Tintin Forums

Kurvi-Tasch clearly has a curvy moustache.
Take away the "mous" from "curvy moustache" and you get
"curvy-tache". Sounds like Kurvi-Tasch, doesn't it?
Well, a lot of Bordurian is basically word play. "Sztopp" sounds like stop, Kronick and Klumsi sound like chronic and clumsy, Szhrinkoff sounds like "shrink off", etc., etc.
Post.

You've got that right for the English translations! They're probably different in the French though.

A lot of the Syldavian names that appear are similar -- my favourite has to be Wiskitotz from King Ottokar's Sceptre.

Paul

The French name for Kurvi-Tasch is Pleszky-Gladz.
Besides, I got King Ottokar's Sceptre today.

miloumuttmitt
The French name for Kurvi-Tasch is Pleszky-Gladz.

Yes, it sounds like plexiglass.

-Gustav

The Hotel Zsnorr is originally named the Hotel Sznorr by the officer in the airport; what's going on there?

A lot of Bordurian in incredibly transparent. Syldavian's less apparent, so it's a lot better.

I once saw someone's website with a "guide to characters", where Szhrinkoff's first name was listed as "Herr" (lol!); then the person had wrote "why do they refer to him as Stefan?"

It's the same with the language used by the Rumbabas in both The Broken Ear and Tintin and the Picaros - it looks like a made up language, but if you try to pronounce it, it is actually English but with a London Cockney accent.

For example: "Ahw wada lu'vali bahn chaco conats!" on p.50 of The Broken Ear means "Oh, what a lovely bunch of coconuts!"

Moderator Note: Hi, and welcome to the forums! You’re right that Michael Turner gave the Arumbaya (rather than Rumbaba) language a Cockney twist - there’s a discussion of it here.
You might also like to read the article Arumbabya Explained by Andrew Pilcher from our articles section.