Tintin Forums

Hi All,

I spotted some time ago a very funny joke on page 56 (when the old hand-written "Hyslop" text was in place).

When they mention Tintin suspects him of being a drug runner (p.56), Thompson refers to Ben Salaad as "Mr Salad (not "Salaad")!

I always took the "mispelled" name to be for the purposes of a joke, albeit a very clever one... salad dish... get it???
It's a pun on his actual name, similar to what Bianca always does when she gets the Captain's name wrong.

Now, in the new digital-font editions, this spelling has been changed (I guess correctly?) to "Mr Salaad".

This poses some questions for discussion:

1. Was the original Hyslop text incorrect for the old editions?
2. Was this an actual joke, or am I reading too much into this?
3. Has the new edition make a mistake changing the text, thinking "Salad" was a misprint, when it was in fact deliberate?

I would be very interested in hearing opinions from members who have read non-English versions - do they use a version of the "Salaad"/ "salad" joke, which would show that the new text is wrong in English?

For me, a very clever joke has now disappeared from the adventures, but as I said before maybe I'm reading too much into it here.

What are your thoughts?

Rod :)

I think Rod's third guess is most likely the correct answer: that whoever was typing in the text using the new digital font (possibly not someone very knowledgeable, experienced or bright) thought they'd spotted a mistake in the original hand-lettered text and thought they were correcting it.

You are quite correct Rod, I never noticed the play on salad/ Salaad - thanks for pointing it out.
In the French facsimile one of the Thom(p)sons refers to him as "Monsieur Salade" instead of "Salaad", so the English translators were merely being faithful to the original intention.

Just to add to this discussion, the Dutch version currently being sold also has "Meneer Salade", i.e. "Mister Salad" so the joke hasn't been altered in that version.

Even if it is just a mistake from the copyist, it's still very much a pity that the joke isn't there any more...