Noisy Humor

Via Argyle Sweater

The ABCs of Onomatopoeia

onomatopoeia

1: the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)
2: the use of words whose sound suggests the sense

Late Latin, from Greek onomatopoiia, from onomat-, onoma name + poiein to make — more at poet
First Known Use: circa 1577

Image via tomgauld.com

Word Up Weekly - Skirl

Having never previously heard this word, when it showed up on my word-a-day calendar, I had a feeling that it would be onomatopoeic.

skirl (skûrl)

v. skirled, skirl·ing, skirls

v.intr.

To produce a high, shrill, wailing tone. Used of bagpipes.

v.tr.

To play (a piece) on bagpipes.

n.

1. The shrill sound made by the chanter pipe of bagpipes.

2. A shrill wailing sound.

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[Middle English skrillen, skirlen, probably of Scandinavian origin.]

Definition from The Free Dictionary.

Linguistic Cartoon Favorites: I Think I Feel an Onomatopoeia Coming On

I absolutely love this cartoon that a reader recently shared with me.

Thank you again CK.

Linguistics Cartoon Favorites - Onomatopoeia Yawn

Ribbit. Chirp. Ka-Ching! - Onomatopoeiac Casino Advertising and Billboards

This is a screen shot of a print ad from an advertising campaign for the Saganing Eagles Landing Casino in Standish Michigan. The campaign also includes numerous billboards on I-75. I get a kick out of the effect the onomatopoeias have on the semantics of the advertising message.

Slot machines really can be animals.

Onomatopoeias Zipping Past

This morning while driving my son to school, he mentioned that yesterday was National Zipper Day. While I think all the various "National whatever days" are really silly, it did get me thinking about the word zipper. Zipper is a really cool sounding word because it sounds like what it does; zip clothing closed quickly. Words that sound like what they do are called onomatopoeias. Zip originally meant "to move quickly" because zip is thought to resemble the sound something makes when it moves quickly, thus it is onomatopoeic. Interestingly, zipper did not become the name of the fastener that we know by that name until it was trademarked in 1925 by the B. F. Goodrich Company, who used the fastener on rubber boots. And it wasn't until the fastener was trademarked that the word zip acquired its verbal definition of closing something with a zipper.

Some other onomatopoeias: buzz, hiss, fizz, boom, crackle, kerplunk, smack, whizz, whoosh, bang