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#36890 - 07/29/01 01:52 AM onomatopoeic words
doru Offline
stranger

Registered: 07/29/01
Posts: 5
Loc: Born in Arad, Transylvania. I ...
Could someone kindly tell me where I could find a list of onomatopoeic words? I am translating a short story from Romanian into English. At one point the author says [translation follows, with Romanian word in capitals]: "...the melting asphalt into which the high heels of her shoes were sinking with a FLEOSC" What would be the English equivalent? "Swoosh" (Probably not). "Slosh"?
Dorin


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#36891 - 07/29/01 11:29 AM Re: onomatopoeic words
Sparteye Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 01/05/01
Posts: 1773
Hello Doru.

I don't have a complete list of onomatopoeic words, but you can find a short list here:

http://teenwriting.about.com/library/blank/blstory1459.htm?once=true&

It seems to me that you want something like "squish" for the sound of high heels sinking into melting asphalt. Don't be shy about making up a word that seems to sound like the effect the author intends.


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#36892 - 07/29/01 10:32 PM Re: onomatopoeic words
doru Offline
stranger

Registered: 07/29/01
Posts: 5
Loc: Born in Arad, Transylvania. I ...
Thank you, Sparteye. Coming up with my own word for that sound was precisely what I had thought of doing, and now, with your blessing, I will be doing. Great list.
Doru



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#36893 - 07/30/01 12:26 PM Re: onomatopoeic words
tsuwm Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10472
Loc: this too shall pass
::glorp::


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#36894 - 07/30/01 08:17 PM .
Max Quordlepleen Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 08/12/00
Posts: 3409



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#36895 - 07/31/01 09:37 AM Re: onomatopoeic words
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13666
a totally irresistible urge

Oh, go ahead, Max. Resist it.


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#36896 - 07/31/01 11:44 AM Re: onomatopoeic words
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
Dear Sparteye: I looked at the link you gave. It had a lot of good ones, but I counted twelve words that I do not believe are onomatopoeia: allude,asinine,blurred,bow,cling,explode,lexicon,rose,shimmy,tingle,twinkle, and veracity.


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#36897 - 07/31/01 12:45 PM Re: onomatopoeic words
tsuwm Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10472
Loc: this too shall pass
two thoughts, bill...

1) onomatopoeia itself is an old, Greek word; so maybe some of the old roots of these words were formed from the imitation of sounds
2) there is a second sense to the word onomatopoeia (and this is the more likely explanation): the use of words whose sound suggests the sense [it's a chicken and egg sort of thing]


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#36898 - 07/31/01 03:13 PM Re: onomatopoeic words
musick Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/24/00
Posts: 2658
Loc: Chicago
"explode" sounds like one to me because of the "xpl-" sound.

For the same reason that "blink" does sound like the "interrupter" in an auto's turn signal circuit... "twinkle" seems to work... a little bit.


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#36899 - 07/31/01 03:36 PM Re: onomatopoeic words
wwh Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 01/18/01
Posts: 13858
The etymology of "explode" is not what I thought, so even if dictionary's first meaning is to "explode a theory" (which ought not be done with dynamite) everything else is in favor of onomatopoeia, so I was wrong on that one.
The question of "blink" being onomatopoeia is akin to the drill sergeant's order "Eyes right, and I want to hear those eyeballs click!"


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#36900 - 11/06/01 09:46 PM Re: ..
Wordwind Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 6296
Loc: Piedmont Region of Virginia, U...

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