Does anyone know what the 'Red Dwarf' word 'smeg' means?

lanfranco

I don't care what the writers claim, the etymology is obvious. Scroll down to "Invented words": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf Nov 29 06, 7:59 PM

skysmom65

According to this it means outtakes. On the DVD: Red Dwarf I arrives in a two-disc set, with all six episodes on the first disc accompanied by an excellent group commentary from Craig Charles, Chris Barrie, Danny John Jules and Norman Lovett. (There's also a bonus commentary on "The End" with the two writers and director Ed Bye.) The 4:3 picture is unimpressive, but sound is decent stereo. The second disc has an entertaining 25-minute documentary on the genesis of the series with contributions from the cast, writer Doug Naylor and producer Paul Jackson. Navigate the animated menus to find a gallery of extra features, including isolated music cues, deleted scenes, outtakes ("Smeg Ups"), a fun "Drunk" music montage, model effects shots, Web links, audiobook clips, the original BBC trailer and even the entire first episode in Japanese. --Mark Walker http://www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Dwarf-1-Chris-Barrie/dp/B00006JI1V Nov 29 06, 8:05 PM

zbeckabee

Avrolanc asks: "What exactly does Smeg mean?" Doug Naylor: "I think it's Latin for clean, also there's an Italian Washing Machine Company called Smeg. Also each of the letters S-M-E-G stand for smelting metal and something to do with the washing machine process." Uh-huh... http://www.angelfire.com/tx/komix/doug.html Nov 29 06, 8:07 PM

skysmom65

smeg (vulgarism) The mild vulgarism smeg 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, together with a string of derived words including "smegging", "smeghead", 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. 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". Indeed, to reiterate this point, a character in the Monty Python sketch "How Not To Be Seen" is called Mrs. B.J. Smegma. http://www.answers.com/smeg Nov 29 06, 8:12 PM