*Originally posted by kabbes *
jr8 , in my copy it’s the most gratuitous use of the word “fuck” in a screenplay. Where has this Belgium thing come from?
pan **
Change for the American press. Personally, I think it adds a slightly improved dimension to the story.
This is what my copy says:
ARTHUR: Can’t be much more unspeakable than this lot.
NARRATOR: In today’s modern Galaxy there is of course very little still held to be unspeakable. Many words and expressions which only a matter of decades ago were considered so distastefully explicit that, were they merely to be breathed in public, the perpetrator would be shunned, barred from polite society, and in extreme cases shot through the lungs, are now thought to be very healthy and proper, and their use in everyday speech and writing is seen as evidence of a well-adjusted, relaxed and totally un**(Beep)**ed-up personality.
So, for instance, when in a recent national speech the Financial Minister of the Royal World Estate of Quarlvista actually dared to say that due to one thing and another and the fact that no one had made any food for a while and the king seemed to have died and most of the population had been on holiday now for over three years, the economy was now in what he called “one whole joojooflop situation,” everyone was so pleased that he felt able to come out and say it that they quite failed to note that their entire five-thousand-year-old civilization had just collapsed overnight.
But even though words like joojooflop, swut, and turlingdrome are now perfectly acceptable in common usage there is one word that is still beyond the pale. The concept it embodies is so revolting that the publication or broadcast of the word is utterly forbidden in all parts of the Galaxy except **one where they don’t know what it means. That word is ‘belgium’ and it is only ever used by loose tongued people like Zaphod Beeblebrox in situations of dire provocation. Such as…
FORD: And I’ll tell you another interesting thing…
ZAPHOD: I don’t want to be Interested! I don’t want to be stimulated or relaxed or have my horizons broadened, I want to be rescued Ford, I just want to be swutting well rescued!**
jjimm
May 29, 2003, 1:19pm
123
What is it, 5 years to qualify for citizenship?
Gyrate
May 29, 2003, 1:34pm
124
Yup. See here for other differences between teh UK and US editions.
So Wowbagger says “You’re a jerk, Dent, a complete kneebiter ”?
Fuck me.
elfje
May 29, 2003, 1:50pm
126
Well, 5 years to be able to apply. Dunno if i’ll qualify.
Aro
May 29, 2003, 2:38pm
127
Fecking foreign blow-ins invading the peace around here.
<old lady in Father Ted>“Bloody foreigners coming here, stealing our jobs and our wimmen. Them fecking Greeks are the worst. They invented gayness!”
elfje
May 29, 2003, 2:50pm
128
my charm and beauty only add to the loveliness of this little island
(naah, who am i kidding. So. I’ve no comeback for that one, so.hate it when that happens. )
kabbes
May 29, 2003, 2:53pm
129
Just read the differences webpage. Very interesting.
I prefer the original though. It has more punch.
pan
Gyrate
May 29, 2003, 3:04pm
130
Yup. Actually, I prefer the more creative insults to “shit” and “asshole”.**
Buy me a drink first, and I’ll consider it…
I’ve lost track of where you’re from jr8 . If you’re from the states, then:
You freakin’ Americans are too freakin’ literal, and you should lighten up.
Otherwise:
I’d be happy to buy you a beer, but the other is out of the question.
Gyrate
May 29, 2003, 4:10pm
132
As an American, I’m deeply offended by that remark.
jjimm
May 29, 2003, 4:14pm
133
As an Englishman, I’m stuck in a self-referential loop.
