I can’t figure out what Patrick O’Brian is doing. Here are some quotes, from Desolation Island, although it happens in all the books I’ve ready.
And then there’s this:
And then…
So, given that O’Brian isn’t shy about spelling about profanity – what’s with the dashes? Why does he censor some speech and not others?
I’ve wondered the same thing. My WAG - there’s a different ‘hierarchy’ of swear words in the early 1800s. Perhaps “damn” is more unpleasant than “fuck” and hence more worthy of expurgation.
It could also be that O’Brien doesn’t want his characters swearing all the time, and just throws in the odd swearword for emphasis, leaving the rest dashed…
I never took the time to go all the way through and test my hypothesis, but could it/would it be related to the social class of the character speaking?
Looking at the quotes provided, it could also be related to the concept being related by the profanity: KIllick swears for color, but the Lafayette man expresses a (to some) blasphemous opinion.
I asked this same question some time back, and got no definitive answers. Someone suggested that perhaps it was the result of having had different editors.
I don’t believe the author intended that comment to be understood as blasphemy. I don’t believe the skipper was the least bit Popish.
I think Tracy Lord’s hypothesis has some merit. Other examples (that I must do from memory, as the book is not with me) from Cap’n Aubrey himself: he is unhappy that there are women on his ship (being transported to Australia) and when told that one of them is about to give birth, he replies “undoubtedly it’ll be another ______ woman.” On the other hand, Jack’s use of “damn” is spelled out on several occasions, which refutes Atticus Finch’s.
So captains and their children get dashes. Able seamen get spelled out.