‘You just say what’s in your squanch’

Last year I shared a scene from Rick and Morty that contained a series of nonsense words like plumbus, schleem, and blamf. It was probably my least popular post in years. Undeterred, I’m featuring the show again. (I hadn’t seen it in November; now I have.)

In an episode called ‘The Wedding Squanchers’ we’re introduced to the cat-like character Squanchy on Planet Squanch and, more to the point, to the improbably versatile word squanch.

The word’s hyperpolysemy quickly becomes a running gag. Squanchy tells Rick his house party is squanchy and that he likes Rick’s squanch (style, I think). Then a specific verb use of squanch takes us into adult territory. Well, it is Adult Swim.

The (sfw) clip below shows the main characters arriving for the wedding and meeting Squanchy, whose ensquanché! is equivalent to French enchanté.

One of the group, Beth, is new to squanch, and Rick’s explanation (‘Squanchy culture is more contextual than literal – you just say what’s in your squanch, and people understand’) leads her horribly astray. The perils of unfamiliar foreign words:

The reference to ‘the smurf thing’ is explained here.