Roald Dahl’s children books ‘removed’ ‘offensive words’ like crazy and mad: Here’s why

Roald Dahl’s children books recently gets edited by Publisher Puffin Books to eliminate offensive words from the stories and use more “inclusive language”.

In a statement to The Telegraph, Puffin revealed that the changes were made in books like James and the Giant Peach, Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory so that they could be “enjoyed by all today”.

It is reported that the character Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will not be called as “fat” and is now described as “enormous”.

In the same story, the Oompa-Loompas are gender-neutral and no longer called as “small men” but are now “small people”.

Similarly, Miss Trunchbull, the villain in Matilda, would be called as “the most formidable woman” in place of “most formidable female”.

In addition, James and the Giant Peach had changes too especially when the Centipede sings, “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat/And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire/And dry as a bone, only drier.”

The revised versions now read, “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute/And deserved to be squashed by the fruit,” and, “Aunt Spiker was much of the same/And deserves half of the blame.”

The modifications were reportedly made by the Puffin in collaboration with the Roald Dahl Story Company, which is now owned by Netflix.

Meanwhile, words like crazy and mad were also modified in the light of mental health awareness.

Following the news, a few leading writers spoke out against this revision decision, calling it “alarming”.

In a statement released to CNN, the author's estate, the Roald Dahl Story Company, responded, “Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered.”