Do you remember the chase scene in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker race across Coruscant in pursuit of the assassin sent to kill Padmé Amidala?
The scene ends with the assassin, Zam Wessel, pinned down and finally ready to talk. For a moment, it looks like the mystery is about to be solved. Zam begins to reveal who hired her, and then she’s silenced by Jango Fett.
But before she dies, Zam says something else. A short line, spoken in an alien language:
“Wee shahnit… sleemo.”
Most viewers gloss over it. But those words aren’t random, and they aren’t meaningless. They’re Zam’s final message, aimed directly at the man who betrays her.
It Was Spoken in Huttese
Zam Wessel’s final words aren’t spoken in Basic. Instead, she switches to Huttese, a language deeply associated with the galaxy’s criminal underworld. It’s the common tongue of smugglers, bounty hunters, and crime syndicates operating outside the reach of the Republic.
Huttese is rarely used in moments of confession or plea. It’s practical, blunt, and often confrontational, a language meant to be understood quickly by people who live in that world. That makes its use in Zam’s final seconds stand out. Surrounded by Jedi, she chooses a language that doesn’t belong to them.
By speaking Huttese, Zam is no longer addressing Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker. She’s directing her words elsewhere, toward someone who would immediately recognize both the language and the intent behind it.
The Meaning Behind “Wee shahnit… sleemo.”
The phrase Zam Wesell uses is a short Huttese insult built from two parts. “Sleemo” shows up repeatedly across Star Wars as a slur—something you say when you genuinely hold someone in contempt. It’s basically the Huttese equivalent of “scum” or “slime,” and it’s not used as a casual joke.
You can hear it earlier in The Phantom Menace too. Before the podrace, Anakin calls Sebulba “sleemo.” And in the novelization of Episode I, the line is translated for us in plain Basic as: “Don’t count on it, slime face.”
The first part of the line, “wee shahnit,” is what gives the insult its tone. It doesn’t sound like a furious outburst. It’s more mocking, closer to a bitter sneer than outright anger.
In plain terms, the whole line comes across like “pathetic scum” or “you miserable slime.” So right before Wesell manages to spit out the clue Obi-Wan and Anakin are waiting for, and then dies seconds later, she’s basically cursing Jango Fett for setting her up.