Sounds appealing?

One of my favourite words, as a child, was Onomatopoeia.

Not only was it a lovely word to be able to say as a seven year old, but what wonderful words we could talk about!  Jangle – crash – quack – sizzle – twang – honk – boing…  I suspect the classroom was a bit noisy for a while, but what a great lesson it was.  Writing our poems and stories became fun, and so did the walks home from school.  We stomped along the road, splattered through puddles, rustled through fallen leaves and discussed the different sounds our pebbles made as we threw them into the stream, whether a splash, a plip or a SPER-LOOSH, and we had a whale of a time discovering the sound effects in the pig field we had to pass. 

                              

Oinks, snuffles, slurps, squelches – the onomatopoeic paradise of a pig pen!

It’s an invaluable tool for a writer or a poet, and also for a name creative.  How often have we seen its use, like Frish, Swoop, Bliss, Yum-Yums, Febreze, and Crunchie – and known exactly what we were buying, even before reading the label?

I have hair products called Swishh, the emphasis on the ‘shh’ assures me that it will indeed work a treat.  Companies want their products to sell; we want to buy products that work.  If a lady buys Swishh, one can guarantee that when she has used it she will look in the mirror and toss her hair – and it will ‘swish’ for her.

Whether or not we realise it, we like the sounds names make.  We read the subliminal message that this product is just what we need, and we have confidence in it, so it has to sound good – and of course it must live up to its promise.