I can pull off 50,000 words with no problem. Yeah, okay – it takes me a while. But out of those 50,000 or 5,000 or even … whatever … the words that I get the most stuck on are those pesky noises that come out of our mouths and noses that there are no words for. In fact, it makes steam whistle out of my ears.
Some noises are much easier than others, admittedly. Onomatopoeia is a wonderful thing for sounds like banging, clanking and sneezing. The list goes on and on. But what about coughing? “Khe, khe, khe!” How about a sound of derision? “Pff!” Yeah, that’s easy. So many of them are so hard though!
I was quite proud of myself when I came up with the sound for blowing a raspberry. But then people didn’t understand what I was trying to say.
So I’m making it official. And feel free to use it any time. This, “Pthththththth” denotes blowing a raspberry.
As for yodeling? Pthththth. I’m not even going to try.
Will Jupiter say yes? If you haven’t read all the chapters, you should before you read this one: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/y-is-for-youre-going-to-leave-me-dangling/

April 30, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Hi, Linda! Had to see a fellow yodeler post. 😉 What bugs me is I’ve an editor correct my spelling of a sound word. Like your raspberry sound of “Pthththththth”…the editor would strike it and rewrite “Pth”. Oy! I had to cite the urban dictionary to use “rawr”, which was an edit I made to save “raaaarrrrr”. **shakes head** Just let us have these words and spell them how we hear them. Yes.
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May 1, 2014 at 4:54 pm
Agreed! Interesting to note that my made up sound words might be edited. Thanks for the heads-up. And thanks for dropping by my blog, Claire! 😀
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April 30, 2014 at 10:48 am
I have spent countless minutes trying to write some of these sorts of “words.” Argh vs Agggh or ugh or aach.
I end up shouting Ahhhh! (or is it AHHHH)
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May 1, 2014 at 3:14 pm
Haha! It’s very frustrating, isn’t it? Thanks for sharing your experience. Nice to know I’m not alone. 🙂
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April 29, 2014 at 10:15 pm
ssecond time I saw Yodel today
check this out – her series was hysterical
http://www.clairegillian.com/2014/04/29/blogging-from-a-to-z-april-challenge-y/
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April 30, 2014 at 6:32 pm
Thanks, Susan. I’ll check it out. 🙂
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April 29, 2014 at 6:05 pm
The good thing about those sounds, is that no one knows how to spell them either, so go for it! You can’t be wrong if no one else is right.
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April 29, 2014 at 8:49 pm
True! As long as they can figure out what it means! 🙂
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April 29, 2014 at 5:56 pm
My most common noise these days is ‘aaarrrggghh’ when I get up out of a chair and my back goes on me lol
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April 29, 2014 at 8:49 pm
Oh yes. You’re preaching to the choir on that one, my dear. 🙂
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April 30, 2014 at 5:15 am
Ha ha
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April 29, 2014 at 5:16 pm
Now…how do you spell that again???
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April 29, 2014 at 8:48 pm
*tries to figure out if I can blow a raspberry big enough to spray you in Texas*
😉
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April 29, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Pthbbbbt! LOL
I think these noises are so important, because we use them all the time, and they’re completely integrated into our speech! Pffft, yodeling, just don’t write characters who yodel! Ahahahaha!
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April 29, 2014 at 8:42 pm
I’m thinking about it, just for the challenge. 😛 I hate what my imagination does to me sometimes.
I agree – they are important noises we make! Hell, I can have an entire conversation using them! Just stand back. 😉
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April 29, 2014 at 12:13 pm
I’m glad to see someone else used yodel for today besides me. Your post is great. It made me laugh. Was that the desired effect? Because I think the noise was just right. 🙂
Deb@ http://debioneille.blogspot.com
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April 29, 2014 at 12:19 pm
I actually saw you did yodeling today! I scanned your post to make sure we weren’t writing the same thing. haha
I’ll come over and read yours in detail. 🙂
Thanks very much, Deb. 😀
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April 29, 2014 at 12:11 pm
This is so funny – Reminds me of the old Odd Couple tv series when Felix used to clear his sinuses. I actually used to picture the sound he made typed in my head, with instructions to exhale heavily: Fneh-Fneh-Fneh! That’s a writer for you! 😀
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April 29, 2014 at 12:12 pm
Ha! I’ll have to remember that one. Thanks, Susan! 😀
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April 29, 2014 at 11:24 am
Heh. Heh. The sound for blowing. It can be so hard to make the right noise for the situation to keep things up. Knowing what utterances will turn your readers on to turning that next page.
Ahem…but in seriousness, I usually just say “He coughed, blew a raspberry, etc.” I don’t waste the time on sounds I can’t figure out. The reader will do it for me.
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April 29, 2014 at 11:41 am
Don’t you find that sometimes you really need to illustrate the sound though? I do.
“Just put your lips together and blow,” doesn’t always cut it. In fact, sometimes it just plain sucks. *coughs*
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April 29, 2014 at 11:44 am
I feel you’re taking too rigid a stance. 😉 So…when reading “literature”…. I’ve seen people write “Nnn, gah, nghhh.” And you know what? It was frustrating. It didn’t have the desired effect. Because I was spending too much time figuring out what it would sound like. But you know…if you want to illustrate the sounds some time, just let me know 😛
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April 29, 2014 at 11:49 am
With sounds like that I can see it must have been hard indeed. I have to wonder what you were reading… doesn’t sound much like literature. 😉
I can do a pretty mean diner scene from “When Harry Met Sally.” But I wouldn’t even begin to know how to write it. Hey! Maybe I should give up writing novels and go into screenwriting!
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April 29, 2014 at 11:51 am
My dear Linda, it was an ill fated literature. And while it kept me coming back for more, the pages seemed to stick a bit, as my willingness to keep reading was stymied with exhaustion. (Ahahaha. I’m patting myself on the back for that sentence)
I wonder what the screen play looked like? [Have Sally fake an orgasm]
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April 29, 2014 at 12:02 pm
That’s probably precisely what the screenplay said.
*considers shaking your hand in congratulations on that sentence and then reconsiders and pats you on the back*
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April 29, 2014 at 12:06 pm
Ahahaha. Laughed pretty hard there.
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April 29, 2014 at 12:12 pm
😉
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April 30, 2014 at 9:15 am
😀 You endorsed my teaching! I’m like, “Who the heck is Linda Hill?” Then I went to stalk you and I’m like, “AH! I know her!” It’s kind of like seeing a teacher outside of the class. Or a blogger outside of the bloggosphere. 😛 Thanks for the endorse.
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May 1, 2014 at 3:13 pm
Ha! You’re welcome, my dear. I have to admit I had a second when your picture came up of, ‘Who’s that?’ myself. 🙂
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April 29, 2014 at 11:12 am
“Yodel-ay-he-hooooooooo!” That was easy. Pthththth
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April 29, 2014 at 11:37 am
Yeah, that’s just the first line though. Yodel the rest of the song, smart alec.
Pththththth!
hehehe
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April 29, 2014 at 11:40 am
The rest of the song? There’s a rest of the song? Pff.
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April 29, 2014 at 11:42 am
Hahahahaha! You’re good.
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April 29, 2014 at 11:11 am
I so relate, Linda.
Just now: Somebody commented that I looked like Cat Stevens in an old yearbook cover photo I posted today. So I had to comment back with lyrics to ‘Wild World.’
First word of the line is not Oh. It is … Ew. I hate it, but that’s what I went with.
By the way, who is that in the portrait photo that surfs behind the appearance of your blog for a nano-second?
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April 29, 2014 at 11:36 am
Ha! It’s a photo of Sakurai Atsushi, vocalist of a Japanese rock band. I just liked the background colour of the picture but I wasn’t able to cut it down any more.
As in “Ew, baby it’s a wild world”? Do do do do do do…
Really?
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April 29, 2014 at 11:50 am
That’s the line I quoted, Linda, but I don’t think he was going for the usual meaning of “ew,” as in, “gross.” But that’s the sound and there I went with it. Alas.
And thank you for solving the fleeting man mystery of Linda G. Hill for me!
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April 29, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Haha! You’re very welcome. 🙂 You’re the first person to ask, actually.
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April 29, 2014 at 12:18 pm
I am that way, Linda.
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April 29, 2014 at 8:37 pm
Inquiring minds… 🙂
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