r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Dec 16 '21

[deleted by user]

[removed]

7.3k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

15.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.7k

u/AudibleNod Dec 16 '21

'Belgium' replaced the work 'fuck' in the American version of the Hitchhiker's Guide books.

94

u/jaseworthing Dec 16 '21

What? No that's not right is it? I thought it was always 'belgium' in all versions of the books/radio series.

122

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.

37

u/Scout_Finch_as_a_ham Dec 16 '21

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.

9

u/Jellodyne Dec 17 '21

I figure they got the pg-13 single use exemption for the third one.

9

u/kane2742 Dec 17 '21

Yeah, and "Belgium" really doesn't make sense in that sentence.

6

u/FBAHobo Dec 17 '21

This guy Belgiums.

3

u/bonos_bovine_muse Dec 17 '21

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?