Question: > 
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> [What does “Thundering typhoons” mean?](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/60801/what-does-thundering-typhoons-mean) 
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What does "you blue blistering barnacles" or "Billions of blue blistering barnacles" mean?

Answer: 
*Blistering barnacles* is a "euphemistic oath" used by [Captain Haddock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Haddock), a fictional character in [The Adventures of Tintin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin), who sometimes extends the alliteration to *"Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!"*, for example. 

It doesn't really "mean" anything, being just a made-up exclamation coined by the author ([Herge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herg%C3%A9)) so as not to offend anyone. But it'll have become much better known (effectively, a [catchphrase](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/catch+phrase)) since [Spielberg's animated film version](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Tintin_%28film%29) was released last year.
More specifically, barnacles are a kind of crustacean that lives on the bottom of ships and boats, and are usually considered vermin that get in the way of steering the boat. Captain Haddock, being a seaman, uses this as an expletive.