This article contains spoilers for episode 6 of “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew”, “Zero Friends Again”.

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is a fantastic addition to the franchise. It’s a show for all ages with a fantastic cast, plus a thrilling pirate space adventure that’s part “Treasure Island” and part “The Goonies.” The series follows a group of kids lost in space and trying to get home – except their home is no ordinary world, but a legendary planet of eternal treasure. Along the way, the kids met a scheming pirate who can use the Force, a droid whose name sounds like Smee from “Peter Pan,” and lots of wonderfully strange little guys.

In the series finale, “Zero Friends Again”, the children, just abandoned by their pirate “buddy” Jod (Jude Law), must work together in the hope of escaping danger. Pirate Cove has become a chic vacation spot where they find themselves stuck. Meanwhile, Jod is captured by his former private crew and forced to stand trial. As he attempts to defend himself by invoking the old pirate tradition of parley, Jod lets out an expletive, convincingly promising his old band of pirates that he will give them more than they ever wanted if they only let them live. Specifically, he’ll give them “the entire ‘kriffing’ galaxy” in the form of the children’s legendary home planet, Attin.

Now, you don’t have to be familiar with every “Star Wars” comic book or video game ever made to understand that “kriffing” is a clear substitute for “f***ing.” The fact that the kid-friendly “Skeleton Crew” is the first “Star Wars” movie or TV show to use that word only makes its inclusion here even funnier. Yet, as random or improvised as this word may seem, it actually has a long history in a galaxy far, far away.

The word “kriffing” first appeared in 1997. “Star Wars” Expanded Universe (or, as it is now officially called, Legends) novel “Future Vision” by author Timothy Zahn, itself the second book in Zahn’s “Star Wars: Hand of Thrawn” duology (a sequel to the author’s original Thrawn trilogy of novels, aka the trilogy “Heir to the Empire”). Technically, this is actually the second time we hear the word in “Skeleton Crew”, as we also heard it in the second episode when two of the show’s young heroes, Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) and Wim ( Ravi Cabot -Conyers), orders food from the Port Borgo pirate shelter and the angry cook uses swearing when the kids don’t immediately think about paying for him.

Now, “Star Wars” has featured the use of swear words since the very first film, particularly “damn” and “hell.” However, it was the EU that introduced many naughty words and expressions that sound more like science fiction – with the exception of foreign languages ​​using swear words such as “bantha poodoo” – like “sculag” or ” farkled.” In live-action, it was really with “The Mandalorian” that “Star Wars” introduced a new expression into the zeitgeist with “dank farrik”, a term often used in the series and inspired by Samuel L. Jackson’s own potty mouth. With “Star Wars Rebels” having already introduced “karabast” and now “Skeleton Crew” bringing kriffing back into the mix, what swear word should “Star Wars” use next? My money is either on “kark” or “crink”.

New episodes of “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” release Tuesdays at 6 p.m. PST on Disney+.