Talk:Thomson and Thompson

First Appearance of Thomson and Thompson
Don't they first appear in the first panel of "Tintin au Congo"? Or are those just two people who look like Thomson and Thompson? (24.57.9.7 (talk) 18:54, 21 April 2012 (UTC))

Pronunciation
I'm not a native French speaker, but I'm pretty sure that there's a very slight but audible difference between 'Dupond' and 'Dupont.' In both cases, the final consonant is silent, but the sound of the 'o' is slightly different. Can anyone confirm either way? Saagpaneer (talk) 21:49, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
 * No, Dupont and Dupond are pronounced exactly the same. The 'n' modifies the 'o' while the 't' and 'd' are both silent.  Mezigue (talk) 23:18, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for providing this information. Saagpaneer (talk) 02:42, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

How do we know that they are not twins?


 * I don't think it'd gone into either way, so its just phrased this was to describe them but not tread on shaky ground. 68.39.174.238 16:55, 16 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Which means?

It should be worth mentioning, that the detectives work for the belgian Sureté de l'Etat. Refer to page 7 of Land of Black Gold, where they receive a call from Joubert (Jebb in the english translation).--84.230.74.143 12:39, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Don't Thompson and Thomson appear on the platform of the train station in Tintin in the Congo? I don't have the book myself, but I think they say something like, "That's the one; a young reporter...blah blah blah". Not quite sure though...89.50.36.130 16:01, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

The list of Thomson/Thompson translations includes Latin. Why would they translate it into Latin? Is that a mistake?86.2.240.139 (talk) 23:05, 31 July 2008 (UTC)


 * As with Asterix, at least two TinTin novels have been translated into Latin, partly as a teaching aid for Latin learners.Peterbruells (talk) 16:29, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Names + relation
Hey I have the Portuguese versions of the books (which calls them by the original names, Dupond & Dupont), and in one of the books Tintin calls them collectivelly by "the Dupondt", combining the d with the t (note that this isn't any grammatic rule from the Portuguese language. For the plural, they'd probably be called "os Dupons").

Plus I've read in a magazine with character profiles that they aren't twins, they're not even related, they're simply colleagues. - --Midasminus (talk) 17:32, 12 October 2008 (UTC)


 * dupondt occurs in the original French. Stikko (talk) 23:58, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Hergé explicitly calls them brothers twice in the original French text: Once in "Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge" on p. 53 where Haddock says "Et les frères siamois, où sont-ils?" (frères siamois translates to siamese twin brothers); and once in "Objectif Lune" on p. 18 where Milou says "Entrée sensationelle des Dupondt Brothers". 2001:18C0:9C7:8400:0:0:0:3D9C (talk) 14:10, 13 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Regarding names, Hergé's own father and uncle (identical twins upon which Dupond and Dupont were based) themselves received the surname from their mother's side of the family; there's no reason the two Dupondt could not have changed one or both of their names. That's in addition to the question of naming conventions in the series in the first place - along with Tintin himself, there's never a distinction between a given name or a surname.
 * There really should be no debate. Hergé went to great lengths to draw these two characters in perfectly mirrored poses with identical mannerisms. 2001:18C0:9C7:8400:0:0:0:3D9C (talk) 14:37, 13 June 2023 (UTC)

Chirality
Is Thompson left-handed and Thomson right-handed? Stikko (talk) 23:58, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Apparently, from what I could see, they both are right-handed. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 11:38, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Found a great image for proof. In "The Broken Ear", on the fourth panel on the second page, the constables are taking notes, both holding a notepad in their left hand, and a pencil in their right. Best evidence I've found, so far. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 01:59, 4 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, Cigars of the Pharaoh, pg. 19-20, 24; the constables are carrying their guns in their right hands, Destination Moon pg. 25; guns in right hands, King Ottokar's Sceptre pg. 43, the constables are throwing a twig with their right hands. I rest my case. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 02:32, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Thomson and Thompson in Indonesian
I have the Indonesian translation. They have the English names Thomson and Thompson, instead of Dupont and Dupond. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Farhan386 (talk • contribs) 19:11, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Twins
"While the two are apparently not related as they have different surnames, they are twice referred to as twins or brothers in the original language version of the series."

They're referred to as twins in the English translation as well - on p. 53, frame 7 of Red Rackham's Treasure and p. 18, frame 15 of Destination Moon. Wcp07 (talk) 08:55, 30 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Isn't it Haddock calling them that derisively? I remember that someone even calls them "Siamese twins" in one panel, which obviously they are not either. Mezigue (talk) 09:07, 30 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree. It sounds like sarcasm. 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 19:24, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I think their full names are Thompson Thompson and Thomson Thompson - parents gave them similar names, but made a slight variation on the spelling, to distinguish one from the other - their collective surname is Thompson (with a P) and they have their surname as their first name, but Thomson has the P missing - my theory, anyway!

Arthurvasey (talk) 23:29, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

Accompanying cartoon
The article is called Thomson and Thompson as is the heading over the cartoon ilustrating the two characters. Atl least in my experience one usually identifies people or characters in a tableau starting with the individual at the far left and moving from left to right. From how the article describes the two, Thompson is the character on the left  while Thomson is on the right.

66.130.23.85 (talk) 23:23, 18 August 2012 (UTC)rb66.130.23.85 (talk) 23:23, 18 August 2012 (UTC)

I just noticed the same thing and came to Talk to see if there is a history. I can find some references agreeing with the picture but nothing conclusive - this might be copied from Wikipedia. Mtpaley (talk) 20:04, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Repeat paragraphs
In the Character history section, paragraph two is repeated (not verbatim) five paragraphs later. – Kerαu noςco pia ◁ gala xies 21:25, 25 October 2014 (UTC)
 * User:Keraunoscopia, please delete it, then. The entire article needs to be rewritten. Cheers. Prhartcom (talk) 13:56, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

Whom thought to needlessly rename their lastnames from Dupond and Dupont to Thomson and Thompson?
and why, seeing as there was already the Tin Tin character called Allan Thompson. Seems all rather needless and befuddling. Makes one wonder why. Maybe the Tin Tin English translators were Americans and got somehow mislead by the bowler-hatted English city gent look Dupond and Dupont (for somewhy) wore(?). D&D are not even said to be British in the English translations. The re-lastnaming all seems everso needless. Again, WHY? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7D:21B:D600:226:8FF:FEDC:FD74 (talk) 10:40, 8 July 2016 (UTC)
 * The character is called Tintin, not Tin Tin, and the word you want to use here is "who", not "whom". The translation process for the Adventures of Tintin is described at The_Adventures_of_Tintin and it seems your speculation is quite wrong.  Please keep in mind that those talk pages on Wikipedia are for discussing improvements on the article rather than the topic itself.  All the best. Mezigue (talk) 12:12, 8 July 2016 (UTC)
 * Because the purpose of translation here is to translate the joke to achieve the same effect, which is more important than preserving the original names. The original names would not register as common names, nor as homophones, to most English-speaking children. 'Thomson' and 'Thompson' would. The same is true of, e.g., many Asterix characters: the name of the dog Idéfix is 'Dogmatix' in the English translation, which switches an expression far less familiar to English speakers ('idée fixe') for an ordinary English word with a related meaning ('dogmatic') that also adds an extra pun ('dog'). 2603:7000:2BF0:4970:64EE:EFF3:4139:A3F (talk) 06:09, 1 March 2024 (UTC)

জনসন and রনসন
This is English Wikipedia, so we cannot rely on readers' ability to read Devanagari; indeed, if this reader is taken as typical, the opposite should be inferred. Even the Arabic versions of these characters are transliterated into Roman lettering; can we not please do the same for Bengali?

Nuttyskin (talk) 21:03, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Cottin pic
I found the Le Miroir pic at « Un attentat contre M. Clemenceau » (cropped) and Abebooks (cropped with watermark) and Gallica. Can somebody find a good pic, check the copyright expiry and add it to Commons? --Error (talk) 14:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
 * See Gallica. --Error (talk) 14:56, 12 June 2020 (UTC)