Piotr Skut
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Piotr Skut (Piotr Szut) is a character from The Adventures of Tintin series of classic comic books drawn and written by Hergé. He is an eyepatch-wearing Estonian pilot and radio expert, who appears in two albums: The Red Sea Sharks and Flight 714.
The surname Skut (or Szut) does not, however, seem to be Estonian. The closest spelling to Estonian should be Sütt. This is because of a pun: when he first meets Tintin and Captain Haddock, he is captured by them and the Captain asks his name. He says Szut, which sounds like the French word "zut", which is roughly translated as "damn". The captain thinks he is insulting him, before he tells him that it's his name. In the English version, he pronounces his name like "scoot", leading the Captain to think he's being told to get lost.
In other language versions, the name is likewise changed:
- Dutch: Piotr Stíc - "stik" = "Choke (on it)!"
- Finnish: Pjotr Pahk - "pah" = "Bah!"
- German: Pjotr Klap - "Klappe!" = "Shut up!"
- Spanish: Piotr Pst - "pst" = onomatopoeia meaning "I don't care!"
- Portuguese: Piotr Xyssa - "chiça" = "My foot!" or "The devil!"
- Danish: Piotr Schyyh - "sch" = onomatopoeia meaning "Shush!"
- Swedish: Piotr Szut
- Icelandic: Úffi - "úff" = "Sigh", indicating that Haddock bores him.
- Turkish: Piotr Suss - "Sus" = "Shut up!"
Skut's first name, Piotr, is a Russian or Polish form of Peter. Thus, this character's name might be better rendered in Estonian as Peeter Sütt.
Skut is initially a mercenary pilot trying to kill Tintin and Haddock on behalf of the Khemed government, but when his plane is shot down, and the heroes generously rescue their would-be assailant, he becomes an ally. He has retired to a life of commercial piloting by the time Flight 714 takes off.
