Written Sound Effect

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

We've all experienced it: We're reading a book, or a comic, or a website, when all of a sudden:

*POW!*

You get hit by an Onomatopoeia.

Sound effects written out as onomatopoeia can be used in many media, but they play a special role in Sequential Art. Comics are highly visual media that show a scene in pictures instead of describing it in words. Without written sound effects, those scenes would live in a peculiarly silent space in the reader's head, where the only imagined sounds would be the dialogue, if any.

Some very creative things can be done with fonts, sizes, colors, shadows or glow, placement, spatial orientations, and curvatures to make a Written Sound Effect more evocative and fit it with the art.

The Written Roar is one specific kind of Written Sound Effect. Contrast the Unsound Effect, which is a written effect that is not onomatopoeia. A particularly common form of Editorial Synaesthesia. Can be used for Sound Effect Bleep with Speech Bubbles Interruption.

Examples of Written Sound Effect include:

Anime and Manga

  • Light Novels tend to have these a lot, probably since they are closely related to manga. Especially romantic novels tend to be filled with sound effects ranging from falling petals, the rain, wind to the fast beating of the human heart.
  • In Doraemon, there's a drink that makes your sound solid, turned it into letters. The size is according to how loud you speak it.
  • The opening for the second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya uses this in the same way american comics do it. One could argue that "Tug" and "Stop" are the Unsound Effect, but everything else fits this.
  • An early chapter in Tsubasa features a battle where the opponent is a singer, who can literally use her voice as a weapon. The art features HUGE words written out which physically attack the main characters and stretch the frames of the comic.
  • A bizarre example is in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, particularly the third season. The sound effects are actually written on the frame, and they are voiced by the actors.
  • Gainax's newest Widget Series Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt uses these, as if it were a deranged comic.
  • Dr. Slump - Arale (unknowingly) weaponizes the Written Sound Effect; her boisterously loud "HOWDYA DO!" comes out as solid words and is capable of knocking people off their feet. In another chapter, Akane does this deliberately after getting heckled by one of a flock of Idiot Crows; she calls him a "JERK!", and uses the enormous exclamation point produced to knock the crow out of the sky.
  • Used occasionally in Axis Powers Hetalia, most noticeably in the "United States of Hetalia" strips and episode, which imitates American-style comic books. All of them are written in English/Romaji, though some are a little odd (like "spam spam spam" for patting someone on the shoulder) and others Unsound Effects (a cat appearing sounds like "Neko!").

Comic Books

  • Silver Age Jimmy Olsen had his ultrasonic Superman signal watch, with its distinctive "zeee...zeee...zeee..." sound.
  • The Doctor Who comics represented the TARDIS's instantly recognisable phasing-in effect with the equally distinctive "VWOOOOORP! VWOOOOOORP
  • In a classic Uncle Scrooge tale by Carl Barks, Gyro Gearloose invented an "implosion bomb" that sucked up material in a certain radius and compacted it into a neat pile. Intended for litter collection, the Written Sound Effect was "MOOB"—explicitly stated to be "BOOM" backwards.
  • Memorably subverted in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Cowboy Captain Of The Cutty Sark when the space where the sound effect should have been written is left blank with the explanation:

In consideration of the fact that on August 27, 1883, the island of Krakatoa exploded with a force equivalent to 10,000 hydrogen bombs and produced the loudest noise in history, we deemed it wise to delete the sound effect to preserve the sanity (and ears) of our readers. -Editor.

  • Notable aversion: Many of comics writer Alan Moore's works have no sound effects at all. This is lampshaded in Watchmen with this exchange between two police detectives.

Joe: Incidentally, the phone's ringing.
Steve: Sure. Y'know, all today I've had this funny feeling. It's like there's something in the air...
Joe: That's sound waves, man. They're coming from the phone.

  • A Marvel Adventures comic featuring French Boisterous Bruiser Bartroc ze Lepair had all of his sound effects made French. "LeBOK!"
  • Speaking of Marvel, they even have trademarked onomatopoeiae, like SNIKT (Wolverine sheathing his claws - temporarily changed to SCHLIKT when he had the adamantium sucked out of his bones), THWIP (Spider-Man casting his webbing) or BAMF (Nightcrawler teleporting).
  • "Captain America (comics)!, I command you to-" WANK!
  • Green Arrow fought a serial killer named Onomatopoeia, who only spoke to describe the sounds he heard (or anticipated hearing.) He'd usually say 'CLICK, BLAM!' before shooting his victims.
  • Warrior #1 treats us to "SKRONK," which supposedly represents the Ultimate Warrior's snarling/coughing-up-phlegm. He does it underwater.
  • EPA is the sound of Green Lantern punching Sinestro, according to the Comic Book Guy of The Simpsons. Became an Ascended Meme with The Sinestro Corps War.
  • MAD #20 had a story told almost entirely in pictures with sound effects written over. Dialogue was reduced to the phrases "AARRGH!" and "GNNG!" An alphabetical list can be found here.
    • MAD artist Don Martin was a master of wild onomatopoeia, including such sounds as "BREEDEET BREEDEET" for a croaking frog, "PLORTCH" for a knight being stabbed by a sword, "FAGROON klubble klubble" for a collapsing building, "SPLOYDOING!" (something springing out jack-in-the-box style), "SWAKLAKKO!" (leaning too far back in a wheeled desk chair on a tiled floor, and a personal favorite, "SKWEEBEEDEEBEEDAP!" (five cockroaches squashed under a board). Martin himself had a vanity license plate that read "SHTOINK".
    • Spoofed in one particular issue where it was revealed where companies got their names, such as "BOEING!" (The sound an engine makes when it falls off a plane and hits the ground) and "SPAM!" (The sound of a slab of said meat product falling out of the can and onto your foot)
    • In another issue, "Don Martin's Guide To Some Very Obscure Comics Sound Effects" had specialized onomatopoeias for famous comic characters performing various actions.
    • Martin indulged in some self-parody now and then: in a Captain Klutz story, after a Mad Scientist gets blown up by his own doomsday device, he seems more concerned about the unimpressive sound effect it produced.

Dr. Rotten: "Wango"? After all those years of sweat and toil, my Rotten Atomic Missle goes "wango"?!

    • A MAD self-parody catalog offered for sale an assortment of unused Don Martin sound effects, said to include "37 THLUPs, 24 FWAPs, a dozen or so THOOMPs and SPROINGs, plus the usual BREEP-BREEPs, FWADDAPPs, KABOOMs, FWISKs and SKLISHKs, and an occasional SKLOOSH, FLABADAP and a FOONGA-FOONGA."
  • Youngblood uses "eepBeep" for the sound of a beeping wrist communicator.
  • Wilhelm Busch (19th century artist from Germany) was pretty good at them. "Klickeradoms", "Rickeracke", "Klingelings"... these wouldn't be out of place in a modern comic either. The dogs Plisch and Plum are even named after sound effects (which are used when evil guy Schlich throws them into a pond).
  • In one Achille Talon album, a villain has the (dis)ability to produce sounds completely inappropriate, like a grenade detonating with a klaxon sound.

Film

Literature

  • One of the most famous examples in classic literature is the word "Bababadal­gharagh­takammin­arronn­konn­bronn­tonn­erronn­tuonn­thunn­trovarrhoun­awnskawn­toohoo­hoordenen­thurnuk" from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. It's supposed to represent the thunderclap that occurred in the Garden of Eden at the Fall. It also makes this Older Than Television.
  • The Star Wars Expanded Universe's notorious "Jedi Prince" cycle (The Glove of Darth Vader et al) makes extensive use of these, never describing a sound when something like "GRONG!" would suffice. This causes at least one Narm moment when the Big Bad shoots one of his inner circle, "ZAP!" detracting somewhat from the intended drama of the scene.
  • James Joyce's Ulysses had a cat say "Mrkgnao", which he felt a better approximation than "miaow".
  • In a literary example, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. likes to use those in his novels, notably in the Saga of Recluce series. By far the most prevalent is the explosive CRRRRRUMMMMMPTTTTT.

Live-Action TV

  • The old Batman Live Action TV Series used comic-style written sound effects for The Hit Flash. BIFF! ZOK! POW!"
    • The Simpsons' Batman parody, Radioactive Man, featured these and more, including back references to previous episodes. "BORT! MINT! SNUH!"
    • The Avengers (no, not The Avengers) parodied a Batman fight sequence in "The Winged Avenger". Also, the comic book writer in the episode uses rather odd onomatopoeia. Eeee-erp!
    • Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in SpongeBob SquarePants use this as well, along with Unsound Effects - punching over cardboard cut-outs of villains in their opening sequence produce "PROP", "CARDBOARD", and "LAME".
    • Monty Python featured "Bicycle Repairman" as a heroic figure in a world filled with Supermen. As he works, sound effects crop up on screen: "CLINK!" "SCREW!" "BEND!" "INFLATE!" "ALTER SADDLE!"
  • During one episode of How I Met Your Mother, the sound of glass shattering symbolised a sudden realisation. When a deaf character has a sudden realisation at the end of the episode, we are treated to a subtitle saying "* shatter* "
  • Often used in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, but not in any other Super Sentai.
  • In the That '70s Show episode "Cat Fight Club", Jackie's fight with Laurie is illustrated by Batman-style Hit Flashes and written sound effects like "Meow" and "Scratch!".
  • Big Bad Beetleborgs, oh so much.
  • Curiosity Shop, a children's educational series in 1971, included a puppet creature called the Onomatopoeia, which communicated by sound effects. One early episode had the main characters singing a song that described onomatopoeia as "a word you spell by ear."

Music

  • "Skronk"—an onomatopoetic rendering of the skreeching honk made by a deliberately-mistreated saxophone—has become a recognized genre classification, though you might be more likely to encounter terms like "free improv" or "avant-noise". As performances by Arto Lindsay or Oren Ambarchi might attest, a string- and ear-damaging guitarist can skronk in as great a manner as, say: John Zorn, Kenta Tsugami (or both) on tenor or alto.

Newspaper Comics

Hobbes: Are you sure this is such a good idea?
Calvin: You doubting Thomases get in the way of more scientific advances (...) Hit the button!
Hobbes: I'd hate to be accused of inhibiting scientific progress. Here you go...
the button: BOINK!
Hobbes: (staring right at the fourth wall) Scientific progress goes 'boink'?

Theatre

  • In The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), the Tower of Babel scene ends when one of the characters threatens the others with a picture of a bomb. On the reverse of this picture is printed "BOOM!", or, when the bomb-picture-thrower is speaking in fake Spanish, "EL BOOMO!"

Toys

  • The Bionicle comics all use this. Probably the most famous sound among fans is the Bohrok's distinctive "Chik Chik Chik Chik". Amusingly, a Translation Train Wreck fan-video of one of the movies subtitles the slashing sound effects as "Hurting Noises!".

Video Games

  • The first video game for the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles uses sound effects show up when someone or even objects like cars take dame. Thok
  • Kingdom of Loathing uses these whenever someone takes damage. If you're dealing it, it's blue ZAP!s, POW!s, and BARF!s; while if you're taking damage, you see red Ouch!es and Ow!s.
  • Persona 3 and Persona 4 use this both in and out of combat.
  • Being beaned in the head with a baseball in Team Fortress 2 results in a flashing, neon sign above your head, reading "BONK!", which is a fairly accurate description of what just happened.
  • Freedom Force
  • XIII actually uses them to enhance gameplay, allowing the player to tell which direction sounds are coming from (like seeing the "tap, tap, tap" of patrolling guards' footsteps over some foliage.)
  • Elite Beat Agents and Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan use this a lot, mainly because the stories are told using manga panels.
  • Various sound effects in the black and white (except for blood) game MadWorld appear as yellow text onscreen.
  • Sega Genesis game Comix Zone, happening inside a comic book, is filled with this.
  • Many of She-Hulk's attacks in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 produce one of these.
  • In the 1989 Arcade Game Violence Fight, every time somebody got knocked to the floor a written sound effects as "BOGON" or "DOGOON" would pop up.
  • In Captain America and The Avengers, comicbook-style fight noises such as "KRAK!" and "WABOOM!" appear on screen.
  • An addon for World of Warcraft named (appropriately enough) Comix! adds these to the game. When you get a Critical Hit (incoming or outgoing) "Pow!" "Baff!" and so on appear in midair.
  • Champions Online, with its comic book-based style, uses this with NPCs, having written sound effects appear over their heads that correspond with the attack they are currently using(with different sound effects for differing types of attacks, such as cone AOE, melee AOE, targeted attacks, etc.)

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

  • Many episodes of Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog had these, along with the Unsound Effect at times.
  • The French animated series Enigma used them from time to time.
  • Sometimes used in The Ren and Stimpy Show, one example is when Ren throws the Cheese-o-Phone at Stimpy and the word "Splat!" appears in the splattered cheese.
  • Every time Cosmo and Wanda grant a wish in The Fairly OddParents, a magic cloud that reads "Poof" appears. A lot of times a non sound effect word appears relating to what Timmy wished for.

STING!

  1. ↑ The sound of a large Gourd commiting a Kamikaze assuault. Difficult to render phonetically at the best of times.
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