[projectaon] Re: Errors: <onomatopoeia>

Jonathan Blake wrote:

On Sat, Oct 4, 2008 at 2:47 AM, Simon Osborne <outspaced@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


(Individual words covered: clangs, thuds, clicks, buzz, click, thud, clang,
whooshes, clanging, scrunch.)


I agree with Ben: any word that functions as a verb probably shouldn't
be marked as an onomatopoeia. I see the italics as a form of quotation
mark to indicate that the actual sound is being imitated. It doesn't
make sense to put quotation marks around the verb of a sentence, and
it doesn't feel right to do that with these either.
Yeah, I thought along the same lines, but I wasn't sure. Rejecting most of these also makes for less work, which is decidedly pleasant. 


Although dictionaries speculate that the origins of "thud" may have
been an imitation of the sound back in Old English, I don't think that
it truly functions as an onomatopoeia.
I also thought this, in harmony with Sean Donald's comment, so I am not surprised we are not marking this word up. Now we have a working style, I have added the following to the PAMoS (<http://www.projectaon.org/en/Sanctum/ManualOfStyle>):
-> Onomatopoeic terms constructed as verbs (e.g. clicks, clanging) should not be italicised. "Thud" should never be marked as onomatopoeia. 

The exact phrasing of this can be refined and altered, but it gets the point 
across for now.


In my opinion, only the following should be marked up:


(er)    23mh:101:       buzz <onomatopoeia>

-> "...the groans of wounded crewmen and the crackling buzz of electrical
arcing."


This is questionable. I'm not sure this is meant as a direct imitation
of the sound. Thoughts?
I'd tend to agree with you on this one, since it is modified by the word "crackling". But I am open to a well-worded argument against. 


(er)    25totw:30, 95:  clang [onomatopoeia]

-> "Suddenly you hear the monotonous clang of an alarm bell..."
-> "Suddenly you hear the monotonous clang of an alarm bell..."



(er)    26tfobm:123, 132, 213, 231, 312:        clang [onomatopoeia]

-> "...you hear the dull clang of an alarm bell echoing along the tunnel."
-> "...you hear the dull clang of an alarm bell echoing along the tunnel."
-> "...you hear the dull clang of an alarm bell echoing along the tunnel."
-> "...you hear the dull clang of an alarm bell echoing along the tunnel."
-> "...you hear the dull clang of an alarm bell echoing along the tunnel."



(er)    26tfobm:166:    whoosh [onomatopoeia]

-> "You hear a sudden whoosh of escaping gas..."
I'll wait and see what the thoughts of other volunteers are on "buzz" and then I'll update Books 21-28 accordingly. I will attempt to extrapolate the same rules-of-thumb back over LW1-20 and GS1-4 (e.g. click, clang); if there are any unclear occurrences I'll escalate to the mailing list. Might as well get this sorted in all of the books at once, then PA will never need to speak of it again.
It's probably a good time to point out that I know we all appreciate your hard work in commenting on these issues, Jon. I know I seem to be asking for a lot of your time right now--hopefully not more than you're prepared to give; by all means tell me to post fewer of these if that's the case!--but clearing up these global issues will make work on all the later books easier, I would hope. Once these few sets of global issues are fixed, and I can only think of _one_ more set of such queries, these requests for input from yourself and others will get dramatically shorter, I promise. 

--
Simon Osborne
Project Aon

~~~~~~
Manage your subscription at http://www.freelists.org/list/projectaon

Other related posts: