International Onomatopoeia

December 26, 2004 6:24 PM

Onomatopoeia around the world. Wonder no more how a cow's moo sounds in Japan, or a car's engine revs in China.
posted by Oriole Adams (14 comments total)

Cool link- we spent a whole Spanish class discussing this very issue once.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:20 PM on December 26, 2004 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is one of those things you often discuss with your friends but never tire of.

Great link. I love selecting the steering wheel and then rapidly clicking on all of the different ones. Sounds like a traffic jam at the United Nations!
posted by Eideteker at 7:23 PM on December 26, 2004

Well, Model UN.

Pow Pow Power Wheels! Leading the way!
posted by Eideteker at 7:25 PM on December 26, 2004

Crank up the volume and play the cat sounds. Works real well in terrorizing the house cats. Ours just climbed the curtains with fear in their eyes.
posted by Jumpin Jack Flash at 7:42 PM on December 26, 2004

This is fucking awesome.
posted by cmonkey at 9:47 PM on December 26, 2004

Thanks for this link.

My wife, who is from Mexico, insists that a rooster makes a sound like "Keek-a-deedle-dee!" or at least thats how they were always taught. Of course for Americans, it's always been "Cock-a-doodle-do!". Its one of those things I never thought much about until it came up in conversation.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:52 PM on December 26, 2004

Sorry, but this is not only a double, but a triple post.

Also see this post for even more language declensions of each animal.
posted by naxosaxur at 10:13 PM on December 26, 2004

Sorry, naxosaxur...the URL didn't come up when I searched. My apologies.
posted by Oriole Adams at 11:14 PM on December 26, 2004

Interesting to find out which sounds remained relatively consistant and which changed. At least some of the animal examples are influenced by which species are present in the country concerned. A cat sounds very similar everywhere, whereas an owl may say anything from "to-wit-to-woo" to "hooroo" to (as here in NZ) "morepork".
posted by MadOwl at 2:24 AM on December 27, 2004

I had a good-spirited argument with a German once about how just about all the German sounds for animals were simply wrong. This confirms it.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:55 AM on December 27, 2004

This just begs for a mash-up.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:22 AM on December 27, 2004

Reminds me of David Sedaris. When I saw him in Boston he had a bit about this, and I think it is now in the "Dress Your Family..." book of his as well (it might even part of the "Santa and the six to seven black men" story, which is fantastic by the way).
posted by MrFancypants at 11:16 AM on December 27, 2004

This is good.
posted by adampsyche at 12:37 PM on December 27, 2004

It is a double post but no wings were pulled off flies to make it and the topic is of universal interest.

To be present when co-workers gasp ah... in surprise at hearing what water buffalos say in different tongues will bring home to you that we are a nation of immigrants.
posted by y2karl at 9:03 PM on December 28, 2004