Onomatopoeic Dictionary?

[JanusGoneAwry]

I am dyslexic and have a very difficult time translating phonemes into letter sequences. All I can say is thank god for spell check and other resources that lead me to the correct spelling of most words. However, that doesn't hold true for many non-words in the realm of onomatopoeia such as "unh" or is it "ungh"? I get flop sweat just thinking about it.

It seems to me that authors of erotica incorporate more than our fair share of sounds in our writing. Has anyone come across a resource like a dictionary of non-words that impart sounds other than old Batman and Robin episodes? "POW" "SMACK" "THUD" "CRASH" etc...

 

[AlphaLyon]

Has anyone come across a resource like a dictionary of non-words that impart sounds other than old Batman and Robin episodes? "POW" "SMACK" "THUD" "CRASH" etc...

Does this help you with what you're looking for?

 

[TadOverdon]

How many "i"s in "Aiiiieeeee!?"

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

Does this help you with what you're looking for?

Super helpful, thanks!

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

How many "i"s in "Aiiiieeeee!?"

What is seven, Alex?

 

[yowser]

The good news is that the US national library (LC) has a subject heading for this sort of thing:
English language -- Onomatopoeic words -- Dictionaries

The bad news is it doesn't do all that much good for your inquiry.

Best fit (with a short search) doesn't seem all that great:

Kloe, Donald R. A dictionary of onomatopoeic sounds, tones, and noises in English and Spanish, including those of animals, man, nature, machinery and musical instruments, together with some that are not imitative or echoic = Un diccionario de las voces, sonidos, y tonos onomatopéyicas en ingles y espanol, incluye las de animales, hombre, naturaleza, maquinaria e instrumentos musicales, junto con algunas que no son verdaderamente ni imitativas ni ecoicas / Donald R. Kloe. Detroit, Mich. : B. Ethridge, c1977.

 

[TadOverdon]

This seems like a good place to pose this question: does the following read at all plausibly as a rendering of speech?

"I…can think...of…five hyp-pa-pa-notic drugs offhand that…would be tasteless in plain water." Ethan's slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

He's not going to get a word like "hypnotic" out intelligibly without a struggle, not in the context that I hope is obvious here. I just am not sure how to suggest that.

As an alternative, maybe just

"I...can...think...of five hypnotic drugs offhand that...would be tasteless in plain water." Ethan's tongue tripped over "hypnotic." His slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

 

[yowser]

This seems like a good place to pose this question: does the following read at all plausibly as a rendering of speech?

Quote:
"I…can think...of…five hyp-pa-pa-notic drugs offhand that…would be tasteless in plain water." Ethan's slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

He's not going to get a word like "hypnotic" out intelligibly without a struggle, not in the context that I hope is obvious here. I just am not sure how to suggest that.

As an alternative, maybe just

Quote:
"I...can...think...of five hypnotic drugs offhand that...would be tasteless in plain water." Ethan's tongue tripped over "hypnotic." His slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

As a reader, I would prefer the second option. Whenever I stop and have to sound out a stumbled phrase or the like, it interrupts the scene for me, disrupts the pace of the story.

Wonder if you can do something in the middle? Like this?:

"I...can...think...of five hyp…” Ethan's tongue tripped over the troublesome word and he struggled to finish his thought. “...hypnotic drugs offhand that...would be tasteless in plain water." His slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

 

[TadOverdon]

As a reader, I would prefer the second option. Whenever I stop and have to sound out a stumbled phrase or the like, it interrupts the scene for me, disrupts the pace of the story.

Wonder if you can do something in the middle? Like this?:

"I...can...think...of five hyp…” Ethan's tongue tripped over the troublesome word and he struggled to finish his thought. “...hypnotic drugs offhand that would be tasteless in plain water." His slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

Best!

This then, I think:

"I...can...think...of five hyp…" Ethan's tongue tripped over the word, "...hypnotic drugs offhand that would be tasteless in plain water." His slowly returning voice sounded strange to him, as if someone else were speaking.

Thanks!