[ExI] Spirited molecules

[Anders Sandberg]

Spike:
> ...Which reminds me of a question I have wondered about for a long time,
> speaking of nitrogen compounds.  Words that are often used to describe an
> explosion are, for instance, kaBOOM and kerBLOOEY and kaBANG and such.
> Please those who speak European languages, do those anamonapoetic terms have
> equivalents in your language?

In Swedish, the typical cartoon explosion goes 'bang', 'pang', 'bom' or 'boom' - I think the 'k' prefix is language-specific (onomatopoeia tends to follow the language system of the host language). When a car crashes, the sound is however described as 'krasch'. Clearly a sound with sudden attack tends to be represented by a word with sudden attack, but there are many choices in each language. 

Some more in English: http://www.writtensound.com/explosions.htm

Could the ka- in kaboom be a phonestheme? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonestheme


Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University