Tonnerre de Brest !
Meaning: An exclamation of astonishment or annoyance.
Language: French
Literally: Thunder of Brest!
Category: The Absurd
Origin: Brest's arsenal fired a cannon to signal an escaped convict from the naval prison, a bang heard across the whole town. Hergé put it in Captain Haddock's mouth and secured it for good.
More idioms — The Absurd
- En voiture, Simone ! — Right then, off we go.
- Ça ne casse pas trois pattes à un canard — It's nothing special or impressive.
- C'est comme pisser dans un violon — A completely pointless effort.
- Da steppt der Bär — It's going to be a great party.
- Ich glaub mein Schwein pfeift — I can't believe it! That's outrageous!
- Estar como una cabra — To be completely crazy.
More French idioms
- Une tempête dans un verre d'eau — A great commotion over something trivial.
- Contre vents et marées — In the face of every obstacle.
- Autant en emporte le vent — Said of promises and words that will come to nothing.
- Aller à vau-l'eau — To fall into ruin; to drift towards collapse.
- Se mettre au vert — To retreat to the countryside to rest or lie low.
- Une volée de bois vert — A severe and public dressing-down.
From our tongue twisters
- Seize chaises sèches sur seize arches sèches. — A relentless collision of 'sei', 'sèch', and 's' — the tongue can't find traction.
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
Loading the full interactive collection…