Captain Haddock’s curses, insults and exclamations
In short: 219 of Captain Haddock’s curses, insults and exclamations, A to Z, with album references.
Also on this page: Haddock’s best-known oaths in the original French
A
- Aardvark!
- Abecedarians!
- Aborigine!
- Addle-pated lumps of anthracite!
- (old) Alcoholic!
- Anachronisms!
- Anacoluthons!
- Antediluvian bulldozer [Tibet p60 B2]!
- Anthracite!
- Anthropithecus!
- Anthropophagus!
- Arabian Nightmare!
- Artichokes!
- Autocrats!
- Aztecs!
B
- Baboons!
- Baby-snatchers!
- Bagpipers!
- Bald-headed budgerigar!
- Bandits!
- Bashi-bazouks!
- Bath-tub Admiral!
- Beast!
- Belemnite!
- Big-head [Tibet p35 B3]!
- Billions of blue blistering boiled and barbecued barnacles [The Seven Crystal Balls, p14, frame 10]!
- Billions of bilious barbecued blue blistering barnacles!
- Billions of Bilious Blue Blistering Barnacles!
- Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon [The Seven Crystal Balls]!
- Billions of blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon [Tintin in Tibet, p11, frame 3.]!
- Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles!
- Black beetles!
- Black Marketers!
- Blackamoor!
- Blackbird!
- Blackguards!
- Blithering Bombardier!
- Blistering Barnacles!
- Blistering blundering bird-brain [Prisoners p9 E4]!
- Bloodsuckers!
- Blue blistering barnacles!
- Blue Blistering Bell-Bottomed Balderdash!
- Blunderbuss!
- Bodysnatcher!
- Bootlegger!
- Borgia!
- Bougainvillea!
- Brat!
- Breathalyser!
- Brigands!
- Brontosaurus [Explorers p3 C4]!
- Brutes!
- Buccaneers!
- Bully!
- Butcher!
C
- Cachinnating cockatoo!
- Cannibals!
- Carpathian Bashi-bazouks [Calculus Affair, p42, frame D1.]!
- Carpetsellers!
- Caterpillars!
- Centipede!
- Cercopithecus!
- Certified Diplodocuses [Calculus Affair, p30]!
- Coconut [Crab p58 panel 5]!
- Coelacanth!
- Colocynths!
- Corsair!
- Cowards!
- Crabapples!
- Cro-Magnon!
- Crooks!
- Cushion footed quadrupeds!
- Cyclotron!
D
- Diplodocus!
- Dizzards [Unicorn p54 C1/frame 7]!
- Dogs!
- Doryphore!
- Doryphores!
- Duck-billed platypus!
- Dunderheaded coconuts!
- Dynamiter!
E
- Ectoplasms!
- Egoists!
F
- Fancy-dress Fascist!
- Fancy-dress Fatima!
- Fancy-dress freebooter [Unicorn p24 C1]!
- Fatfaces!
- Filibuster(s)!
- Four-legged Cyrano!
- Freshwater pirate [Unicorn p24 C1]!
- Freshwater swabs!
- Fuzzy wuzzy!
G
- Gallows-fodder!
- Gang of thieves!
- Gangsters!
- Gibbering anthropoids!
- Gibbering ghost [Red Rackham's Treasure]!
- Great flat-footed grizzly bear!
- Gobbledygook!
- Gogglers!
- Goosecaps!
- Guano-gatherers [Prisoners p9 A1]!
- Gyroscope!
H
- Harlequin!
- Heretic!
- Highwayman!
- Hydrocarbon!
I
- Iconoclasts!
- Idiots!
- ... you, Imitation Incas, you [Prisoners p47 B2]!
- You, interplanetary goat, you [Explorers on the Moon p62 C3]!
J
- Jellied eel!
- Jellyfish!
- Jobbernowl [Tibet p60 B2]!
K
- Kleptomaniacs!
- Koua Kouakouin Kouinkouin Koua Kouin Koua [Emerald p30 panel 8]!
L
- Lily-livered landlubbers!
- Liquorice [Crab p59 panel 2]!
- Loathsome brute!
- Logarithm!
- Lubberscum!
M
- Macrocephalic baboon!
- Megacycle [Tibet p60 B3]!
- Megacycle Pyromaniac!
- Mameluke!
- Miserable blundering barbecued blister!
- Miserable earth worms!
- Miserable miser!
- Miserable molecule of mildew!
- Misguided missiles!
- Mister Mule!
- Monopolizers!
- Monster!
- Morons!
- Moujiks!
- Mountebanks!
- Musical morons!
N
- Nanny Goat!
- Nincompoop!
- Nitwits!
- Nitwitted ninepins!
- Nyctalops!
O
- Odd-toed ungulate!
- Ophicleides!
- Orangoutang!
- Ostrogoth!
P
- Pachyrhizus!
- Parasites!
- Patagonians!
- Pestilential Pachyderm!
- Phylloxera!
- Pickled herrings!
- Pirates!
- Pithecanthropic mountebanks!
- Pithecanthropic pickpocket [Tibet p37 A3]!
- Pithecanthropus [Unicorn p24 C1]!
- Pockmarks!
- Politician!
- Poltroons!
- Polygraphs!
- Polynesian!
- Profiteers!
- Protoplasm!
- Psychopath!
- Puffed-up Punchinello [Picaros p10 D3/frame 12]!
- Purple profiteering jellyfish!
- Pyrographers!
- Pyromaniac!
R
- Raggle taggle ruminants!
- Rapscallion!
- Rats!
- Revenge [Crab p58 panel 4]!
- Rhizopods!
- RKRPXZKRMTFRZ!
- Road roller [Secret of the Unicorn]!
- Roadhogs!
S
- Saucy tramp!
- Savages!
- Scorpion!
- Sea-gherkin(s)!
- Sea-lice!
- Sea lion! [Prisoners p9, frame 6]
- Shipwreckers!
- Slave-trader!
- Slubberdegullions!
- Sparrows!
- Spitfire!
- Steamroller!
- Stoolpigeon!
- Subtropical sea-louse!
- Swine!
Note: Squawking popinjay - in The Secret of the Unicorn, on page 24, Captain Francis Haddock says it to Red Rackham--but since Captain Archibald Haddock is narrating this to Tintin, some one may say that it is one of his many curse words. Also, a parrot says it in Red Rackham's Treasure on page 29. [NAB]
T
- Technocrat!
- Ten thousand thundering typhoons!
- Terrapins!
- Terrorists!
- Thundering typhoons!
- Tin hatted tyrants!
- Toads!
- Toffee-noses!
- Traitors!
- Tramps!
- Tribe of Polynesians [Destination Moon p5 D1]!
- Troglodytes!
- Turncoats!
- Twister!
- Two-timing Tartar twisters [Calculus Affair, p42, frame D1.]!
- Two-timing Troglodytes!
U
Ungulate - see O for odd-toed ungulate
V
- Vandal!
- Vegetarian!
- Vermicellis!
- Viper!
- Visigoths!
- Vulture!
W
- Weevils!
- Whippersnapper!
- Wildcat!
- Woodlice!
Y
- Young monkey [Tibet p54 A4]!
Z
- Zapotecs!
In the original French
Hergé wrote Haddock’s outbursts in French. Here are a few of the best known, with their English versions and what they mean.
- Mille sabords ! – Blistering barnacles!
- Literally “a thousand gunports”. A sabord is the square opening in a ship’s side that a cannon fires through, and mille sabords is an old sailors’ oath.
- Mille millions de mille sabords ! – Billions of blue blistering barnacles!
- The same oath, multiplied: “a thousand million thousand gunports”.
- Tonnerre de Brest ! – Thundering typhoons!
- Literally “thunder of Brest”, the French naval port. The oath is older than Haddock, and nobody is sure where it comes from. The likeliest story is the cannon fired every morning and evening as Brest’s naval arsenal opened and closed; another is the cannon that announced escapes from the town’s penal colony.
- Sapristi !
- A mild, everyday oath for surprise, impatience or exasperation – something like “Good heavens!”. Saperlipopette ! is a playful variant of it.
Know the French for another of Haddock’s outbursts, or what one means? Add it to the Famous Tintin Phrases thread in the forum.
Did we miss one?
Contributions are welcome; please provide a reference for verification.
Trivia
Bashi bazouk - this term was originally applied in Turkey to non-uniformed soldiers. It literally means a savage and brutal ruffian, and was popularized by Captain Haddock. [Mit Chowdhury]
Doryphore - Latin for lance wielder or spear carrier, is defined both as a pedantic and annoyingly persistent critic. (Oxford English Dictionary), and, in the French Wikipedia page, a variety of the Colorado Potato Beetle (Doryphora decemlineata). [DA]
Credits
Originally compiled by Jesper Jühne, and expanded by Irene Mar. Contributions from Gustav Gullberg, Olivia Bloch, Matthew Vernon, Ishaan, Som, Neal Austin Bhandarkar, Bryan Woolfolk, Rinya Singh, Ed Shoemaker, Captain Chester (and brother), Georgia, cooldude123, zaveri_tintin, Joe Gooden, Sheldon Serrao, Christopher Damon, X, rishabh, Nicholas Walker, Michael Grover, Manoj Balraj, Sunday (sundaymarch1056), Vincent Thieu, Ivan Hanigan, Lukas (Zonater) Rizvi, David Arnson, Robert L Stewart, Nathan Everett, Tolkuna Salieva, Claudia Pramiasti, and Gopal Balasubramanian.
Sources for “In the original French”: Larousse dictionary; Dictionnaire de l’Académie française; Expressio.fr; Connexion magazine.
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