Gorram

POSTED BY: Retro
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 23:47
VIEWED: 60145
PAGE 1 of 1

RETRO

Monday, September 12, 2005 7:19 PM

A friend that I just got hooked on Firefly just asked me this. Is Gorram meant to be Chinese, or is it just a futuristic word? I had always assumed Chinese, but I really have no idea.

"Just because I choose to wander, it doesn't mean that I am lost..."

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Monday, September 12, 2005 7:39 PM

I've always assumed it was supposed to be linguistical drift of the word Goddamn

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RYCE

Monday, September 12, 2005 9:24 PM

I think I heard or read somewhere that Gorram is a made-up curse word for the Firefly 'verse so that the sensors can't bleep it out.

No power in the 'verse can stop me!

RELFEXIVE

Monday, September 12, 2005 9:31 PM

Both right, I suspect

"My God - you're like a trained ape. Without the training."

"Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all..."

I know the secret.

LITHI

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:51 AM

It's not any Chinese that I'm aware of. (and i speak fluent chinese) So by elimination, it must be the other choice.

Lithi@EstateSerenity.net

OURMRREYNOLDS

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 1:14 AM

I agree. Linguistic drift and dancing around standards and practices. It's like the use of "frack" on Battlestar.

Cynicism is the smoke that rises from the ashes of burned out dreams.

EVIESERENITY

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 4:00 PM

I am actually keen to the futuristic, linguistic drift idea, but in a Chinese perspective. In some Chinese dielects, "ran/ram" or "lan/lam/luan" imply testicles, and is commanly used in swearing. Similarly, "lan" also means "bad,screwed,rotten" in Mandrain and some dielects, for example, in Hokkien, "du-ran" means "fucked up".
Although "gorram" doesn't exist in modern Chinese, lets say that "go" (dog, as in go-se) still exists in 500 years, thus "gorram" is very likely to be a swear word that means "dog testicles" or "rotten like a dog".

And it just sounds so much like "God Damn".

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 2:07 AM

Well then that would make the license plates on my truck say "Dog testicles"? Maybe they should have let me keep "Dong ma" like I wanted! LOL!

BWAH!
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INARASERRA888

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 2:24 AM

I am fluent in Chinese also, AND I looked in the official site -

http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/

- where they define the Chinese words used on the series and the movie, and Goram is not listed.

From the first time I heard it, I believed it to replace "God damn" as one previous poster said.

E.T. - InaraSerra@gmail.com - I was lucky enough to grab this email a few months ago.

SLOWSMURF

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 5:40 AM

Honestly, I don't see how anyone could think it anything but a variation on goddamn.

They use gorram and gorramit, pretty obvious.

Or humped for something...worse, much like farscape with "frel" and "dren"(spelling?)

RELFEXIVE

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 8:08 AM

'Frell' and 'dren', since you asked

"My God - you're like a trained ape. Without the training."

"Come a day there won't be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all..."

I know the secret.

CITIZEN

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:15 AM

Just to throw my two-peneth worth in:
I think its Gorram as in Goddamn...
They use it the same way as Goddamn and when I first heard it thats even what I thought they said.
As for made up swear words, let us not forget the great and venerable Red Dwarf, bow down before the mastery of Smeg!

Zen Buddhist to the Hotdog Vendor:
"Make me one with everything."

JUMPY

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 9:43 AM

I think its goddamn just cowboy western-ized slang. Rather then being 2 syllables its brought down to 1. It doesn't seem to be like "frel" is for farscape. They wouldn't have made it sound so much like god-damn were that the case. I just think its too close to godd-damn to be a totally made up word, be too much of a coincidence. My opinion.

__________________________
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FFYING2

Thursday, September 15, 2005 3:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by inaraserra888:
I am fluent in Chinese also, AND I looked in the official site -

http://fireflychinese.home.att.net/

- where they define the Chinese words used on the series and the movie, and Goram is not listed.

From the first time I heard it, I believed it to replace "God damn" as one previous poster said.

I'm glad my site is useful, but it's certainly not official.

To add a little to what's been said:

Not only are there "gorram," "gorrammit," "gorram it"/the telling "gorramN it," and "I don't give a good gorram," but "gorram" never appears in the scripts as "(Chinese)" or with English to be translated. It also never gets italicized in the DVD subtitles the way "bao bei" and the other dozen or so Chinese words they write out are. It's English, of a sort--almost certainly "goddamn."

Ying

Firefly Funsite http://fireflyfunsite.home.att.net
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JSAATS

Wednesday, November 23, 2005 7:11 PM

FYI all of you, in 'Finding Serinity', it is listed in the appendix of the Chinese explitive translations as a corruption of goddamn. Don't have the book in front of me now but I believe that te appendix was written by the writer who originally provided them (phrases) for the series. Hope y'all find this useful.

(in a very panicked voice, both hands white knuckled on the control column) "It's O.K., I'm a leaf on the Wind...

R1Z

Thursday, November 24, 2005 12:55 AM

Quote:
Well then that would make the license plates on my truck say "Dog testicles"? Maybe they should have let me keep "Dong ma" like I wanted! LOL!

They wouldn't give you "Dong Ma" but gave you "Gorram?" This sounds like a story we need to hear!!

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. --Robt. Heinlein

CYBERSNARK

Thursday, November 24, 2005 2:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by EvieSerenity:
"lan" also means "bad,screwed,rotten" in Mandrain

That sound you're hearing is all the computer geeks/tech support guys snickering. . .

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TENTHCREWMEMBER

Thursday, November 24, 2005 3:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by R1Z:
Quote:
Well then that would make the license plates on my truck say "Dog testicles"? Maybe they should have let me keep "Dong ma" like I wanted! LOL!

They wouldn't give you "Dong Ma" but gave you "Gorram?" This sounds like a story we need to hear!!

The state of Ohio came to the conclusion that DONG MA could be offensive and since the plates represent the people of and the state of Ohio, they could not honor my request.

I told them that I was saddened by their lack of cultural understanding and diversity, as DONG MA meant, ironically, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME? I then proceeded to tell them that I was not interested in wasting time and taxpayer's money in order to drag them through a lawsuit, but if they'd consider GORRAM as an alternative, I would be placated.

Now keep in mind, it took them 2 weeks to say no to DONG MA. In under 12 hours, I was approved for GORRAM.

And wouldn't you know, the day I went to put them on my truck, one plate cut my finger and I literally said "Gorram license plate!" as I grabbed my lacerated finger before I paused briefly and then laughed at myself.

BWAH!
TCM

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FFYING2

Saturday, November 26, 2005 8:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by JSaats:
FYI all of you, in 'Finding Serinity', it is listed in the appendix of the Chinese explitive translations as a corruption of goddamn. Don't have the book in front of me now but I believe that te appendix was written by the writer who originally provided them (phrases) for the series. Hope y'all find this useful.

Well, not quite. The part about "gorram" isn't in the glossary but in the essay "Chinese Words in the 'Verse." I know because I wrote that essay and put together the glossary, so that "goddamn" explanation is no more official than my post earlier in this thread.

Jenny Lynn, the Chinese translator, answered a bunch of questions for me about the Chinese, but she didn't check the roughly 100 translations in the glossary (and on my site).

Ying

Firefly Funsite http://fireflyfunsite.home.att.net
Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary http://fireflychinese.home.att.net

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BALLADOFSERENITY

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 8:51 PM

Yes. Along with Gorram meaning Goddamn I'm sure your imagination can tell you what "Ruttin'" means.

MEHTBI

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:10 PM

a... :)

In the Serenity (the movie) i've heard a phrase from Simon (something like): "Echa gorram na smekh" :)
In my native language, it means "This makes hen laugh" (close to eng. "This is enough to make a cat laugh"), in other words - you're acting so stupid, so even hen would laugh. Means doing something stupid, something unreal.

btw, in our official russian translation in movie theatres - it sounded exactly as i said (meaning without any translation at all - everybody was LOL :))

(switch your encoding to Cyrillic win-1251, you'll be able to see this phrase in russian)

"Это курам на смех"

that is all about the movie.

about FireFly, where are no russian phrases at all...
i'm not sure, but for americans (and other english speaking people) it should be understanded as "God damn" (said quickly)

MANWITHPEZ

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:30 PM

That phrase was "Eta Kooram Nah Smech!" Which, I understand means "The laughter of chickens" or some such...I don't know...the script doesn't say...

But...Kooram...not Gorram...

Or, Gollum, for that matter...Wrong franchise...

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

MEHTBI

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
That phrase was "Eta Kooram Nah Smech!" Which, I understand means "The laughter of chickens" or some such...I don't know...the script doesn't say...

But...Kooram...not Gorram...

Or, Gollum, for that matter...Wrong franchise...

I haven't read the script, in official DVD subs, under this phrase shortly typed: "Speaking Chineese" :))) i'll check how it sounds right now, but (may be hallucinations :)) i've heard "gorram"...

anyway. as far, as i know, there is no word "gorram" in chineese (any dialect).

MEHTBI

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:43 PM

hehe, he said almost clean - "kooram"(курам)...
my fault :))

MEHTBI

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
"The laughter of chickens"

btw, chicken - small hen, baby-hen. correct word for kooram (курам) is "for hens"

MANWITHPEZ

Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by MEHTbI:
Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
That phrase was "Eta Kooram Nah Smech!" Which, I understand means "The laughter of chickens" or some such...I don't know...the script doesn't say...

But...Kooram...not Gorram...

Or, Gollum, for that matter...Wrong franchise...

I haven't read the script, in official DVD subs, under this phrase shortly typed: "Speaking Chineese" :))) i'll check how it sounds right now, but (may be hallucinations :)) i've heard "gorram"...

anyway. as far, as i know, there is no word "gorram" in chineese (any dialect).

The Firefly DVDs are notorious for having subtitles that are way left of center...See The Message, where Tracey screeches "Gorramit Mal!" and the subtitle says "You're a rabbit, Mal!"

There are several instances of this on the set...in different episodes...

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

NANDY

Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:16 PM

I always thought that gorram is the spelling of the way some British people would pronounce god-damn... because they roll their Rs... I thought this because in Harry Potter books they say "gerroff" instead of "get off" sometimes... any Brits have thoughts on this?

MEHTBI

Sunday, December 11, 2005 8:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
The Firefly DVDs are notorious for having subtitles that are way left of center...

I don't like subs - loosin my attention when watching and reading at the same time...

Btw, i was talking about Serenity: the movie official DVD ("9 DAYS REMAINING" banner).
I've got it already - watching extras :-E (evil smile here).

Subs in it says on "kooram" phrase - "Speaking Chineese". That's what i meant ;)

KAYLEE77

Thursday, February 23, 2006 1:29 PM

Quote:
I've always assumed it was supposed to be linguistical drift of the word Goddamn.

It is.
Why we still talking about this? -Mal

~¤*+º°Kaylee77°º+*¤~

MRBEN

Thursday, February 23, 2006 1:37 PM

Interestingly (or perhaps not) in the subtitles on the movie, 'Gorram' has also been spelt 'Gorramn', which supports the fact that it's a contraction of God-damn.

Re: the Russian - Joss says on the Q+A session that is on the 2nd disc of the Region 4 boxset that the literal translation is 'That's laughter for chickens', but that it is a slang phrase that is usually used to indicate that something is absurd.

mrben

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GRIZWALD

Thursday, February 23, 2006 1:45 PM

Back to the original question... I know I've heard "gorramn" in movies about WWI. I don't think it was made up for the series, more likely appropriated.

KAYLEE77

Thursday, February 23, 2006 2:10 PM

Quote:
I know I've heard "gorramn" in movies about WWI. I don't think it was made up for the series, more likely appropriated.

Makes sense to me.

~¤*+º°Kaylee77°º+*¤~

ASEDATEDMOOSE

Saturday, February 25, 2006 5:23 AM

It's spelled "frak". no 'c'.

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Monday, April 3, 2006 3:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by manwithpez:
That phrase was "Eta Kooram Nah Smech!" Which, I understand means "The laughter of chickens" or some such...I don't know...the script doesn't say...

But...Kooram...not Gorram...

Or, Gollum, for that matter...Wrong franchise...

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

actually if you check fireflychinese.home.att.net/ it says that it means that's rediculus

no sig today to lazy

INDYBLUES

Sunday, April 9, 2006 1:56 PM

While watching the BDM for the 10th time or so,..I decided to put on the subtitles so I could catch all the little parts I missed. to be sure what I heard.
Seems the subtitle people spell it:

GorramN

Not sure if this is correct, just wondered if you guys encountered it spelled with the "N" anywhere else.
'Blues

FLORALBUNNY

Sunday, April 9, 2006 10:09 PM

I am *so* loving this thread.
The great Smeg? Oh, mama.
"lan" meaning "bad, screwed, rotten?" Yes.
a quote:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Similarly, "lan" also means "bad,screwed,rotten" in Mandrain and some dielects, for example, in Hokkien, "du-ran" means "fucked up".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now, could this have anything to do with the name of Durran Haymer in "Trash?"

TCM, the story of your license plate is definitely appreciated. Wonder what would happen in CA?

(not even going to bring up Duran Duran, am I?)

bun
-- bastards singed my turtle --
----- why's the rum gone? -----

FFYING2

Thursday, April 13, 2006 12:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by IndyBlues:
While watching the BDM for the 10th time or so,..I decided to put on the subtitles so I could catch all the little parts I missed. to be sure what I heard.
Seems the subtitle people spell it:

GorramN

Not sure if this is correct, just wondered if you guys encountered it spelled with the "N" anywhere else.
'Blues

It's about fifty-fifty in the scripts but not chronologically. They go back and forth, and it doesn't seem to be because of different writers. Joss Whedon wrote the pilot with "gorramn" and Objects in Space with "gorram." He also had Jayne saying both "Gorrammit" and "Gorramnit..." in the movie.

-N
gorramn: Serenity, Parts 1 & 2; The Train Job; The Message; Serenity movie
gorramn it: Jaynestown
gorramnit: Serenity movie
I'll be gorramned: Jaynestown

NO -N
gorram: Bushwhacked, Ariel, Heart of Gold, Objects in Space
gorram it: War Stories, Trash
gorramit: Trash
gorrammit: Serenity movie
I don't give a good gorram: War Stories, Heart of Gold

Ying

Firefly Funsite http://fireflyfunsite.home.att.net
Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary http://fireflychinese.home.att.net

Browncoats.com http://www.browncoats.com

ADAPA

Monday, May 8, 2006 1:54 AM

Kinda off topic but interesting-

I just looked up Gorram on the licence plate search for the state of New Hampshire and it's avalible--
I can't grab it but thought someone else might like the heads up.

KANEMAN

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 3:33 AM

Gorramit who gives a frak about license plates.

2X2

Wednesday, August 2, 2006 3:49 AM

Two years ago, (and last year also) I had a desk top callendar of "Forgotten English" and one of the words in it was Gorram, which it defined as a contraction of God Damn.

I wish I still had that day, and I could post exactly what it said, but alas, it was before I had found the 'verse.

*EDIT*

I emailed the guy who does the Forgotten English stuff, and apparently he's never heard of it and could find no mention of it... (which obviously means it was wishful thinking that I'd seen it in the callendar)

2x2

BROWNCOATJIM

Thursday, October 12, 2006 11:27 PM

My guess is it was Joss's way of letting the characters swear (no ruttin' way, or we're humped) while still keeping the show on free TV.

Farscape did this exceptionally well, with a whole vocabulary of vulgarity. the sensors must get steamed at this, but what can they do? Aside from go frell themselves, that is.

Simon: "Were there any Feds?"
mal: "No, no Feds, just an honest brawl between folk."

HISGOODGIRL

Saturday, November 18, 2006 2:30 PM

Hey TenthCrewMember, when my husband, bigbadman, applied earlier this year for "Gorram" in North Carolina, he was approved on-line immediately and got his plate two weeks later. NC being what it is, we concluded they probably figured it was a family name or something. I've posted this before but, here's the man with the goods:

http://www.fireflyfan.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12366

TENTHCREWMEMBER

Saturday, November 18, 2006 4:13 PM

Sweet!

I hope there is one GORRAM license plate in every state in the Union! (and anywhere else in the world vanity plates can be had)

BWAH!
TCM

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BROWNCOATJIM

Sunday, November 19, 2006 1:46 AM

i always took gorram to be the equivalent of the word "frell" on Farscape......a way to confound the sensors while we all knew what it meant.

Simon: "Were there any Feds?"
mal: "No, no Feds, just an honest brawl between folk."

PHOENIXROSE

Sunday, November 19, 2006 6:11 AM

Considering that the scripts all have it spelled as 'gorramn' I'd say it just replaced some Ds with some Rs.

[]

PRIVATEDECLAN

Thursday, January 11, 2007 12:22 AM

Yeah, gorram is definitely just a linguistic drift.

PEULSAR5

Friday, January 12, 2007 4:41 AM

Wasn't there a thread some time ago with the lucky stiff that won one of Adam Baldwin's original scripts from the show that spelled it "gorramn"? I remember we were all saying "Great, now I've got to go back and fix all my posts!"

MAVOURNEEN

Friday, January 12, 2007 6:34 PM

Maryland checking in. We have no such on-line search for plates, so I called the DMV a while back.
Shiny, BRNCOAT, Firefly - all taken

Gorramn - DMV worker said it would be declined. Too close to Goddamn.

I didn't ask about Dong Ma...

SWRIGHT007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mavourneen:
Maryland checking in. We have no such on-line search for plates, so I called the DMV a while back.
Shiny, BRNCOAT, Firefly - all taken

Gorramn - DMV worker said it would be declined. Too close to Goddamn.

I didn't ask about Dong Ma...

I can't really understand why Dong Ma would be a problem.. It merely means "Do you understand?".

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:34 AM

DONG?

---- plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose

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SWRIGHT007

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 8:44 PM

Ah,
Thanks... yeah.. I see that now.

YAHACHUSPAIZ

Sunday, June 24, 2007 6:55 PM

Narminda Korlyeaga!

DEL

Saturday, July 14, 2007 10:58 PM

Sorry to dissappoint Nandy but I would hazzard a guess that about as many of us Brits roll their r's as you US guys do! Harry Potter 'gerrof' is 'get off' no r's there to roll. It is just that we do note pronounce our t's very well sometimes!

Gorram id god damn, end of really. I think if it is the first instinct it is more or less right.

ATHENON

Sunday, July 15, 2007 2:33 AM

Well, GORRAM - the go can be converted to chinese "gou", but that's the only characters I can even remotely pick out, and obviously that one character wouldn't encompass the entire word, so ;)

In other words - simply put, no it isn't chinese ;) It almost fits into japanese, but it leaves a trailing m. In other words - Gorra makes three japanese characters (in katakana), but it doesn't make a japanese word. I have virtually no knowledge of korean, but if I were to pick one out of the three big asian languages (chinese, japanese, korean) to guess, I would guess korean. I highly doubt it means anything though. It is just too close to "god damn" ;)

--
Athenon

"My food is problematic"

RIVERFLAN

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 11:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ryce:
I think I heard or read somewhere that Gorram is a made-up curse word for the Firefly 'verse so that the sensors can't bleep it out.

No power in the 'verse can stop me!

To put in my two cents worth: I havn't heard or read any such thing, but I think you're right, that makes too much sense for it to be anything else.

River: "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vaccuuming systems."