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List of exclamations used by Captain Haddock

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The comic book series featuring the reporter Tintin, by the Belgian artist Herge, is one of the most popular cartoon creations of the 20th Century, with as many as 100 million Tintin books in print. One of the secrets of its appeal is the cast of eccentric and charming personalities who surround the rather bland Tintin, providing much-needed comic relief. Chief among these colorful figures is Tintin's sidekick, the lovable curmudgeon Captain Haddock. The fearless Captain is game for every adventure, but is frequently nearly undone by his temper, or his drinking.

A particular trademark of Captain Haddock is his colourful exclamations that he hurls out every time he gets in a rage.

At the time Captain Haddock was first introduced, just before the Second World War, his manners presented a moral problem to Hergé. As a sailor, Haddock ought to have a very colourful language. Yet, as he was to appear in a Catholic children's magazine, he obviously was forbidden to use any swearwords. The solution came one night when Hergé overheard a political argument between two passers-by in the street. In the heat of the discussion one of the persons became so enraged that he lost his composure for a moment and started yelling at his companion "You... You... You peace-pamphlet yourselves". This was the solution Hergé sought: what if the captain would use strange or difficult words that were not offensive in themselves, but would hurl them out as if they were very strong cusswords...? (This would also add a comical note by portraying the captain as a pseudo-intellectual who loves to use difficult words without really knowing what they mean.)

The idea took form quickly and in his first anger-scene the captain storms towards a party of Bedouin raiders yelling expressions like 'Hydromeduse' (a form of jellyfish), 'troglodyte' (cave-dweller) and 'ectoplasm'. (The bedouins immediately take flight, but from the Foreign Legion appearing behind the captain's back.) The trick with the false swearwords proved successful and was a mainstay in future books. Consequently Hergé actively started collecting difficult or dirty-sounding words for use in the captain's next anger attacks and on occasion even searched dictionaries to come up with inspiration. This went so far that in the end Hergé started to resemble Haddock in using words (at least in his writings)- he only half understood himself.

On one occasion however the scheme backfired. In one particularly angry state, Hergé had the captain yell the 'cussword' Pneumothorax (an inflatable ring placed inside the windpipe of tuberculosis patients to help them keep their airflow, 1930s-style medicine). One week after the scene appeared in Tintin Magazine, Hergé received a letter from a father whose boy was a great fan of Tintin, but also was a heavy tuberculosis sufferer and had precisely such a pneumothorax inserted. According to the letter, the boy was devastated that his favorite comic made fun of his own condition. Afterwards it turned out that the letter was a fake written and planted by Hergé's own studio workers (one source mentions Bob de Moor) and when this came out soft-spoken Hergé was just as devastated by his 'betrayal' as the boy of the letter allegedly was.

This page lists almost all of the exclamations used by Captain Haddock as curses and insults in the translated, English version of Hergé's Tintin series (with definitions where possible).

Contents

Basic alliterative oaths

On various occasions

The Secret of the Unicorn

When

The Red Sea Sharks

With the aid of a megaphone, towards a slave-buyer

The Shooting Star

After almost colliding with a ship

After finding out why his ship can't refuel

Sent in a

Tintin in Tibet

Toward the Yeti

The Crab with the Golden Claws

In pursuit of bandits who shot his bottle of rum

In the crook's hideout, drunk on wine fumes

As he chases a black criminal, brandishing a wine bottle

The Castafiore Emerald

After being bitten by a parrot

Upon hearing of his engagement to Castafiore

The Seven Crystal Balls

After being accidentally picked up by a winch at the docks

After kicking a hat with a brick hidden under it

Prisoners of the Sun

To a condor which attacked Tintin

To an

To the Incas who try to capture the Captain and Tintin

Destination Moon

After being accidentally sprayed with mineral water

After having been sprayed with foam by a fireman

Upon hearing about how Tintin got shot

After a truck he is leaning against unexpectedly pulls away

To Professor Calculus suffering from amnesia

See also

External links

The Adventures of Tintin
Main characters · Supporting characters · Books · Film and television · Miscellany

 

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