Swearing
by
Teegar Taylor
"I'd never really thought about it before, but I don't think I've ever heard you swear in this language," Sulu said.
Chekov shrugged.
"It's not like you don't know the words," Sulu persisted, intrigued by the idea. "And it's not like you don't swear in Russian -- and even a few other languages I know that you know..."
The ensign sighed long-sufferingly, knowing he'd never get through this shift without satisfying his helm partner's now fully aroused curiosity. "At home, we spoke Russian... and some other languages as well -- French, a little Yiddish, Polish -- for relatives and acquaintances... but very little Standard. So when I attend the Academy, I am speaking Standard continuously for the first time. And I have ... a slight accent..."
Chekov said the last as if informing Sulu of something the lieutenant might not have noticed. The helmsman bit down on the corners of his mouth to keep from smiling.
"And when I am angry," the navigator continued, "and I am trying to insult someone, they laugh -- because with the slight accent, the words sound ridiculous, not insulting. So, I stop using such words, because when I am angry and I am cursing someone, I don't want that they should be laughing."
Sulu nodded. "I can see that."
"But, that was before I have become completely accustomed to speaking Standard," Chekov said, pausing to make a course correction. "I don't have so much of an accent now. Soon I will be speaking just as everyone else. I think already I can use whatever words I wish and no one would notice."
Sulu couldn't help staring for a moment at his helm partner. Hearing Chekov talk about his belief that he was losing his accent was somewhat like hearing the navigator say that he thought he was about to sprout wings -- an unlikely metamorphosis that would result in a creature that to the lieutenant would be just as bizarre and unrecognizable.
