I’ve finally mastered the word onomatopeia (words whose sounds suggest their meaning). You’re thinking what a dipshit, hasn’t everybody? It is kinda hard to spell, though, don’t you think? Anyway, so you can imagine my delight when I came across an article in Mental Floss, pictorially depicting the sounds other languages give to the noises we hear. (Okay, I wasn’t actually delighted, let’s just say relieved that I’d found something to blog about–the 30-day blogging thingy I’m doing. It is kinda interesting. Sort of?)

• In Korea, trains go chic chic pok pok (in Zambia our trains went chook chook)
• Mampf, mampf says a German man eating a plateful of bratwurst
• Russian dogs? Gav gavi
• A Japanese fire doesn’t crackle, it goes pachi pachi
• The French snore is hard to sound out–ron pshs
• A Thai party with streamers, and a Thai girl with a pagoda on her head, goes suaan saeh haeh haa–that’s some serious partying
• A Latin punch (excuse me?). They’ve got a Roman Centurion with mouth open and thrusting a closed fist with the words, tux tax
• My favourite one is the sound the Georgian pig makes: ghrutu ghrutu
• When a Latvian bubble bursts is goes bliuks
• And a Finnish evil laugh? kakat taa with inflections above the A’s

Do you have any interpretations to add (challenge?). Maybe even just your own family’s rendition of certain sounds?