Okay, this is the footnote from the original radio scripts, and clears up all this speculation and questioning of how it is everyone calls Ford by his Earth name, and not by his Betelgeusian one.
- Ford meeting Zaphod
- Many people have asked me angrily why it is that Zaphod Beeblebrox instantly greets Ford as Ford when I had stated quite clearly that he had only changed his name to Ford Prefect when he came to Earth. It was very simple. Just before arriving he registered his new name officially at the Galactic Nomenclaturoid Office, where they had the technology to unpick his old name from the fabric of space/time and thread the new one in its place, so that to all intents and purposes his name had always been and would always be Ford Prefect. I included a footnote explaining this in the first Hitch-Hiker book, but it was cut because it was so dull.
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- [Douglas Adams, Original Radio Series Scripts, p50]
Not that we want to encourage discussions about this, but one thing that's not explained is how Arthur can read the words "Don't Panic" written on the Hitchhiker's Guide that he is given by Ford. Go figure that (silently).