Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 14

Witty window-dressing from the Somerset House Tintin exhibition (til January 30th).

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 13

chin chin - (Italian/French/Spanish) the sound of glasses clinking together, i.e. 'cheers!'

(Amusingly, though, 'chin chin' means something rather different in Japan.)

'To write a beautiful ya' / Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 12

- Helen DeWitt, The Last Samurai

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 11

fnaerettan - (Old English) snoring

[at least according to Paul Kingsnorth, and the 'shadow' glossary of The Wake]

mute vs. mutmut

Note that the word "mute" (from Latin mutus...) is regarded by linguists as an onomatopoeic formation referring not to silence but to a certain fundamental opacity of human being, which likes to show the truth by allowing it to be seen hiding. (Compare the Latin word mutmut, representation of a muttering sound, used by Apuleius).

- Anne Carson, NOX

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 10

borborygmus - (Greek) the sound of intestinal gases rumbling

[with thanks to Moose Allain, cartoonist at the Literary Review]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 9

sphincter - Greek (ancient), the sound of someone desperately trapping an escaping fart

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 8

nyam-nyam - Fulbe, to eat (and later the name given to cannibal tribes)

[With thanks to Ibn Battuta.]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 7

ka-SHAAH - US, the sound of small-arms fire going past one's head (contra Tsik! and tssigke! e.g.)

[With thanks to Sebastian Junger's War.]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 6

BLAGX - American/Persian(?), vomit (projection of)

[With thanks to Craig Thompson's astonishing 700-page graphic novel habibi.]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 5

Eichhörnchen - German, squirrel ([actually derives from 'oak' (and 'acorn'?), but] tell me that's not also the noise they make!)

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 4

Tsik! – Wauja (Brazil), arrow impact (cf. tssigke! [sp.?])

[With thanks to Fry's Planet Word.]

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 3

iKlwa - Zulu, thrusting assegai (being withdrawn from flesh)

Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 2

pétanque - French, boules/bowls (hitting gravel courtyard?)

Last night's TV (1) / Favourite foreign onomatopoeia - 1

From last night's More4 screening of Armadillo, I learnt that the Danish for 'editor' is 'klipper' (a much more honest designation, if you ask me), that they have no native words for 'debriefing', 'associate producer' or 'jackpot', and that they use the word 'cojones' - or one which sounds very much like it and is equally unlikely to be Danish.

Also, their gunshot onomatopoeia - transl. as 'POW!' in the subtitles - is 'tssigke!' [sp.?] A significantly more accurate reflection of being on the wrong end of small-arms fire.