K-POW EGAD PFFFT

I don’t know about anyone else but when I was in year 5 I was addicted to Archie Comics. Actually, I think the addiction lasted longer than this but I eventually read every comic available in Australia (to my knowledge) and forthwith decided to move on to more exciting things. However I find myself, in this age of msn and texting, continuously writing sound words such as ‘egad’, ‘ech’, ‘pfffffft’ and ‘sshme’. These words could be jumbled under the heading comic language but I think visual sound is a more worthy term.

‘Ech’ is used commonly among my friends but I have never come across anyone but myself that writes ‘egad’. Derived from ‘By God’ and morphed into it’s current form - Wikipedia describes it as ‘a mild exclamation’. Jughead tends to use it a lot when he breaks things.

But how is ‘egad’ a sound? I reckon visual sound not only illustrates a sound but also, in some cases, an emotion.

Words like, Wow, Yikes, Owch, Crikey, Shazam often carry with them not only a bang or a slap but an emotional comment. With less time on our hands, these words are an easy way of getting across the vibe, emotion, sound or whatever of a situation.

Words like zoom have been picked up by marketers and used to demonstrate tone of voice, feeling and so forth of products . . . zoom zoom zoom.

I notice that even in my writing I am more inclined to use visual sound to describe things. These words do not only fall under the heading of visual sound but also enter into the category of Gen Y language. Although most people understand these sounds when used the only people that are using them on a regular bases are these crazy Gen Y kids (and a few older hangers on . . . mutton!!). They (we) also shorten every single word possible . . . whatevs peeps!

Visual words that I thought of

Ssshme Pfffffffft Egad Ech
Mmmmmmmm Swoosh K-Pow K-Boom
Shazam Ulp (like gulp) pssst D-uh uh hah
Zoom Beeeeeep (or simply beep) ring ring
Kssssss (kind of like a hissing noise)
Meeeow Wow Owwwwwch
Yikes Krakadoom (I just found this one and I feel that it will work it’s way into my vernacular quite smoothly)

Shortened Words (of the top of my head)
Peeps = People
Whatevs = Whatever
Trevor = Whatever Trevor
Jaden = Esky (Jaden Leski)
Def = definitely
Spec = especially or special
Class = classic
Mebs = Maybe

This shortening trend can basically be applied to almost any word . . . just don’t expect anyone to actually understand you! hehe

I wonder what we'll do next??