Blue blistering barnacles, what is Captain Haddock saying?


For those who might not be familiar with the series
[Tintin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin) (soon to be in
a [major motion picture](http://www.us.movie.tintin.com/), by the way), there
is a character named [Captain
Haddock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Haddock) who is famous for
shouting out colourful exclamations when he gets upset.

His signature exclamation when he's surprised or angry is "Blue blistering
barnacles!". At least, that's what it is in English. I don't know what the
original French would be. In any case, it's just sort of an arbitrary thing to
shout.

In Japanese, his trademark exclamation is made into `「コンコンニャローのバーロー岬！」`.

![Captain Haddock in Japanese](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LFILV.jpg)

_(In the panel above, he is looking at a ship in the harbour, and the ship has
raised a flag saying it is in quarantine, and he's just shouting his surprise,
the same way one would yell "Oh no!" or something like that.)_

This is obviously not a direct translation of the English (or the French, I
assume), and I know it's just an equivalently arbitrary colourful thing to
say. However, I'm struggling to parse exactly what he is saying.

I know the last `バーロー` is probably just a katakanization of the name "Barlow",
and `岬【みさき】` is "cape," as in the coastal geographical feature. So it ends on
"Cape Barlow".

I'm thinking the `コンニャロー` is an abbreviated `この野郎【このやろう】`, which translates to
something like "you rascal", or worse, [depending on how severe you think the
context is](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2118/is-there-an-
equivalent-to-george-carlins-seven-dirty-words-in-japanese).

The first `コン` really throws me. I don't think it's just a stutter, because he
says it this way each and every time. Even in some other cases where he does
clearly stutter, this repetition is still preserved.

The use of `の` throws me a bit too, as I [struggle a bit with the use of `の`
in general](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2943/or).

I can't make it come together. What is he shouting?




As you said, コンニャロー is abbreviated この野郎, which means “you bastard.” バーロー is
abbreviation of ばか野郎, “you fool” or something. In this case, probably neither
of them is directed to any specific person, but both are used just as general
phrases for expressing frustration or anger.

Other parts do not have any meaning. Huh?

Well, バーロー岬 is a pun of バーロー and バロー岬 ([Point
Barrow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Barrow), the northenmost point of
the US). But obviously Point Barrow has nothing to do with this exclamation.

コンコン might refer to yelping of a fox, but it is unclear what it refers to
because anyway it has no reason to refer to anything here.

I do not know what の signifies here, but it definitely sounds more natural to
me than コンコンニャローがバーロー岬 or other particles. I cannot explain why. (I did not
know _Les Aventures de Tintin_ , so it is very unlikely that I prefer の just
because it is used in the story.)

If you listen to the rhythm, コンコンニャローのバーロー岬 is made of four parts: コンコン (4
morae), ニャローの (4 morae), バーロー (4 morae), みさき (3 morae). This is considered as
a rhythmical phrase. In Japanese, a block of two or four chunks of four morae
is often considered rhythmical, and the first and/or last block can have one
less mora. So, while neither コンコン nor 岬 has any specific meaning, they are
there to make the whole phrase to roll off the tongue.




As you said, コンニャロー is abbreviated この野郎, which means “you bastard.” バーロー is
abbreviation of ばか野郎, “you fool” or something. In this case, probably neither
of them is directed to any specific person, but both are used just as general
phrases for expressing frustration or anger.

Other parts do not have any meaning. Huh?

Well, バーロー岬 is a pun of バーロー and バロー岬 ([Point
Barrow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Barrow), the northenmost point of
the US). But obviously Point Barrow has nothing to do with this exclamation.

コンコン might refer to yelping of a fox, but it is unclear what it refers to
because anyway it has no reason to refer to anything here.

I do not know what の signifies here, but it definitely sounds more natural to
me than コンコンニャローがバーロー岬 or other particles. I cannot explain why. (I did not
know _Les Aventures de Tintin_ , so it is very unlikely that I prefer の just
because it is used in the story.)

If you listen to the rhythm, コンコンニャローのバーロー岬 is made of four parts: コンコン (4
morae), ニャローの (4 morae), バーロー (4 morae), みさき (3 morae). This is considered as
a rhythmical phrase. In Japanese, a block of two or four chunks of four morae
is often considered rhythmical, and the first and/or last block can have one
less mora. So, while neither コンコン nor 岬 has any specific meaning, they are
there to make the whole phrase to roll off the tongue.

