humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

Offramp wrote:
> I don't think that damned has ever been considered much of an
> expletive in Britain. I have never heard or seen it edited out
> anywhere.

"Damme!" (i.e., "Damn me!") was not omitted in Victorian all-child
productions of "H. M. S. Pinafore". However, it is worth noting that
Lewis Carroll was shocked by it. Compare that to how Gilbert felt
himself compelled to alter his original title "Ruddygore" by a single
letter, though complaining, "...I suppose you'll take it that if I say
'I admire your ruddy countenance,' I mean 'I like your bloody cheek.'"
--
John W. Kennedy
"You can, if you wish, class all science-fiction together; but it is
about as perceptive as classing the works of Ballantyne, Conrad and W.
W. Jacobs together as the 'sea-story' and then criticizing _that_."
-- C. S. Lewis. "An Experiment in Criticism"