Onomatopoeia. Wow! What a mouthful! Are you familiar with it? Yes, you are! Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you. Have you ever referred to the sound that things make? Or, have you imitated the call of an animal? Then you have used onomatopoeia!
The best definition I have ever found of the word onomatopoeia is: the forming of a word in imitation of a natural sound. Which means, you have been using them since you were a little boy or girl. Do you remember the Old Macdonald had a farm? Is full of them!
Oink, moo, quack are all Onomatopeia or words that imitate a natural sound. But wait, there is more! Bang, boom, zing and all those you read in the old comic books belong to the same family.
One interesting thing about these words is that different cultures refer to the same natural sound with diffrent words. Just look at this short list comparing English and Spanish onomatopoeia:
- Bang – Pum
- Arf – Guau
- Meow – Miau
- Chirp – Pio
- Choo-choo – Chucu-chucu
- Ribbit – croak
All languages have them and are a very good tell-tale of the culture. So there you have it! You are familiar with Onomatopeia and have been using them all your life.
Now, go brag to someone about it!
-Stein