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I'm not sure this qualifies as a word, but I can recall hearing people express mild disapproval by saying "tisk-tisk," (rhyming with "disk." ) I've always thought of it as being the clicking sound made by placing the tip of the tongue behind the upper front teeth. I wonder if this sound, with its implied meaning, is unique to English.
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veteran
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An excellent question, my Carrolian friend. A most hearty welcome for anyone with a handle of such distinguished lineage.
I'm sure I have heard Italians making the sound you refer to, but have no idea how they write it. Emanuela, you there?
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I've always associated that sound with wagging fingers, although I've never heard it pronounced as clearly as 'tisk'. For me it's more of a 'clicking the tongue while dragging air through your teeth' kind of noise.
Also, these days (for me anyway) it has a slightly mocking, sarcastic tone to it. As in - someone's doing something mildly out of order, you both know it and you're pretending to give them a ticking off, but neither of you really care. It's not something I would ever do seriously.
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enthusiast
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I've said 'tisk' on occasions, in a kind of mock-fastidious way.
Some spellings acquire a life of their own. Unspellable noises get rendered by some hopelessly imperfect jumble of letters - tsk or tisk, miaow or meow, phew or whew, ugh, blech -; and later we're so used to the spelling convention that it becomes a word in its own right, and we pronounce it by its letters, not by the sound it originally represented.
Personally I've always thought ntk would be a better rendering.
In Zulu and Xhosa it's the sound of the letter c.
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old hand
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old hand
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When I lived in Sardinia, that sound was commonly taken to mean "no". I don't know if that's a widespread Italian usage, or just confined to the island. I've finally gotten my husband to understand what I mean when I use it. Otherwise I tend to say "tsk - no" just to be clear.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I've said 'tisk' on occasions, in a kind of mock-fastidious way.You are walking into a prior dispute as to whether the pronunciation is "tisk" or "ts-k", nick. [mock baleful glare at jackie -e]
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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To slithy toves -- Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! Welcome aboard, tovarich! Mazel tov! [using up 20% of his Russian knowledge -e]
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Slithy Toves has joined us! Now all is truly brillig. Welcome ST
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Thanks for the warm welcome. I'll be looking in often.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome, and a question, slithy--I see you're in Florida. That, plus your name, makes me ask: are you an alligator?
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