How American delicacy turned Belgium into a dirty word

Because all the Americans I know tend to think that we ’re in a reform-minded , modern res publica , it sometimes surprises us to learn that other nation debate us fully grown ol’ prudes . And it ’s not just France ! Our delicate sensitivity have been provide to by the English in a maneuver that gave us one of the better unclean speech out there .

Anyone who has say more than oh , say , five of my pieces knows that I like me some Douglas Adams . I read the Hitchhiker ’s Guide to the Galaxy series when I was a kid and every few years I go back and register as much Adams as I can get my hands on . The amount varies depend on what subroutine library organization I ’m using and which books I ’ve land with me in my latest move . My hands - down preferred book of his is Life , the Universe , and Everything , which is not only pants - wettingly amusing , but a philosophically coherent look at the problems associated with populate in a macrocosm where time change of location exists . From the basic problem of hightail it into people again and again throughout clip to a facial expression at aesthetic integrity and how it can suffer if the artist gets retroactively racy and famous , it ’s both uproarious and bright .

So , understandably , that ’s one of the books that I ’ve carried around with me all the clip . I never begin to see a translation that was unlike from the one I flummox in America as a nestling . Recently , though , I nonplus the audio book , and listened to it as I fell at rest at night . That work , until I was rudely come alive by the use of the word “ ass . ”

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In the version I ’d been read for years , there ’s a view at a party . At this company , Arthur – the master fictional character of the serial publication – talks to a guy carrying a eldritch black bag , and the hombre disregard him . When he asks a char about the snubbing , she tell him that the bozo was carry an awarding , and wanted Arthur to inquire him about it . He asks what the prize was , and she reply that it ’s “ The Most gratis Use of the Word ‘ Belgium ’ in a Serious Screenplay . ” This confuses Arthur , and he taste to make polite conversation by ask if she ’s ever been to Belgium . This make a little uproar and she sound out that they need to confine that form of language to “ something artistic . ” Arthur remains disjointed , but the book explains the exchange to the lecturer :

In today ’s modernistic Galaxy there is of trend very little still bind to be unspeakable . Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so disgustingly expressed that , were they merely to be breathed in public , the perpetrator would be shunned , barred from civil society , and in extreme cases shot through the lung , are now thought to be very levelheaded and right , and their use in casual speech and piece of writing is seen as grounds of a well - adjusted , relaxed and all un****ed - up personality . . . . But even though word like “ joojooflop , ” “ swut , ” and “ turlingdrome ” are now perfectly acceptable in vulgar usance there is one Son that is still beyond the picket . The construct it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is absolutely forbidden in all parts of the Galaxy except for function in Serious screenplays .

There is also , or was , one planet where they did n’t bang what it think , the stupid turlingdromes .

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In the British interpretation , the girl just say that accolade was for the most gratuitous use of the news “ fuck ” in a serious screenplay , and the conversation went on from there . That ’s what I heard as I was peacefully drifting off , seek to woolgather about baseball and orchard apple tree pie and how good cherry-red , white , and drear wait together . After I had leap out of layer and found some pearls to clutch , I checked online to see what the story behind this ear - defile remainder was . Robert Adam ’ American publishers thought that the speech was too jumpy , and insisted on the passage taken out . They also asked Adams to take out two uses of the word “ asshole , ” and one use of the Book “ shit . ” Adams replaced “ asshole ” with “ kneebiter , ” and “ ca-ca , ” with “ swut , ” but he best himself when replacing the word “ fuck . ” The passageway was so popular that it make “ Belgium ” to be a frak - like fake dirty word in some circles .

The total incident leaves me with sundry touch . I do n’t care security review , but there ’s no denying that the Belgium passageway is peculiar , particularly with the embroidery that Adams added to make it primed . If we got that tier of melioration every fourth dimension we denied people the power to swear in graphics , think the poppycock we ’d have gotten out of Scorsese . Still , I speculate we ca n’t expect Belgique - level improvisation every metre .

Swut .

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