'Fracking' vs 'Frakking': The differences between hydraulic drilling and the 'Battlestar' expletive

There's an interesting bit of news floating around New York state this week, and it's accidentally making us nostalgic for "Battlestar Galactica."

The New York Times reports that NY governor Andrew Cuomo, he of the gay-marriage-legalizing, is doing something that has folks a little less happy. He's seeking to lift the unofficial ban on "fracking."

What's so bad about that? "BSG" introduced us to "frak" as a charming, censor-skirting expletive and substitute for that other four-letter f-word. Nerds have since infiltrated pop culture with the term as an homage to the Syfy series -- and a way of being obscene without technically being obscene.

Well, as you might imagine, not all fraks are alike. The fracking being debated now (spelled with a "ck") is a nickname for hydraulic fracturing, a process that uses a combination of water, chemicals and sand to "drill" deep into the ground to break up rock and release natural gas.

The Times cites activists who say the process "threatens the cleanliness of groundwater" -- which might be why it's only legal in a handful of states and why the lift might be a big debate in the coming weeks.

Yikes. We're going to go out on a limb and say we prefer frak, if only for how versatile it is! If you're not familiar with the word, or the series, here's a helpful montage of all the time they use it in Season 1. (Spoiler alert: It's a lot.)