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carnac

What is the word for the sound a snowflake makes when it hits the ground?
What is the word for the noise you make when you (I don't even know how to say this) violently inhale/clear the nose just before expectorating?
What is the word for the sound made when you put on starched clothing? (I know you know what I mean.)
What is the word for the sound of a drop of water droppped into a pot of boiling oil? Onto a hot frying pan? (Think of your answer, then do it and see if your word is anywhere close).
I think there are lots of these and we just never think about them.
What is the word for the sound of a roll of toilet paper rolling?
Describe the smell of an onion in one word. The way velvet feels. You can write a paragraph, or maybe a sentence, but is there a word that captures the essence of the meaning? Like,"dog" is "dog".
BTW, what is the opposite of "nomad"? In a word.

Alex42 · Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Posts: 77 Location: Salta, Argentina

Tamara · Joined: 24 Jul 2004 Posts: 108

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Carnac, me thinks you need to take a vacation. Wink

Put away those books for awhile.

amandajoy99 · Joined: 08 Nov 2004 Posts: 63 Location: Brazil

along the same lines, here is my english/portuguese translation dilemma....
if you look up the word "lemon" in an engl/port dictionary, you will find the word "lim�o." look up lime and find "lima." and vice versa.
however, once i got to brazil i realized that the thing everyone was calling "lim�o" is small and green and looks and tastes like what i would call a lime. and the brazilians tell me that "lima" does not refer to a fruit at all, but to "the quality of a lim�o," - limey, i guess, in its strictly fruit related meaning.
so i asked about the yellow fruit that is like a lim�o but larger and yellow, and they told me that they think maybe they saw it in argentina once, but that it tastes the same as a lim�o.
i maintain that there is a difference in taste between the fruit i have always called a lemon, and that green one called a lime. but i cannot think of a way to describe it. any suggestions?
is english the only language that distinguishes between a lemon and a lime? the french call a lemon a "citron" and a lime a "citron vert" - a green lemon.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Sounds can always be represented by an onomatopoeia. Many words actually began their career as sound imitations: a cat "mews', and in CHinese the animal itself is called 'mao'. Just how a snowflake sounds as it floats down to earth - I guess you will need a well-tuned sound amplifier...
In the case of physical objects, you can borrow the name of it from the language in which it is known by that name.

ShapeSphere · Joined: 16 Oct 2004 Posts: 386

If no word exists, then do what Shakespeare did and create a new one (or use it in a new way). He was responsible for many new words and phrases - examples below:

Schoolboy, shooting star, puppy-dog, football, bandit, partner, downstairs, upstairs, leapfrog, alligator, and mimic.

Brave New World, Fair Play, Foregone Conclusion, Foul Play, Into Thin Air
One Fell Swoop, Rhyme and Reason, Too Much of a Good Thing.

What is the word for the sound a snowflake makes when it hits the ground? - Sissle/Sloosh

What is the word for the sound made when you put on starched clothing? (I know you know what I mean.) - Crunsh

What is the word for the sound of a roll of toilet paper rolling? - Rollop/rollow

Describe the smell of an onion in one word. - Oniony/pungent/whiffy

BTW, what is the opposite of "nomad"? In a word. - Homad/Homestayer

distiller · Joined: 31 May 2004 Posts: 249

Why exactly does there need to be one word for every possible sound? Is there a separate word for the thud a dead body makes and the thud a heavy box makes or the sound of throwing a cup of coffee out of a car going 60 MPH versus one going 50 MPH? And is there a separate word from those if the beverage is tea? It would be absurd to have a word for every sound. Can you imagine what kind of lexicon we would be dealing with if we came up with a word for every sound? We�d be in our mid-forties before being semi-literate. While that may be fine and dandy in the Southern US, the rest of us need to function. I don�t see the point of an obsession with one word when metaphors, similes, metonymy, and all kinds of devices are there to work with and provide quite clear expression.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

If there is no word in English don't we usually use a gerund
'Going to the dentist's is usually unpleasant'
In a similar vein I sometimes get frustrated when I know a Turkish word but can't think of the English. Often the word is culturally related and the word doesn't translate.
For example Dolmuş. What is it? It's a shared taxi about the size of a minibus that has a certain start and finish point but you get off where you want.

stillnosheep · Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe

Atlas · Joined: 09 Jun 2003 Posts: 662 Location: By-the-Sea PRC

carnac · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:48 am Post subject:

Actually, I was looking for imagination and a sense of poetry when posting the question. It's obvious there needn't be a single word for these things. But if there is, I want to know it before I invent it.
So far, Shapeandbake is ahead on points. I was also seeing if anyone could think of other things for which there is possible no pre-existing word.

Did you know, for instance, that the indentation in the upper lip below the nose is called the "philtrum"? Nice word.

For a drop of water into a pot of boiling oil, I was considering "sprookle".
And on hot metal: Tzizz!"

enigma · Joined: 22 May 2003 Posts: 68

This thread reminds me:
There is, or at least there used to be, a feature on a CBC (Canadian) radio show called "Wanted Words" where listeners wrote in with made up words for whatever the non-existant word of the week was. It always made me laugh. Problems I recall were things like "the plastic stick that separates your groceries from those of the person ahead or behind you in line", or "the visibly damp line that appears across your midsection after doing a sinkful of dishes".

For some reason, I can't remember what any of the suggested words that were adopted were, although some of them definitely made it into usage, at least on CBC radio.

Anyone know if that program is still on? Since having lived in China, I have fallen out of the habit of compulsively turning the radio on when I'm at home.

Dragonsaver · Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 41 Location: Dalian, China

Enigma: If you have a computer with internet access, you could go to
http://www.cbc.ca/

They have a live radio link which you could listen to. Also, they have an archives section where you could time-line the program and see if you could find the information.

travelingirl68

[quote="carnac"]What is the word for the sound a snowflake makes when it hits the ground?

I have no idea, but I would bet you could find a very good Inuit word for that as they have over 600 words for snow.

What is the word for the noise you make when you (I don't even know how to say this) violently inhale/clear the nose just before expectorating?
Hoark

What is the word for the sound of a drop of water droppped into a pot of boiling oil? Onto a hot frying pan? (Think of your answer, then do it and see if your word is anywhere close).
Tzssss

I think there are lots of these and we just never think about them.
What is the word for the sound of a roll of toilet paper rolling?
Bloodle