The question of onomotopoeia came up in a class discussion this past week.  A student questioned the form class of “Snicker-snack” (as in “the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!”). We moved on to animal sounds, comic book sound effects (Pow! Zap! Kerplunk!) and thoroughly amused and confused ourselves.

 

The cow says “moo.”

The mooing cows moved toward the barn.

The cow smiled mooily (okay, we were goofing off by then).

 

It’s easy to identify the verbs, adjectives, adverbs – but what are the onomotopoetic words themselves? Although moo can be a noun (the cow had a loud moo), what is snicker-snack?

 

Kathleen Bethell