Thank you to all who took time to respond
to my question. I’d never dreamed that “snicker-snack” could
open so many interesting (and exciting) avenues of thought. You are generous,
indeed – I’m glad I came out of lurkdom to ask the question!
Kathleen
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kathi Bethell
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007
1:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: onomotopoeia
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
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