It is actually odd that whales never reappear in any way since they are clearly in contact with other aliens. Shouldn’t they join the Federation or something?

the other half

sentient shells?

Yes in IV he attempts to adopt period-specific profanities to better blend into the 20th century. This is also why he has the headband: to hide his Vulcan ears from people who’ve never seen an alien. However in typical strict-logic fashion, he applies the profane modifiers and emphases arbitrarily, to great comic effect. There is no meme here, this is direct out of the film’s script.

Of course I do. Hell. 🖖

Its a place to go, right?

Yes I once referred to the engineers on my team at work as “my engineers” in a conversation and someone got greatly offended by that, as if I was saying I owned them, though that was far from my intended meaning. “They are not the hell your engineers.”

“What’s up, my whales?!”

Yeah, but she says that they are Her whales in Her tank