# Exercises in Onomatopoeia
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 25, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545 "2015-11-25T14:16:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/1 "2015-11-25T14:16:36Z")
In case you might need a refresher from high school English class, [Onomatopoeia](http://examples-of-onomatopoeia.com/) is one of those figures of speech that pops up in poetry and jokes and the like.
There’s an associated term – [mellifluous](http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/mellifluous) – for generally pleasant sounding words and phrases, such as _cellar door_ (by somebody’s reckoning that I heard about long ago).
Help me think of some unusual examples of these words and poetic devices as heard (or seen) in songs, poetry, everyday speech and so on.
And help me find the name of the same sort of effect that such a word as _smegma_ or _phlegm_ may conjure up – at the opposite end of the _pleasant_ scale.
Names of people can sometimes be quite exemplary of these devices. If you can think of some of those, please share.
This can be as Mundane and Pointless as you wish. 😉
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/2 "2015-11-25T16:46:02Z")
I’m a little unclear about exactly what you’re asking for. Do you want:
- Words that are onomatopoeic or mellifluous
- Examples of phrases or sentences using such words
- Something else
One almost-never-used word that is highly onomatopoeic and perhaps might also be considered mellifluous: [susurrus](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/susurrus).
And one that is highly onomatopoeic but not mellifluous: [borborygmus](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/borborygmus).
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### Author:  [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/3 "2015-11-25T16:52:27Z")
Onomatopoeia doesn’t refer to whether a word is pleasant-sounding or not. It refers to a word that sounds like the thing it represents. “Hiss” is a good example, as is “gargle.”
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/4 "2015-11-25T21:51:42Z")
> [@cjepson](#):
>
> I’m a little unclear about exactly what you’re asking for…
No specific limitations. Just whatever strikes your fancy about the “words that sound like what they mean” or thereabouts.
I was hoping we could improve on the basic group of
clang
splat
boing
plop
screech
with some more colorful and less common ones, even if we have to make them up.
One of may all-time favorites was in the BC comic strip when the anteater would get himself an ant morsel. The sound-effect in the panel would be, “Zot!”
I love that one.
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### Author:  [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/5 "2017-02-08T22:31:40Z")
SPALAAASSHHH ! (not unlike splat though)
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/6 "2017-02-08T22:50:55Z")
[Obviously, this song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNxZFWZnOL8)
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### Author:  [@SingleMalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleMalt)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/7 "2017-02-08T22:52:18Z")
A number of bird names are onomatopoeias of their calls. Grackle and chickadee come to mind.
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### Author:  [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/8 "2017-02-08T23:03:33Z")
[Here ya go!](http://madcoversite.com/dmd-alphabetical.html)
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/9 "2017-02-09T19:24:26Z")
Exercises in Me? I’m flattered. 🙂
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/10 "2017-02-10T01:30:43Z")
I met a young woman in the Middle East, who was living there with her British family working overseas for an NGO. I asked he if she had learned any Arabic. She said No, it doesn’t make sense. None of the Arabic words sound like what they mean. To her, all English words are onomatopoeic.
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### Author:  [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/11 "2017-02-11T20:25:35Z")
I thought this was a thread about the character from VisionOn by Tony Hart
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exercises-in-onomatopoeia/738545/12 "2017-02-11T20:48:52Z")
The unquestioned master of Onomatopoeia was Mad Magazine’s Don Martin. GA-SHPLUCT!