Tintin Forums

Tintinologist.org Forums / Curious about Tintin? (Non-album specific) /

Snowy: Why "Woah!" and not "Woof!"...?

Page  Page 2 of 3:  « Previous  1  2  3  Next » 

maximus
Member
#11 · Posted: 22 Dec 2004 06:54
Hi All,

I guess there's nothing to do with the language when it comes to Snowy's barking. What I feel is, to preserve the originality and accuracy, Hergé quoted Snowy's barking as "Woah". This is not surprising as small dogs like Snowy never sound like "Woof... Woof". The examples are evident: Doberman, German Shepard, Labrador... these dogs bark as "Woof... Woof". But small dogs like Pomeranian dogs sound like Snowy does (Woah).

As a proof, Hergé quotes other large dogs' barking in the series as "Woof... Woof" (Black Island [Page 14, 5th frame], The Secret of 'The Unicorn' [Page 49, 6th frame]). All these dogs are either Dalmatian or Great Danes or any other "big" breed of dogs.

Hence, I think Herge quoted Snowy's barking as "Woah... Woah" everywhere, since Snowy is supposed to belong to 'small dogs' breed. Once again, good work by Herge!

Cheers,
Maximus
Harrock n roll
Moderator
#12 · Posted: 22 Dec 2004 12:27
Hi Maximus,

I'd put it down to the English translators retaining Snowy's (Milou's) original bark in French rather than Hergé. "Woah" (pronounced wow-ah) is really "woof" in French.

I don't know why the English translators left it but I'm glad they did as it has a certain "je ne sais quoi" :)

P.S. The French version of The Black Island has the big dog barking "Haw! Haw!" which proves your point in a way.
Tintin Quiz
Member
#13 · Posted: 7 May 2006 00:46
Here's a page on my site with comedian Eddie Izzard discussing Snowy's bark:
Scroll to Answer 37.
weiss
Member
#14 · Posted: 7 May 2006 22:08
In Turkish, it is "hav hav", and surprisingly it is same as Hebrew...!

Sometimes he says "hev hev", e.g. when beaten or running in terror, crying - like when bitten by the mosquitoes in Tintin in the Congo.
Jelsemium
Member
#15 · Posted: 18 Oct 2011 05:28
Frankymole:
A dog's bark doesn't normally sound like a baby so how did Hergé get away with this scene?

Actually, I have heard sounds from the neighbors and can't tell if it's their baby or their dog.
TheSarge
Member
#16 · Posted: 23 Nov 2011 11:06
Interesting - it was "woah" when I was reading them here in the States back in the early 70's. I always assumed it was pronounced "woe-ah" - miles from any sound I've ever heard a dog make.

My Rhodie/catahula mix, when not conversationally vocalizing, usually produces a low bass "urrrOOF rrrroof-oof-OOF!" while our elder chihuahua is more of an alto "urrrARK" (the leading urrrr obviously being a growl), and the younger chihuahua and the Lhasa/shitzu produce a fairly clean "ARK!" (with no leading consonant sound). Our previous chihuahua, when he was in rapid rabid snappy mode with the cats, used to make a sound not unlike a murloc from World of Warcraft.
Jelsemium
Member
#17 · Posted: 7 Dec 2011 03:05
I thought Snowy's vocalizations were interesting in Flight 714. To be precise, the part where Snowy finds Tintin and the others. The sound he's making is NNN NNN! I think he's saying "Tintin!"
snowybella
Member
#18 · Posted: 10 Jan 2019 06:24
In the Korean edition of Shooting Star, at least, Snowy says "Mong! Mong!", which is the Korean for "woof, woof".

Seems like the English version is the only translation where Snowy doesn't say "woof, woof"!
RicardoOlcese
Member
#19 · Posted: 10 Jan 2019 14:45
snowybella
I am glad it says "Mong! Mong!" instead of "Gegol! Gegol!". (Sorry, you get the joke if you're Korean, which I don't know if it's the case).

In Spanish it says "Guau!". But yes, he doesn't bark very often. One example is Flight 714, p. 50. Also Calculus Affair, p. 23.

I... I... must confess... I don't like dogs much. And I don't like Snowy at all. He's loyal, kind, clever, he's better than the average human. And his superhumanity is what makes it, in my opinion, too unrealistic. What that would be the topic of another thread ...
snowybella
Member
#20 · Posted: 12 Jan 2019 00:21
In the Korean version of Soviets, when Tintin and Snowy are imprisoned in Germany, Snowy growls: "Ooloolung..."

Later on, when Tintin is pretending to be dead, Snowy howls: "Oooooo"

RicardoOlcese

RicardoOlcese:
"Gegol! Gegol!"

Ho ho ho! :) (to other Tintinologists: "gegol, gegol" is "croak, croak" - the sound frogs make)

RicardoOlcese:
I don't like Snowy

There is a thread on that topic, here. Personally, I like Snowy very much - he's my favourite character - but I see what you mean by the superhuman qualities.

Page  Page 2 of 3:  « Previous  1  2  3  Next » 

Please be sure to familiarize yourself with the Forum Posting Guidelines.

Disclaimer: Tintinologist.org assumes no responsibility for any content you post to the forums/web site. Staff reserve the right to remove any submitted content which they deem in breach of Tintinologist.org's Terms of Use. If you spot anything on Tintinologist.org that you think is inappropriate, please alert the moderation team. Sometimes things slip through, but we will always act swiftly to remove unauthorised material.

Reply

 Forgot password
Please log in to post. No account? Create one!