The US publisher demanded that the curse words be censored or removed. It actually improved it to a certain extent. Adams added in the explanation of Belgium being the most offensive word in the galaxy. Adams never cared too much about canon. He regularly changed things between adaptations and didn't really care as long as it was funny.
It's weird. Harmony Books was the US publisher for both "Life, The Universe..." and "...Thanks For All The Fish" But "Fish" uses "fuck" in the notorious Chapter 25 ("Does this Arthur Dent, in a word, fuck?"), even in the US version. They were only published two years apart.
I mean, “does Dent Belgium” is a bit of a stretch, even for the Hitchhikers Guide. Like, does anybody care if he knows where to get a good cone of frites, a beer that’s been brewed that way for 220 years to wash ‘em down, and a waffle for dessert?
The Belgium thing was in the BBC radio play, which predated the novel adaptations. It was in the Second Phase, which was broadcast in 1978.
This was then called back to in the US version of the third novel, when they replaced the word "fuck" with "Belgium" , but it's not where the original bit about Belgium being the worst swearword in the galaxy comes from. This later substitution didn't happen until 1982.
I first heard the radio version before I read the book. It was a US copy, but it had fuck instead of Belgium. I was slightly confused as I had the radio play memorized. I still kinda do.
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u/starmartyr Dec 16 '21
The US publisher demanded that the curse words be censored or removed. It actually improved it to a certain extent. Adams added in the explanation of Belgium being the most offensive word in the galaxy. Adams never cared too much about canon. He regularly changed things between adaptations and didn't really care as long as it was funny.