

Face: Adios, Mother F... *B.A.'s van roars into the scene*

    • Later, he manages to get the whole thing out, without the last word being interrupted.
  • In Beavis and Butthead Do America:

Pilot: Get the hell out of the cockpit!
Butt-Head: Huh huh, you said c--
Pilot: [pulls Butt-Head out] NOW!

Black drug dealer/crime lord: I am the East Quarter drug trade, you stupid bags of-- *gets a gun pointed at his head*

    • The Hungarian dub got a bit bolder with the line:

I am the East Quarter drug trade, you wee-brained fucku--

Wally: Oh don't worry dad, I'll do my homework without you and mom having to crawl up my...
Ward: Yeah that's great Wally.

Literature

  • In Going Under, book three of the Quantum Gravity series, the imp repeatedly says "What the f..." before another character interrupts him. Or shoots him.
  • Harry Potter has quite a few of these considering they are children books:
    • 'They make riding a broomstick a real pain in the-'
    • 'He'd pull up his robes and pull flowers out of his-'
    • 'YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B-'
    • 'Do you know what that-' ([Ron] called Snape something that made Hermione say Ron!)
    • 'Merlin's saggy left--'
  • In the Doctor Who Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Unnatural History, a Faction Paradox member taunts the Doctor with a parody of a Gallifreyan rhyme:

"Sing the past to me, 'cause I'm the one who wrote the song
I made it up next week so all the words will come out wrong
The past won't keep you warm tonight, the future's blown to bits,
And everything that you believe is really full of --"
The door slammed behind him.


Live Action TV

  • Webster: Webster and a friend are singing a spaceship song, and just before they sing the last word in the line "The spaceship went to hell," Katherine interrupts and sends them to bed.
  • The Hogan Family: Back when the series was called Valerie, the third episode "The Wrong Stuff" saw young Willie Hogan begin using (mild) profanity around the house. When Valerie confronts him and threatens to wash his mouth out with soap, Willie decides to test his mother and see if she actually would. Finally, after saying a mild explicitive ("crap") and getting ready to say another, Valerie made good on her promise!
  • In Star Trek: The Next Generation

Data: There was a rather peculiar Limerick being delivered by someone in the shuttlecraft bay. I'm not sure I understand it. "There was a young lady from Venus, whose body was shaped like a—"
Picard (cutting Data off): Captain to security! Come in!!

    • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Miles O'Brien starts to tell a Bajoran shopkeeper where he can stick his Jumja stick, but is dragged away/yelled over by Keiko.
  • In Doctor Who: "New Earth":

Rose: So you're talking out your a--
Cassandra: Ask not!

  • In the Stargate Atlantis episode "The Return," when Jack O'Neill expresses disdain for McKay's proposed "Plan C:"

O'Neill: Sounds more like a Plan F, doesn't it? As in, 'We are totally-'
McKay: If we can fight our way back to the bay...

Mr Casey: I think you're mistaking me for someone who gives a f--
Michael (bursting into the room): FIRE!

Sheridan: Well, you can tell Earth Central they can take a flying --
Ivanova: It's only 30 credits a week, sir, it's not that much.

    • Also:

Londo: And you can kiss my plump Centauri a--aah, gentlemen, this is what I've been waiting for.

    • Not so much a curse word as it was a rude sentiment:

Sheridan: Pick 'em up, bring 'em in, and throw them in the brig. And I want every one of those ships scanned for weapons. And tell Ambassadors G'kar and Londo that I want to see them in chambers now.
Ivanova: And what if they refuse?
Sheridan: Then you can throw them in the--
Ivanova: Ahem! (Gestures her head to remind him a news crew is filming them)

  • NCIS has this in the season 3 episode "Bloodbath".

Mikel: It's Mikel, Abby. Don't hang up.
Abby: Oh great. My biggest fan.
Mikel: Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot.
Abby: The wrong foot? The only right foot is my foot up your a-
Mikel: Abby. Abby, listen, I need to see you.

Frost: "Well Horn-rimmed Harry can go stick it up his ahhhh hello sir!"

Spike: "I knew the only thing better than killing a Slayer would be f--"
Buffy: [enraged] "Is that what this is about? Doing a Slayer?"

    • In season 5, Glory gets out an "Oh, Sh--" twice. Once as a roof collapses on her head, and the second time when she's been teleported to an altitude of several thousand feet.
    • In season 3, Vampire!Willow says "Oh fu--" just before Oz stakes her after she returned to her world.
  • Angel:

Wesley: I was your Watcher Faith. I know the real you. And even if you kill me, there's just one thing I want you to remember.
Faith: What's that love?
Wesley: You...are a piece of shi-
(Faith interrupts him by stuffing the gag back into his mouth)
Faith: You should talk, huh? I guess I'll just have to try a little harder.

    • While looking for clues in a vampire crackhouse in season 4, Faith is conveniently attacked by a vampire:

Faith: What... the fu-

  • From Full House, during Viper's guitarist audition for Jesse's band, Danny doesn't appreciate Viper's interest in tattooing D.J.'s name on his arm:

Danny: "Hi, I'm D.J.'s father Mildew, and you can tattoo that name on your--"
Jesse: "Hey ho ho ho! Mildew, take five."

  • Boy Meets World has Cory's younger sister make disparaging remarks about the dress Cory's fiance picked out for her, going so far as to say "I wouldn't use this dress to wipe my--" before being dragged away, with her mouth covered, by Cory's father.
  • A bit of poetry from the short-lived sitcom Whoopi

Mavis: Here's something I just can't figure / Why a white girl wanna act like a--
Courtney: Mavis!

Servo: Just where the hell does Canada get off sharing a border / With countries far superior to it?
Servo: Why, you lousy, stinking, francophonic, bacon-loving bastards / Your country's just a giant piece of sh...
Crow: Whoa, whoa, whoa!

  • In iCarly Spencer gets cut off just before he completes a line about a stinking gas being pumped into the torture chamber Carly has locked him in.

Spencer: It smells like-

Randy: Yeah, well it really doesn't matter what he thinks because he's a big piece of --
Tim: Randy!
Brad: Hey! Don't give me any more of your --
Tim: Brad! You guys are becoming a major pain in the --
Al: Tim. Okay, we'll be right back after these messages from- (Brad throws a football at Randy, but hits Al) ah! Would you just cut it out, you little --
Tim: Al.

  • In It's Garry Shandling's Show, Garry's neighbor's son, Grant, comes to Garry for advice about sex. For some strange reason, the entire episode is accompanied by a group of men who perform the duties of a Greek Chorus. Garry tries to dissuade teenaged Grant from having sex until he's really ready, with the Greek Chorus performing color commentary in the background. At the episode's conclusion, Grant decides that he's not ready, and tells his girlfriend that he's decided to wait. This prompts the following exchange:

Greek Chorus: Well now Grant has decided to wait! So from now until then he'll have to mastur--
Garry: (Rushing in) HIS STUDIES! MASTER HIS STUDIES!

JJ: The EAS is coordinated by the FCC, Thema, and the Nation Weather Service, it's a bureaucratic pile of steaming---
Reciever: Ma'am?

    • In the episode "Painless," Morgan gives out Reid's cellphone number to a bunch of reporters as a prank and Reid finally loses it after at least 500 calls and then manages to avert and play this trope straight in less than thirty seconds:

Reid: (while giving the profile) Loner, invisible, outcast, boiling rage- (phone rings) SON OF A BITCH! (answers phone) Hi, this is Dr. Spencer Reid. Yes I can come to the phone right now with a very special message that your mother is a-
Hotch: Reid!

  • From The West Wing episode "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen—Part I":

Hoynes's staffer: It's what magicians call "misdirection."
Josh: Really? 'Cause it's what the rest of us call bull—
Hoynes: Knock it off!

GOB: No Al, I want to spill booze all over my fu-
GOB (Five minutes and a few scenes later): -cking $6300 suit! Come ON!

Music

  • From Brad Paisley's Cornography:

Jimmy: That woman sure chaps my...
George: Ask her out then!

  • From Another Irish Drinking Song by Da Vinci's Notebook:

McNamara crossed the street and by a bus was hit
But he was just a Scotsman, so nobody gave a (OCH)

Oh, when der Fuehrer yells,
"Ve've got to have more shells!"
Ve say "Heil! Heil!" and then we make those shells
And should all these shells
should blow him right to (Donald Duck gets hit in the head by a large shell)
Ve say "Heil! Heil!" 'cause wouldn't that be swell

Musical

Hunter: Broadway.com can kneel down, open its online mouth, and suck my--
Chorus (singing): Festival medley!
Hunter (screaming over the others): IT CAN SUCK MY FUCKING COCK!

Newspaper Comics

  • In one Get Fuzzy strip, when Rob's pets have got hold of his freshman yearbook:

Bucky: Were you voted Most Likely to Remain Chickless?
Rob: Dude, I'm about to be voted Most Likely to Kick Your--
Satchel: Assuredly, that's the skinniest leather tie I've ever seen!

Jon: Bad date, Garfield. We went sailing. Ever had a mizzenmast stuck up your...
Garfield: No, and let's talk about anything else right now.

Video Games

  • Seems to be unintentionally subverted in The Suffering; in the opening cutscene a character gets cut off before they can swear (or barely even start the word), yet if you have subtitles on "cunt" is in full view.
  • Mass Effect:

Ambassador Udina: I'm tired of this council and its anti-human bull--
Asari Councillor: Ambassador!

    • The Convo system being what it is, there's a noticeable delay between the Curse Cut Short and the next line. Net result being that it comes off more like self censorship than actually being interrupted.
  • In StarCraft, when Mengsk and Raynor rescue Duke:

Duke: What's your angle here, Mengsk?
Raynor: Our angle? I'll give you angle, you slimy Confederate piece of sh-
Mengsk: Jim! Enough! I'll handle this!

Michael: You are a sick-
Richard: Take a bite from its super energy wave phaser! It'll get you high enough to reach heaven!

Galactic President: (concludes heartfelt speech)
Clank ( actually Klunk): What a load of bull-
Ratchet: Shh!

  • In Portal 2, Cave Johnson gets interrupted by his own assistant.

Cave Johnson: Black Mesa can eat my bankrupt--
Caroline: Sir, the testing?

  • Fear Effect. Deke tells Glas "You need a shave and a haircut, mate." Glas says "You mother-" before Hana interrupts him. It is likely that she did not interrupt Glas because of his cursing (Hana can curse, too), but because she needed to ask Deke questions and she could not do that if a fight broke out between Glas and Deke.

Web Comics

Dr. McNinja:: Yo ho, motherf--
Pirate mook: He said a bad word!

Meji: Well that seems like a mixed message, telling us not to kill anyone right after she kills the Queen Bi-
Jon: Not the time Meji.

Mr. Mighty: Wherever evil plots are sowed / They shall not come to pass!
Summer: So take your lunch and hit the road / Before Mom kicks your -
Jane: SUMMER!!

Leo: It's a p--
Aeris: I KNOW.

Josh: "Emma Frost didn't even sound British. That's her thing! She uses a fake British accent, she's mostly naked and she's a total cun..."
Joel: "Cunning telepath! My point exactly!"

  • Done THRICE in this Schlock Mercenary strip. Made even funnier because what's being cut short is pretty tame compared to most others on this page.
  • Inverted in this page of Murphy's Law, with Lexington's ponytail covering the first half of Miles' speech balloon.
  • In the Doctor Who Fan Web Comic The Ten Doctors

Sabalom Glitz: Personally I think it tastes like Nimon shi--
The Second Doctor: Ahem-hem... that's enough of that.

  • Two in The Meek, including one where the curse is accidentally finished!

Alamand: It's hotter than a donkey's buttho--
Soli: Alamand.
Alamand: --out there.

    • Earlier:

Pinter: What the h-
Angora: Hello!

Web Original

  • On Good Game: Spawn Point, Bajo describes the 'Movie-Game Tie In' of Avatar thusly:

Bajo: "Be careful with any movie-game tie-in, cause the chances are that it's going to be a big, steaming pile of sh-"
Hex: "That's it for this week..."

Ron: "Maybe he's in love!
Hermione: "Who'd fall in love with such an a--"
Ron: "Maybe he needs a hug!"
Harry: "I don't want a hug!"

Lex Luthor: "Wow, this is good sh-"
(Superman appears)

    • Also Green Goblin after electrocuting Lex.

Green Goblin: " I knew you'd try to pull something like this, you son of a -"
(zapped by Lars)

  • Luminosity has a conversation including a distressed person, and a person with lightning powers.

Tanya: Don't tell me you're competing with Carlisle for the title of most sanctimonious - [zap]

  • Whateley Universe "Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy" when Kismet is trying to get her team to take a Team Tactics class:

Lemure: I think you've mistaken me for someone who gives a rat's a- [Kismet interrupts]

Western Animation

  • A mild example from Teen Titans: Cyborg says to Brother Blood, "You can take your offer and blow it out your--" "INSOLENT CHILD!"
    • And again with Johnny Rancid, who taunting Robin about his dog "kicking your a--" then he is knocked back with two hoofprints on his chest. Reverse angle to Beast Boy. Who has turned into a donkey.
    • And in "Only Human", after Beast Boy has tried a complicated trick with shape-shifting and a cookie to try cheering Cyborg up:

Beast Boy: You're supposed to laugh! What do I have to do? Make it fly out my-
Raven: Let me try.

Grim: Don't make me get medieval on your...
Irwin: As I was saying...

Irwin holds the s for a bit too long.

Braniac: I am Krypton.
Superman: You're a perversion, dishonoring the very memory of my father and all my people.
Braniac: And this is your final decision?
Superman: Read my lips. Go to-
Braniac: Unfortunate, but predictable.

    • And from "The Balance", when Wonder Woman has just been told that Zeus has ordered her to stop Felix Faust, who has taken over Tartarus:

Wonder Woman: So, he's telling me to go to-
Hermes: Basically.

Jimmy Olsen: Superman's turned into a real di-
Lois Lane: -fferent person.

Rocko & Filburt: (answering the door while shouting) What in the hell...o? (realizing the deportation guy keeping track of them is at the door)

Rattrap: The next time that big ape asks me to do something for him, man, I am going to shove my blaster so far up his--
Silverbolt: Target dead ahead. Prepare for drop.

Drakken: Your Nana is one bad grandmother--
Kim: Shut your mouth!

    • Another Kim Possible example, when Ron is wearing half of a unicorn costume on Halloween:

Kid: You're no unicorn, you're just a horse's...
Villain (suddenly appearing): I've come to claim what's mine!

  • A similar example in Dexter's Laboratory, when Dexter grows a beard and is being gawked at by Dee Dee and her friends.

Dee Dee: That is one rugged brother--
Dee Dee's friends: Shut your mouth!

Caitlin: Tricia.
Tricia: Caitlin. New loser friends of Caitlin.
Nikki: Oh, you stuck up little bi--
Jonesy: OKAY, who wants some chunklets, huh?

Courtney: I'm a C.I.T.!
Heather: More like a B-I-T-C-
Gwen: Guys, lets get going.

So hail to thee, O Pizza Cat
Please ring your little bell
Although you may be pen and ink
We know you'll fight like--
Pizza Cats: PIZZA CATS!

  • Inverted in an episode of American Dad, after Hayley sleeps with Stan's boss:

Hayley: I know it's crazy, but I like him. He challenges me, and besides, he has a really huge-
Stan: Penis! I mean, Hayley! Dammit! I was trying to cut you off before you said-
Hayley: I was going to say "heart" but, well, you shined his shoes.

Timmy: Well, Quddus, much like Christina, Vicky is an evil...
Wanda: Timmy!

  • On Jimmy Two-Shoes, when Jimmy is hallucinating all his friends, including Heloise in a girly dress. After a few steps she growls "If I were awake, I'd kick your-" before hallucination Lucius picks her up.
  • In Codename: Kids Next Door the Spinach Inquisition (an army of Spaniards who have an odd obsession with Spinach) shows up to get kids to eat the green leafs. They capture the titular kids and attempt to force them to eat spinach, through song. Numbah 1 almost lets out a not-so-kid friendly word before being cut off.

Numbah 1- “I said no once, I said no twice, you chained me here and that’s not nice. I will not eat it, not a scrap. I tried it once, it tastes like-”

  • Ed, Edd n Eddy has this, too, in a combination of this and Sound Effect Bleep.

Kevin: Beat it dorky, or I'll shove these moon rocks right up your - (Jonny's trumpet)

    • In Sir Ed A Lot:

Ed: I am a horse!
Eddy: You're a horse's-
Sarah: HEY!! You better win!!

  • The 1942 W-B cartoon "A Tale Of Two Kitties" as Babbitt sends Catstello up a ladder to get Tweety:

Babbitt: Give me the bird! Give me the bird!
Catstello: If the Hays Office would only let me, I'd give him the bird, all right!

    • Redeux in Animaniacs as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot protect their pet turkey from Miles Standish (Miles: "Give me the bird!" Yakko: "We'd love to but the Fox censors won't let us!")
  • In King of the Hill:

Thatherton: M.F. Thatherton. Thatherton Fuels.
Mr. Holloway: Dang glad to meet you, M.F.
Hank: The M.F. stands for...
Thatherton: My friend!

  • In one episode of Pepper Ann, Milo rants about the art teacher giving him a bad grade.

Milo: That woman wouldn't know art if it bit her in the--
Pepper Ann: Assignment, Milo, it was just an assignment.

  • Not exactly a curse, but inThe Simpsons episode "Yokel Chords":

Spunkler Kid: Ain't you one o' them funny, big-nosed, show-biz people?
Krusty: Oh, you mean a clown?
Spunkler Kid:: No, a J-
Krusty: Joker! And I'm not a practicing joker, so I'm not offended. Heh-heh!

Wolverine: Oh, you gotta be kidding me, Fury. Mystical curse my a- * violently grabbed by Hulk*

Lana: It's Archer's fault.
Cyril: It's fine.
Lana: It's just with the lying, and the cheating, and that thing with the mayonnaise...
Cyril: It's FINE.
Lana: Not to mention how messed up he is about his mother! Did you know he once called her name while we were f-
Cyril: FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!

  • In The Boondocks episode "Wingman" after Huey's former friend Cairo headbutts him and sends him flying across the deck:

Riley: You got knocked the fu..(Granddad shushes him) never mind.

Anakin: If you ask me, that sounds like a load of s--
Obi-Wan: Superstition?
Anakin: That's one word for it.

  • In Futurama, one of the deleted scenes from "Parasites Lost" has Fry explaining that he was trying to stick up for Leela at the truck stop, leading to this exchange:

Leela: Your heart was in the right place, but your brain must've been up your-
Hermes: Moving on to item 0.002!

Real Life

NPH: They all make shapes! So I have four of them. This one I am very excited by, it's a rabbit 'cause I'm a magician and I like magic. (shows a rabbit-shaped band)
Craig: Oh yeah? You still hidin' rabbits down your pants and that kind of thing?
NPH: Sometimes...
Craig: Mmmkay.
NPH: This one's a pineapple because I like piña coladas. (show a pineapple)
Craig: And, uh, walks in the rain?
NPH: Sometimes... This one's a dolphin because I like dolphins. (shows a dolphin)
Craig: Oh really? (in a snooty voice) I don't care for dolphins, I prefer sharks!
NPH: And this one's a rooster, because I love --
Craig: Heeeeyy!! Neil Patrick Harris, everybody!


Self interruption

Comic Books

  • In X-Men, one of Nightcrawler's standard exclamations is "Ach du lieber..." (frequently misspelled: "Ach du leiber..."), which means "Oh you dear...". He never once finishes it, so we can only guess what word is cut off. "Gott"? "Augustin"? "Herr Gesangsverein"?

Film

  • You see this done a lot with "tough guy" characters in old '30s and '40s films. "Why, you...!"
  • Aladdin:

Iago: [on seeing that Aladdin survived a near-drowning] "How in the He-- I mean, uh, AWKKK!"

"MOTHER--" * extended screaming*

  • In Dark Star the computer automatically censors obscenities in Sgt Pinback's diary entries, replacing them with silence and a caption reading "deleted", and in one case a full-screen caption reading "Gesture Deleted".
  • Spy Kids: "Oh, sh...itake mushrooms."
  • The Producers: Max, looking through his gallery of little old ladies:

Max: "Hold me touch me", where is "hold me touch me"? "Kiss me feel me", "Lick me bite me", "Yank me spank me", "Suck me fu--"... ah! "Hold me touch me"!

  • Part of the lyrics in My Fair Lady. In this case you know what the word should be by the rhyme scheme.

Eliza: "You, dear friend who talk so well,
You can go to ... Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire!"

  • In The Odd Couple, Oscar is watching a baseball game in the press box when he's summoned to the phone. While Felix is telling him not to eat any frankfurters at the ballpark because he's making franks and beans for dinner that night, Oscar misses a triple play. He turns back to the phone:

Oscar: ARE YOU CRAZY?!! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!! TAKE YOUR FRANKFURTERS AND...! (*slams receiver down*)

  • In Blazing Saddles, Hedley presents the governor with his choice for Rock Ridge's new sheriff, a black man. Shocked, the governor pulls him aside for a private conservation:

Gov. Le Petomane: Have you lost your mind? Can't you see that that man is a ni--
The governor notices that he has accidentally pulled aside the new sheriff, not Hedley.

    • The movie takes the joke further after the governor starts talking to Hedley; apparently "ni" is exactly the word he meant to use.
  • One scene from the film Megamind has the titular Villain Protagonist and his pet robotic fish Minion playing the song "Highway to Hell" on the boombox. However, for some reason Minion is constantly tampering with the tuning knob, therefore causing the boombox to switch to another radio station whenever the song mentioned "hell."
  • In Bruce Almighty, Bruce almost lets one slip before realizing that it's God in high person he's speaking to.

Bruce: Holy sh- ...cow.

Literature

  • In The Truth, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, Mr Tulip is often heard to use "-ing". As in "that -ing rubbish". Near the end of the book, you discover that he only says the ing part of whichever curse he may have been thinking.
    • This is also a parody of the censorship used in early Discworld novels, where swearwords would be starred out in the same manner.
    • It's also Lampshaded in the book with people bemusedly wondering what is he saying. And near the end Sacharissa tries to start cursing by peppering her sentences with "ing" in appropriate places as well as saying, "'Ing.' I feel so much better for saying that, you know? 'Ing.' 'Inginginginging.' I wonder what it means."
    • Subverted in "Guards! Guards!" when a mugger gets out "Sh-" before being incenerated by a dragon only to finish the curse "-it" as a ghost. The same gag is reversed by Greebo later in the series, when his feline snarls of dismay as he transforms into a man end in "...it!", and his subsequent reversion to cat form is heralded by "Shi...{cat yowling}!"
    • Captain Carrot can apparently pronounce "d* mn." (But then, Rincewind can say "!")
    • Cohen in Interesting Times, claiming the Agatean Empire's bureaucracy requires you to fill out a form if you want to go to the privy. "Can't get married without a chit. Can't leave your village without a chit. Can't even have a ... Ah well, here we are."
  • German humorist Kurt Tucholsky used this in a poem, talking to a baby girl: "You / will become a great who-"

Live Action TV

Tobias: [arguing with Lindsay] Oh, great, you're mocking me. You selfish cun- [realizing his daughter is listening] try-music loving lady!

"[Something to the effect of "I was a kid once"] and we can be right little sh--. . . terrors."

  • In one of his infamous long-winded closings, Alan Shore did this:

"We have mothers, bragging to their friends about being MILFs at their kids' high schools. M-I-L-F, Mother I'd Like to F...orgive me for speaking this way in court."

  • Keith Olbermann's "WHAT THE -" segment on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Usually Keith stops himself, sometimes he's cut off by a commercial break.
  • Legend of the Seeker, "Princess": Cara has to impersonate a princess to get into a castle, and a local law requires her to speak in rhyming couplets in the presence of the margrave. Later, when she's holding him at knifepoint to get the key to the dungeons:

Cara: Dear Margrave, the sight of your face makes me sick
You decadent, pompous, self-satisfied-- (punches him in the face)

  • In the Chuck episode "Chuck versus the First Date", Chuck's reaction when he first sees the team's new underground spy base known as Castle is:

"What the... HELL-O!"

Paige: But why me? I don't have anything against the little fu-- uh, fetus.

  • Buffy working as a high school guidance councellor:

Buffy: You have to stick up for yourself, Amanda. You need to show this bully that you're not gonna take any more of his sh... guff. Uh, any guff.

Music

  • Panic! at the Disco's There's A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought Of It Yet:

I bet to them your name is "Cheap," I bet to them you look like shh...

    • Another one of their songs, "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" contains the line "What a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore". Guess which word gets replaced with "Shh!" in the music video!
  • The Johnny Horton song "The Battle of New Orleans" has the following line: "Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well", then going into the chorus of the song.
  • Some cuts of "The Season's Upon Us", a Christmas Song by Dropkick Murphys, has the last word missing from following lines:

My nephew's a horrible wise little twit
 He once gave me a nice gift-wrapped box full of ...

Truth in Television

  • People who grew up with cartoons and kids' shows that use this trope may find them doing it themselves, saying "What the...?!" with no intention of actually saying anything after 'the'.

Video Games

Prince Kael'thas: Insolent son of a ... Let's get this over with!

  • At the beginning of the make money for Venus level (Formerly Save The Pandas from WLK) in Katamari Forever, the king needs to rhyme something with rich. So he says, "If you don't have any, what a bi-" Or something along those lines. Then he catches himself.
  • In the City Elf Origin in Dragon Age: Origins, a guard tries to arrest the PC for either killing or robbing a nobleman (depending on player choice.) Duncan steps in and uses his authority to save the PC, leading the guard to say "Son of a tied down... Fine."
  • In Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, Richter starts staying "Son of a..." before cutting himself off while saving Maria from Shaft.
  • Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty has this:

Matt Horner: Holy sh--sir, scanners show the largest zerg biosignature I've ever seen!

  • In Madagascar for Gamecube. Marty and Mort get Wilbur to fulfill his promise (which turns out to be truly anticlimactic), much to Marty's annoyance. He says: "I oughtta open up a can of Whoopa-- BUTT on you, Warthog!!!"
  • In Mass Effect 3, Jack has taken to censoring herself while in front of her students, leading to her calling Joker a "fu--flight lieutenant."
  • In Xenoblade:

Dunban: Why did you betray us to Mechonis?! Why did you kill our friends at the colony? WHY?!
Mumkhar: You wanna know? Because it's your home!
Dunban: You PIECE OF-!

Web Comics

Web Original

"'Hi strong bad. This is Trevor from Hampden Maine and I was wondering if you could teach me how to be as awesome as you. I am a vampire and' And what? That's it? I'm a vampire and here's a million dollars...or I'm a vampire and here's your own spaceship... I mean what the f (Beat) Oh no, I get it. THEY GOT HIM!!!"

Western Animation

"F-U-C- can't make out that last one..."

    • And this variation while digging in his pocket for his keys:

"Let's see ... gum wrapper, pocket lint, lighter ... oooh! flamethrower! ring of power, dunno what that is, roll of quarters ... wait, that's not a roll of ... A-ha! Here they are!"

    • And when he's in his office getting groomed by a busty barber, he puts a new take on an old ditty as she swings his chair so that he's underneath her breasts:

"Shave and a haircut: Two ti-- AH!"

    • Using a security camera to spy on the women's bathroom:

"Good things come to those who wait! Ha-HA! Cu-" *bathroom door opens*

    • In one of the early ones (might've been the first one) has a scene where Dr. Quest gets angry at the boys for denting something with a ball.

"Dr. Quest": "I have half a mind to come down there and kick your little a-"

  • In the Looney Tunes short "The Bashful Buzzard Beaky Buzzard" says to the dragon "Why you shriveled up incontestable piece of sh...shoeleather."
    • A quasi aversion happened in a 1938 "blooper reel" film shown at the Warner Bros. Christmas Party that year—along with the usual scenes of actors hilariously flubbing their lines was a short newly-animated sequence of Porky Pig, just after he had whacked his thumb with a hammer. "Son of a b-b-bi-- son of a b-b-bi-- son of a b-b-b-gun!" He then looks at the camera and says "Heh, heh. You thought I was going to say 'son of a bitch,' didn't you?"
  • The Simpsons: Krusty has just shown a lackluster Itchy & Scratchy cartoon where all that happens is Itchy weakly hits Scratchy's head with a mallet three times, then both say to the camera, "Kids, say no to drugs!"

I coulda pulled a better cartoon outta my a--ha ha ha

Chris Tucker: Man you crazy, Jesus! You crazy!
Jesus: That's what my ex-wife said.
Chris Tucker: For the son of God, you sure are the son of a--Whoooaa!

Real Life

  • In the book Star Trek Lives, one of the authors describes her visit to the Star Trek set during the filming of a scene on the bridge. According to her, when William Shatner flubbed a line, he began to say "Oh, shi...", then realized this young lady was standing there watching and finished, "...atner, you've done it again!"

Cut to another scene

Advertising

  • A couple of commercials for Volkswagen showcased the car's safety features. Both had the car's occupants engaged in conversation just before getting into an accident. Cut to the occupants standing outside the car unharmed and looking at the wreckage. One says "Holy sh-" Cut to the slogan "Safe happens".

Film

  • In The A-Team, Hannibal gets cut off while saying motherfu- as the helicopter that was following them is destroyed by fighter pilots.
  • A variation happens in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory - while watching Mike Teevee's interview, Grampa George breaks out in a long string of insults, all of which from Charlie's point of view are muted because his mother has covered his ears. (Though, one supposes, someone who can read lips could figure out what was being said.)
  • In Monster-in-Law after Viola throws her dress out of her car.

Charlie: Mother--
(cuts to the rehearsal dinner)

  • In New in Town, where Renee Zellweger's curse is unheard when the doors close behind her, muffling out all sound. However, her tantrum is still seen through the glass.
  • The sci-fi B-Movie spoof Amazon Women On the Moon is repeatedly interrupted by "technical difficulties", naturally providing a good opportunity for this trope.

Moon Queen: "Men are useless! Several thousand gamma-spans ago, all men were banished from the lunar surface because they couldn't__ (cut to black title card with PLACE COMMERCIAL HERE).

"I'm here to help restore your pluck, 'cause I'm the nurse who loves to--" (slam)

  • Done in the trailer for RED, if not in the actual film. The trailer closes with John Malkovich's character reacting to being called an "old man", and he proclaims "old man my a-" before the trailer cuts to credits and "Coming soon" bit.
  • In How to Train Your Dragon we see Stoic mouthing "what the--" before cutting to another shot--though he probably would have just said the Viking equivalent for "hell" anyway.
    • Which I believe is "Hel."
  • The 2002 Back to The Future DVD set uses this on the menu screen for the first film when it shows a clip of Biff's car slamming into the manure truck.
  • In Transformers: Dark of The Moon, Brains gives us this little gem when he and Wheelie crash land within one of the Decepticon shuttles before the scene transitions to Epps and his crew:

Brains: This is a total clusterf-

  • The very last line of dialogue from 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming is Aunt May's "What the F-", uttered when she comes across Peter in his Spider-Man suit, and is interrupted by a hard cut to the end credits.

Live Action TV

  • Black Books, after Bernard is locked out of the shop by the fancy security system and its sound proof door:

[outside shot]
Manny: [runs off and writes on paper, then brings it back to show to Bernard] I think I've locked you out!
Bernard: [withering stare] Yes! Yes!
Manny: [runs off and writes on paper again] Oh no<
Bernard: WRITE SOMETHING USEFUL YOU STUPID FU--
[cuts to (silent) interior shot where we see him continue his tirade]

Cassandra: At last I can be revenged on that little b--
Cut to Rose and the Doctor
Rose: Bit rich, coming from you.

  • Red Dwarf. In "Back in the Red" Lister realizes they're not escaping, but are actually in a virtual reality program that Rimmer is editing to cover up his own guilt ? most noticeably when obvious jump cuts start happening, whereupon Lister says he's going to cut off Rimmer's (jump cut) with a blunt knife!
  • Thirty Rock: In the episode "The Funcooker," Jenna Maroney falls asleep from exhaustion while hosting the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Tracy then shouts at her "Wake up motherf-". At that point the television that the program is being played on is turned off.
  • Top Gear
    • While Jeremy Clarkson was reviewing a new Ford Fiesta in an attempt to do a "proper" road test, the segments kept ending when he tried to say that an aspect of the car was sh-
    • In the Top Ground Gear Force comic relief special, there was a hard cut to Richard Hammond just as James May was about to call Clarkson a fu-
    • While introducing Jeremy and James' "Classic Luxury Car" contest, Richard Hammond states the disclaimer that, unlike the "Cheap Car" challenges, the Mercedes and the Rolls Royce shown are actually owned by Jeremy and James, something which prompts him to call them both stupid tw-
  • Leverage: Eliot has been getting the mark to say certain sounds into his mic so Parker can pick a voice lock.

Parker: "I still need "ef," "uh," and "kuh."
Eliot: "Don't worry..."
Mark: "This is shrimp, you stupid f--"
Parker: "Oh! There they are. Really loud too."

    • In a different episode, The Experimental Job, Sophie calls a mark with news he doesn't want to hear.

Sophie on the mark's phone: Merry Christmas, motherf--
The mark slams his phone shut in frustration
Sophie to the rest of the gang: He hung up.
Nate: No kidding.

Wash: "Oh, motherless son of a bi--"

    • Also done in 'Our Mrs. Reynolds'. Both Mal and Inara get their curses cut short when Saffron's knockout drug takes effect.
  • Arrested Development has a variation on this in "Afternoon Delight". One scene starts with Gob talking about his "-king six thousand dollar suit." We later get a flashback to the first part of the scene, where he starts the "fu-" before it cuts away
  • In the episode "Boom", Castle's rant get's cut in the end.

Castle: Ryan and Esposito have a better car than you do. I'm just embarrassed to have criminals in the back of that thing and I don't know about your seat, but mine has a spring that hits me in the...

  • An episode of Holmes On Homes had Mike Holmes, astounded by the bad job a house builder had done, start making a comment, and then cut to Damon while he was in the middle of a sentence.

Mike: Holy shi- (cut)
Damon: ...ims missing from around the door like the shims missing from the window.

Abby: (typing) Hello, you twisted little piece of s--(CUT)

Mr. Liberal: Hang on, you pair of young scruffy tearaways! Don't you realise the way you act is influencing millions of children to talk Cockney and be insubordinate?
Pupil: Well, come on Sir, don't be silly, we're the only kids in Britain who never say--(CUT)

    • While the cut happens before he utters the word, it's clear from the movement of his lips that it would've started with F.
  • News Radio: "The Trainer":

Matthew: So, Catherine, where in Africa are you from?
Catherine: Shut up, Matthew.
Matthew: Say something in African.
Catherine: Shut the -- [cut to Establishing Shot]

Sam- "Ah, sh-"

  • An instance in the Scrubs episode My Fifteen Seconds most closely resembles the above Charlie and the Chocolate Factory example than anything else. Kelso is temporarily deaf. When Turk informs the rest of the staff of this, everyone in the room immediately starts cheerfully cursing him out. The first to do this is Dr. Cox who says, "Bob, you stupid mother--" and it cuts to Kelso's muted perspective. It's not very hard to read Cox's lips.

Music

  • If any Christmas-themed episode (especially in the UK) plays "Fairytale of New York", expect the scene to cut before the infamous "scumbag" verse, and definitely the word "faggot".
    • The decision of Radio 1 to censor the song in precisely this way caused a great deal of controversy, and was reversed very quickly.

Newspaper Comics

  • When talking about the canidate for Sports Jerk of the Year, Tank Mc Namara mentions that nominations have to be individuals, not teams, not orginisations, "Not even the BCs, not matter how much they b-" TEMPORARY LOSS OF JOURNALISTIC OBJECTIVITY - ONE MOMENT PLEASE...

Video Games

Main Character: "I can't hold them off. Yeah! Take that, you son of a-"

  • One NPC in Half Life 2 does this when Gordon Freeman is about to sneak into the Citadel. As soon as he jumps down, the NPC says to Freeman "If you see Dr. Breen, tell him I said fu---ou." Most of the profanity is cut out from a large explosion above ground. If you listen closely you can in fact hear Barney say "fuck you".
  • In Mega Man X Command Mission, where the fight begins just as the character subverts a Heroic BSOD and goes berserk. Also a bit of a Crowning Moment of Awesome:

Massimo: ""FEEBLE" Massimo?! You Sonnova-" [battle scene transition]

  • Mass Effect 3: Joker catches Jack censoring herself in front of her students, leading to this scene:

Joker: What, does she have a swear jar or something? I bet we could empty that out and have enough to buy a new cruiser!
Jack: Cover your ears, kids. Hey, Joker! Fu--[loading screen]

Web Comics

  • Subverted in Dominic Deegan, the curse is filled in with the end of another word:

Dominic: ffffFFFFFFF-
Gregory: (singing) -UUUUUCK! I say oh baby that's just me LUUUUCK!

Black Mage: * On the upper deck* BOATDOKEN!
Thief: What the fu-

  • Cuts to White Mage and Black Belt*

White Mage: It's a real shame that both of our organizations require their members to take oaths of poverty.

    • Also in 8 Bit, when Black Mage is unwillingly brought back to life after he was briefly was ruler of Hell, his reaction is as follows.

Black Mage: Fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff-
next panel: [+++ -UCK!+++ ]

    • And on this one

Fighter: Silence, Red Slave
Black Mage Wait. So does that make me the black sla--

  • GOOD NIGHT, EVERYBODY*

Web Original

Bree: What annoys you about Jonas?
Daniel: Everything. He's a piece of sh-- [cut]
Jonas: He didn't say that. Did he really say that?

Spencer: I wonder if I'll meet a doppelganger Spencer. Holy sh-- [cut]

Bree: My mom listened for a few minutes and decided that pretty much everything my dad was saying was wrong. So she thought it was time to open up a good ol' fashioned can of whoopa-- [cut]

Western Animation

Homer: Kids...leave the room please.
(They run out of the room.)
Homer: FUU--
(Jump Cut to outside. Disturbed Doves. Neighbors looking out their windows in utter shock.)
Ned: Dear Lord! That's the loudest profanity I've ever heard!

  • More fun with Simpsons cursing cut short: In a halloween special, Burns is a vampire. Bart and Lisa are at the door and they ring the buzzer. Burns talks about how he will let them in, then goes into his evil plan about drinking their blood. Cue maniacal laughter. Smithers then says something like "Uh, sir, you're supposed to turn off the intercom." Burns says "Oh, son of a bi-" and the door creaks open.
    • Its earliest use in the swear jar sequence from "Bart the Lover".
  • From the 1990s Looney Tunes short Blooper Bunny:

Daffy Duck: (to Bugs) You smug son of a...
cuts to another take

Modo: That makes me more than just mad. Now, I'm mad as--
[cut] Limburger: Hello, fellow citizens of Chicago.

    • Also-

Vinnie: I'd like to unexplain his-
Charley: Shhh!

Skwisgaar: (to old lady) Hello. You are a GMILF, that is a Grandmother I Would Like To- (scene change)

  • More Warner cartoons: 1947's "The Eager Beaver" and 1959's "Unnatural History" and the beavers "damming" a river.
  • In the Western Animation/Adventure Time episode "Mystery Train", Finn screams this when he finds out that Dr. Donut was (supposedly) killed:

Finn: Son of a...
[scene is cut to train whistling].


Episode ends

Film

Live Action TV

  • Heroes:
    • "One Giant Leap" and "Cautionary Tales":

Claire/Noah: (having in both cases come back to life on a mortuary slab) "Holy sh--" [to be continued...]

    • Did it again in "I Am Become Death":

Adam: (after being released from his coffin) "Hiro, you son of a bi-" [to be continued...]

    • "The Eclipse, Part II":

Claire: (on seeing Hiro's comic and how it matches the scene in the past they're watching) "Holy sh--" [to be continued...]

    • Amusingly, in several of these cases the next episode's cold open repeats the final scene...except, obviously, the show doesn't end, which leads to unfortunate continuity errors like the scene playing out in the exact same way except for Claire saying "Oh my God" instead.
  • In the famed Spanish Inquisition episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Cardinal Ximenez' Catch Phrase gets cut short by the credits, prompting him to say "Oh, bug-" (presumably the beginning of 'bugger')
  • The Blackadder episode "Beer" ends with everyone very drunk:

Lady Whiteadder: "Luck!" Wa-hey! Get it?
Everyone else: No...
Lady Whiteadder: Oh, come on! "Luck" sounds almost exactly like "fu-" [closing credits]

  • Every episode (at the very least most of them) of Lab Rats ends with the words "Oh, for fu--". In fact, it cuts off after "fuck" rather than in the middle, leaving the full phrase uncompleted but the Precision F-Strike intact.
  • The Office: Michael ends one episode by saying "But I think this plan sucks ba-"

Music

  • Music: Wilco's song "Monday" ends with singer Jeff Tweedy exclaiming, "Son of a--!"

New Media

Announcer: NUMBER EIGHT!
Stuttering Craig: Now THIS is a game! Virtua Fighter 5: All the levels, characters, it's so--
Handsome Tom: Wait, wait, wait. It's on the 360. It's not exclusive.
(Beat)
Stuttering Craig: Fu--
Announcer: NUMBER SEVEN!

Video Games

Web Comics

  • Gunnerkrigg Court. There is a symbol (the elemental symbol for antimony) that is in the lower right hand corner of the last page of each chapter. On one occasion, the symbol was strategically placed over the last half of a curse word.
  • Rage Guy to the point when it has become so Memetic Mutation that it's a subversion to end it with -CK.
  • This happens in Avalon, when Ceilidh turns around and unexpectedly sees a lot of student campaign posters plastered all over the school wall.

Ceilidh: HOLY SH--
Caption: To be continued...

Web Original

  • The first season finale of the web series The Guild ends with Codex's "Oh, sh--"
  • One episode of The Legend of Neil ended with the line "Fu-" The next episode began with the line "ck!"
  • The ending to Linkara's Future 5 review is as follows:

Linkara:(Goes to answer door) Oh hey, it's my student loan bill, did-wait what? MY STUDENT LOAN BILL??!! OH FU--

NC: "But like I said, it's not a terrible movie. I mean, it's not as bad as something like, A Troll in Central- Nope! ...Nope, nope! I know how this works. If I say the entire title, that means I have to review it next week. Yeah, I know this joke. I'm not doing it, mm-mmm. There is no way you're getting me to say A Troll in Central Park...!"
Text: "Next Week: A Troll in Central Park"
NC: FUUUUUUU- * cut to villain sinisterly eating popcorn, then end credits*

"Motherf-" (credits)

  • When Mr. Brilliant is about to reveal what the N in K-On! stands for in his review of K-On!, he gets cut off by the review ending.

Western Animation

Mr. Garrison: ...and now we can sell all their homes and become millionaires.
Guys: WHAT?!
Jimbo: But then you had us all do all that for nothing! Don't you see, if you get rich selling these homes, then there'd still be rich people in South Park.
Randy Marsh: Yeah, you'll become what you hate.
Mr. Garrison: ...Yeah, but at least I got rid of all those damn ni--[South Park ending theme]

  • The 2nd Savage Dragon/TMNT crossover ends with a building falling on the heroes, while they exclaim: "Oh, sh-". The storyline continues in Savage Dragon #22, in which begins with them saying "-it!"
  • In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy is taking a shower with the new "shampoo" Mandy gave him:

Billy: (sniffing) Wait a minute this isn't shampoo, it's dog sh--[Episode ends].


Episode begins

Live Action TV

Scully: [Shows Mulder his staking victim's very fake vampire teeth]
Mulder: Oh sh-- [cut to opening credits]

Lee: "I think she means f--" [cut to opening credits]
Lee: [immediately after opening credits] "-uck"

Eli: What the f---
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

  • In the pilot of Studio 60, the control room director leaves the producer's rant on the air (in real life and in the show) for some fifty seconds, until he is about to drop an F bomb, before cutting to the titles.

New Media

Dim: * referring to PSP* This thing is so damn perfect! * throws PSP to ground, but it opens a parachute* Oh for fu-
[OPENING CREDITS]

Web Original

Vegeta: (through walkie-talkie) We'll go to Earth, find the Dragon Balls and kill everyone. And we'll be there in a year or so. Depending on Filler, of course.
Nappa: Anything else we need to go over, Vegeta?
Vegeta: Nnnope, that's about it.
Roshi: (Beat) Well, fu-
[OPENING CREDITS]

    • The series never manages to do this to Vegeta. Every time it looks like it's going to happen, he finishes the curse anyway. Such as when he's blown away by Goku:

Goku: Kaio-Ken...
Vegeta: ...Nooooooo.
Goku: ...Times...
Vegeta: No, no, no...
Goku: ...FOUR!
Vegeta: Nononononono FUUUUUUUUUU-
Scene transition
Another scene
Scene transition back to Vegeta
Vegeta: -UUUUUUUCK!

Or when he realizes that Goku's been training in multiplied gravity situations:

{{quote|Goku: Well, I did train at 100 times Earth's gravity. Vegeta: FU[[Sound Effects Bleep|[BEEEEEEEEEEEEP]]]

  • Krillin and Goku converse*

Vegeta: uck. }}

Or when he realizes that the earthlings have summoned the Dragon while he was asleep.

Vegeta: ...Oh you mother-
Scene transition
Vegeta: *heard from a distance* FUCKERS!
Piccolo: *likewise* Ow! My ears!

Green Goblin: " Oh sh-" (cuts to opening credits)

    • Luthor upon discovering that Lance's head was not in the box like he had originally thought

Luthor: " MOTHERF-!!!!" (cue opening credits)

Western Animation

  • The original script of the first episode of Futurama called for one of these:

Fry: (looks out the window and sees New New York) HOLY SH--
[OPENING CREDITS]
Fry: --IT!

  • In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "King Dead", the episode opens with Space Ghost shouting, "...king dead!" to Moltar and Zorak.


Killed/injured mid-sentence

Anime and Manga

Kanta: Akio, you dumb f-- (gets hit over the head by Fuyuo)

    • Haruo does say the f-word twice, but they're easy to miss as background chatter.
  • At least one fansub of Macross Frontier subverts this with Bobby exclaiming "Oh f-" before narrowly dodging a shot from the Battle Galaxy's main weapon which hits the Battle Frontier behind him instead.
  • Cytomander the Swift of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann can only manage an "Oh shi-" before the Dai-Gunzan barrels into him.

Fan Works

  • Kyon: Big Damn Hero provides these often, generally people swearing at Kyon when he's fighting them.

Film

Frenzy accidentally kills himself with one of his razor discs
Frenzy: Oh sh-- [he dies]

  • Rock and Rule has this for when the sailor-type guy gets killed after talking to Toad on the phone. A quick 'Oshi--' and he dissolves.
  • Bolt had a quick dance with this trope.

Mittens: "Slow down! You're scraping the fur off my-" (crashes into mailbox)

  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit?: While Eddie tries a rhyme routine to make the weasels die laughing, he levels a particularly saucy stanza at the Smartass of the group.

Eddie: I'm through with taking falls / And bouncing off the walls / Without that gun, I'd have some fun / I'd kick you in the... [Vase falls on his head]
Roger: Nose!
Smartass: Nose? That don't rhyme with "walls".
Eddie: No, but this does! [Kicks Smartass in the "balls", sending him flying to his doom in the Dip vat]

Ferro: Now where the fu..(Alien pierces her skull with it's tongue.)

Literature

  • The Discworld books:
    • A photographer shows up to take a picture in Monstrous Regiment. He is a vampire, so the first time he takes a picture, the result is an "Oh sh--" and the photographer crumbling into dust as a result of the camera flash. Luckily, all it takes is a drop of blood to reconstitute the resulting pile of vampire dust.
    • The dragon's 1st victim in Guards! Guards! This being the Disc, two paragraphs after he said "Oh shi-" and died, we cut to his ghost talking with Death. The first thing the ghost says is "-t!"
  • In Going Under, book three of the Quantum Gravity series, the imp repeatedly says "What the f..." before another character shoots him (into something). Or just interrupts him.
  • In The Alloy of Law, a certain villain gets very annoyed with getting his gun shot out of his hand by the main character, after the fourth time this happens he responds with "Stop doing that, you bast-" before he's shot again, this time in the face.
  • The Crowning Moment of Funny in David Drake's Patriots is when the Benedict Arnold Expy is tricked into falling into a deep pit toilet. After he's fished out of the liquefied crap, a recording of this will be used to blackmail him into never betraying the main characters. As he falls, he has just time to start coincidentally identifying what he's about to be submerged in:

"Holy sh--" Finch screamed.
There was a loud plop. A brown geyser spouted above the floor and sank back.

    • Fridge Disgust: He had his mouth open when he went under....

Live Action TV

Slitheen: Oh, boll-- [the building explodes]

    • Not to mention the Abzorbaloff:

You stupid bast-- (melts)

Vampire Willow: [is impaled on a piece of broken wood] Aw, fu.. [she turns to dust]

    • Also in "Blood Ties, when Glory is teleported away, Giles asks where she was sent.

Glory: [Realizing she's about a mile above ground] "Oh shi-" [Starts falling]

  • In the Angel episode "In the Dark":

Spike: From now on, I'm my own man! Lone wolf. Sole survivor. Heh -- Look out! Here comes Spike, the biggest, baddest mother-- [He is conveniently cut off as his hair catches on fire.]

George: Oh, sh-- [is killed by a toilet seat from Mir]

That was only in the clean version on Sci-Fi. On Showtime, she finishes the word.
  • In the Supernatural episode "Monster Movie" Dean is captured by a man pretending to be Dracula.

"Life ain't a movie you sorry sack of" (punched in the face).

  • Stargate SG-1 when the alternate SG-1 first encounters a Goa'uld shock grenade.

O'Neill: Ah, sh- [grenade explodes]

  • Will and Grace: While on a biking trip with Leo, Grace pretends to be having fun even though she's not outdoorsy. They find a pumpkin patch:

Leo: Catch!
Grace: Oh, motherf--(is knocked down by the pumpkin)

  • One episode of Nash Bridges had this happen to a would be assassin after he accidentally sets off the bomb he's planting in someone's car. His last words: "Oh sh-"

New Media

  • Red vs. Blue does almost all the variations of this at different points (as well as using plenty of uncensored swearing). The most iconic, however, is Church's first death:

Sheila: "New target acquired."
Caboose: "That's not a target, that's Church!"
Church: "Hey, Caboose! Why didn't you tell us you could drive the tank?"
Sheila: "Firing main cannon."
Church: "Oh, son of a-" * BOOM*

Sonic: All I had to do was hit up and down? UP AND DOWN?! WHAT THE FU- *time runs out*

  • Subverted by Bob in Poke Battles Red Version: When Nerra-Torr kills him, he screams "OH SHI-", and when he reappears in the Land of the Dead several battles later, he first says "-T!".
  • I divided by zero, OH SHI-

Video Games

Klogg: SON OF A --!

"Son of a-" BOOM!

Coach: MOTHER FU- Strangled coughing

  • Snow in Final Fantasy XIII, after an enemy has done something to really get under the team's skin.

Snow: You son of a - (lunges at him, but Barthandelus teleports out of reach)

  • Simon the Sorcerer 3D, when Runt has kidnapped the Swampling and is currently levitating Simon over the trigger switch to a bomb.

Simon: "Shi-" (Runt drops him)

Guybrush: [to the MerLeader] Actually, there is one thing. I sorta caused this Pox and I need Esponja Grande to fix that. Especially now.
Elaine: [under the influence of the Pox] What do you mean by that, you worthless piece of *cough cough cough* ooh, excuse me.

  • Team Fortress 2's short, "Meet the Medic", starts with an injured Scout staring at three rockets heading his way.

Scout: Woah! What the fu--
(Rockets explode, Scout is sent flying.)
Scout: --UUUUUUUUUUU--!
(Scout's shout stops suddenly when he slams into a window.)
Scout: Medic...

Web Comics

  • The last thing Yokyok of Order of the Stick says is "Oh shi-".
  • Milder variant in Gunnerkrigg Court, where the speaker was cut off by a punch to the face.
  • Dave's introduction in webcomic Homestuck. His name is initially entered as "Insufferable Pri--" which is as far as it gets before he shows his displeasure with the name by bisecting the name entry box with a katana.
  • for some reason there are lots of these in one chapter of Fey Winds(all by the girls) herehereand here. ironic because in a earlier chapter the author has no problem having a character say a different swear

Western Animation

"Beans, beans, they're good for your heart, the more you eat, the more you f-" * gets 'beaned' by a can of beans*

Maddie Holograph One: "Your resolution is too low and your bandwidth is too large!"
Maddie Holograph Two:"*gasp* Why you holographic- *Violence Ensues*"

Raven: "Azarath Metrion ZINT- [blast]
Dr. Light: "A word of advice. Find shorter magic words."

Ned "You stupid son of a-" * BOOM*

    • "Saddlesore Galactica"

Nelson: Man, that horse don't take no guff from no one.
Jimbo: Guff?
Nelson: I mean sh-
Bullies start pummeling Nelson

Minstrels: With all his troubles in the past/King Arthur sat down on his
gets trampled by horses.

  • Robot Chicken does this in the Mario Kart/Vice City skit. After Luigi is killed, Mario starts shooting up the cops. "You'll never take me alive, you mother-" *gets shot by police*
  • Rigby gets cut off a couple of times in "Grilled Cheese Deluxe," by getting socked in the stomach.

Rigby: The only thing you're better than me at is being a big piece of-- OOF!


Real Life

  • Truth in Television: "Oh shit" is often attributed to airline pilots just before they crash. Kind of a "tried everything to save the plane but..."


Sound effects bleep

Film

  • At the end of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Tuco is staggering after Blondie who's departing with the gold they were chasing after all film. He expresses his negative opinion of Blondie's parentage, but gets cut off at the last word by the opening riff of the ending theme.
  • In Blazing Saddles:

Gabby Johnson: Hey! The sheriff's a nig-* clock bell chimes*
Harriet Johnson: What did he say?
Dr. Sam Johnson: He said the sheriff's near.
Gabby Johnson: No, gone blame it dang blammit! The sheriff is a nig-* clock bell chimes again*

  • In Ocean's Twelve, a character is complaining about the censorship of his music, and the bleeps over the soundtrack playing exactly match up with his swear words. He then interrupts himself to tell someone to turn off the censor machine.
  • A combination "Sound Effects Bleep" and "Cut to Another Scene" in Sex and the Single Girl happens when Natalie Wood starts to yell something like "Why you..." into a phone. Cut to the person on the other end of the line, and "cuckoo" sounds coming out of the phone.
  • Smokey and the Bandit: Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice is chasing the Bandit across several states in his increasingly damaged police car. An Arkansas State Trooper looks at the severely delapidated automobile, and says "You can't drive this piece of shit on the highway." Sheriff Justice proceeds to "tear him a new one" both for his unprofessional use of foul language, and the fact he's been chasing a criminal who's violated a number of state and federal laws. As the trooper apologizes, we hear the faint sound in the distance of an approaching big rig. As Sheriff Justice prepares to put the car in gear and leave, he says, "I accept your apology, now ..." his words are obliterated by the truck horn as it passes, but his lips clearly show him saying, "...fuck off."
  • A Running Gag in Megamind is that the "background music" is provided by Minion with a boombox. When the song "Highway to Hell" is used, all the "Hells" are cut off by Minion having trouble with the stereo.
  • Done in Wayne's World, where a curse near an airfield is obscured by a jet. We still get to hear the ending.

Literature

  • In the Animorphs novel where the character David is introduced, David is seen carrying the alien "blue box" around. When Jake is informed of this, he begins with "Oh--" just as the school bell rings.

Live Action TV

  • In Stargate SG-1, Carter is having a discussion with Jonas about his inability to ask a girl out on a date.

Carter: You are such a chicken s-- [incoming wormhole alarm sounds]

  • In The IT Crowd, Jen unleashes a tirade of swears to a Japanese man who stepped on her feet with Doc Martens. These are conveniently bleeped out by an employee nearby using a button. Made even more funny when said employee is out of time with covering up Renholm's swearing at Jen.
  • In an episode of Will and Grace, Will mentions an old friend of Grace's. Grace mentions that she once made fun of the girl's lisp, and proceeds to do it again. Will mentions that the friend died, and Grace moans, "Oh, shit." However, she's still making fun of her lisp, so it comes out more like a combination of "sit" and "slit."
  • In an episode of Three's a Crowd, Jack Tripper is serving some upper crust obnoxious guests on a cruise ship. When they ask him what it is, he replies:

Jack: "It's called [loud ship horn] on a shingle."

  • NCIS had one of these in "Bete Noire" when the autopsy is taken over by a terrorist (later revealed to be Ari) and is torturing Gerald:

Kate: You bastard.
Terrorist: You're a qualified agent, and that's the best you can come up with?
Kate: You [Gerald screaming] bastard![2]

  • The X-Files had two of these in season 7 episode "Fight Club":

Mulder: (on a cell phone) No [static] Sherlock.
Mulder: (on a cell phone) Somebody's got to get to that fight and keep those two women apart or else this time the [static] is going to hit the fans.

  • On Seinfeld, Jerry warns Elaine that George won't be too happy with what she's doing. "Well, I don't really give a sh-" (slams the bathroom door behind her)
  • In a Pushing Daisies episode, a nun spouts off several obscenities, all of which are masked by the ringing of a church bell.

Professional Wrestling

  • Subverted on a 2006 WWE Monday Night Raw, during a match pitting super-hot diva Maria against the bloodthirsty Samoan monster heel Umaga, when Umaga did his avalanche move on a prone Maria, announcer Jim Ross cried out in disbelief, "Oh Jesus!" with Jesus muted out on U.S. broadcasts, leaving the impression that he had uttered "Oh shit!"

Video Games

  • In Half-Life 2, as Gordon is entering the Citadel, Barney makes a request of him:

Barney: If you see Breen, tell him I said fu-- [Grinding sound of metal debris and rubble collapsing] --you!

    • The rubble collapsing and Barney's dialogue are two separate sound files, which means if you experience any sort of sound glitch at that time (for example, the "dialogue stutter" that used to be quite common), you can hear the full like in all its glory. (Or just dig around in the game files until you find the appropriate sound file...)
  • In the opening scene of StarCraft, some of the Terran scavengers have the following exchange:

"You girls strapped in nice and tight now?"
"Tighter than your momma's--"
(The bay door opens loudly)
"That's a good one, man!"

Junpei: "Get back here, you son of a-"

Western Animation

  • In the Young Justice episode "Secrets", Artemis shoots at Harm while making her escape, only for him to catch it with his bare hands. Unfortunately, she races out slamming the door behind her, while Harm notices the gas filling the room from the open stove. Then the arrow ignites...

Harm: Oh, that little.... * BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!* (The house explodes)

Mongul: Oh, dear. Is that a neural impactor? I didn't know that they were still making those. I'd advise you to try the plasma disruptor. It's more of a woman's weapon.
Wonder Woman: Go to * SHBOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!*

  • In an episode of Rugrats, Angelica is appearing on a kid's show whose host was... not fond of them, to say the least. She came up with a "real" new Happy Fun Phrase for what she thinks of them. Also combo'd very well with a Running Gag.

Angelica: No. mommy. The new happy fun phrase is: She thinks we're all little....(A truck goes by and honks loudly as Angelica says a "new word" she learned).

  • The Simpsons
    • Homer's other Catch Phrase, "Why, you little...!"
    • James Woods wants to leave his job at the Kwik-E-Mart after being told his movie role has been changed while cleaning the microwave:

Woods:...What do you mean, I gotta give two weeks' notice? Why you frickin', no good, motha [beep] [beep] cheese! ...No, not you, I'm just talking to my oven.

Lois: You see Meg, I'm like one of those Bald eagles on the Discovery Channel. Beautiful to look at... but mess with one of my baby chicks and I'll use my razor-sharp talons to rip your
[oven dings]
Lois: ... ing eyes out. Cookies are done. Who wants chocolate chip?

    • In the first episode when Peter tries to win money on a talent show:

Emcee: And the prize goes to The von Trapp Family Singers!
Peter: That is bull... (drowned out by applause)

    • Also in that episode after finding out that Peter got all that money from welfare Lois says "What the fu--(gets cut off by Peter blowing an air horn)".
    • PTV. When the FCC tries to censor real life, they blow an air horn to cover up swear words.
  • The Powerpuff Girls episode "Curses" has the girls overhearing the Professor spouting a blue word (obscured by sound effects) after injuring his thumb, and they spend the rest of the episode repeating it because they think it's neat.
    • SpongeBob, as it turns out that the seemingly incidental or censorial noises of a dolphin chattering and/or boat horn honking are the bad words to the undersea dwellers.
  • The 1939 Warner Bros. cartoon "The Hardships Of Miles Standish" featured a scene in which a cockeyed Indian plunks a fellow Indian with his bow and arrow. The hurt Indian turns angrily and (from what is known) lips the words "Goddamn son of a bitch!" There was some speculation that the Indian actually vocally said it but it was excised by the Hays Office.
    • Similarly at the end of "Rhapsody Rabbit" after a mouse beats him into playing the finale on the Hungarian Rhapsody, Bugs Bunny angrily plays the last few notes and mouths "son of a bitch!".
  • In Der Fuehrer's Face:

Nazi: "When der Fuehrer yells: I gotta have more shells!
We heil! Heil!
For him we make more shells!
If one little shell should blow him right to * CLANG*
We heil! Heil!
And wouldn't that be swell!"

  • In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "King Dead", Space Ghost saying "fucking" is cut off by his megaphone crackling, so all we hear is "Just don't touch my TV, OK? Or you're... king dead!" The episode also begins with Space Ghost saying "-king dead!", after having been locked outside of the studio by Zorak and Moltar.
  • In The Ren and Stimpy Show episode "Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" a line in the Yaksmen National Anthem goes like "And we will probably go to hell" when they sing that part "hell" is droned out by a farting sound and it can be seen when the lyrics go by with the word crossed off.
  • Metalocalypse does this frequently with pinch harmonics.
  • In the 'Gee Whiz' episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Meatwad goes on a little curse rant constituted by various SFX used as bleeps.
  • From Open Season 2:

McSquizzy: (to a Doberman) You muscle bound sack of sh--(gets cut off by someone loudly drinking coconut juice with a straw).

  1. ↑ amusingly, the same interrupted word from the previous example
  2. ↑ (If you listen closely, you can just barely hear Kate shout "fucking bastard")
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