Sunday, August 19, 2007

Hernández y Fernández

Or, if you prefer, Dupont & Dupond, Thomson & Thompson, دوپونت و دوپونت , Schultze & Schulze, Jansen & Janssen, Skapti & Skafti.



Yes, you've guessed it, it's our beloved pair of bumblers from the Tintin series. Why do they appear on my blog, I hear you ask? Well, because, for some unknown reason, Salamanca appears to have a love affair with Tintin, at least as far as the naming of restaurants and bars is concerned. There is not just one Tintin restaurant, but two:



as well as a bar named for the irascible Captain Haddock:

And, of course, a café called Hernández y Fernández, abbreviated as H'dez y F'dez.
Why this Salmantine obsession with the characters of Hervé? I have no idea. But it was something to blog about.
The widespread changing of "f" to "h" in Spanish (e.g. "faire" to "hacer", "fungus" to "hongo") is a whole 'nother linguistic kettle of fish, one to which I will return in a future post.

(Images in this post are illustrations of a character or characters in a comic book, video game, or animated television program or film. The copyright is most likely owned by either the publisher/producer and/or artist(s) producing the work in question. It is believed that the use of low-resolution images of character artwork, for commentary on the character or characters in question, qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. )

The plain people of Ireland: Here, what's this? You can't fool us. Our Farsi might be a bit rusty, but there's not a speck of difference between them two Persian names above.
The management: How very astute of you to notice. I had the same thought myself. But, truth be told, it was cut and pasted from the relevant Wikipedia article, so believe at your own risk.
The plain people of Ireland: Well, why didn't you explain that in the first place? Sure 'tis a known fact that them Wikipedia fellas are downright shifty.
The management: How sadly true.

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