Blasted cannon and Captain Haddock

This week’s intriguing idiom is the expression of annoyance, “Tonnerre de Brest!” that was made famous by Captain Haddock, from Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin.

Literally translated as “Brest thunder”, the phrase had previously featured in Apollinaire’s racy volume Les onze mille verges (The 11 thousand rods, 1907), but where did it come from?

As is often the case with idioms rooted in French society, there are conflicting stories.

What is known for certain is that it refers to the sound of cannon fire booming around the Breton sea port. One story is that a cannon was fired whenever someone escaped from police custody; informing locals that a criminal was on the loose and that a reward could be earned by recapturing him. However, there would need to have been a lot of criminals escaping for the accompanying din of cannon fire to get under residents’ skin.

Another claim is that the sound of cannon came from the Ile d’Ouessant guarding Brest to warn the port’s garrison of an approaching vessel or fleet from ‘Perfidious Albion’ – the invading British.

Most likely, say historians, is the story that a cannon shot was fired at 7.00 and 19.00 every day to announce the opening and closure of the town’s 17th century arsenal. This is more likely to have irritated local residents with its regularity and given rise to the expression of annoyance still used by narked French people to this day.