Homer Simpson Drooling

December 17, 2004 3:24 PM

How would you transcribe Homer's drooling sound into the written (or typed) word?
posted by thirdparty to Writing & Language (27 answers total)

I usually use "AaggaGGhGhghGhGhghhhh"
posted by SpecialK at 3:27 PM on December 17, 2004

Response by poster: That's pretty good. I was looking for something that didn't read like a moan ("auuuuuggh") or a scream ("arrrgh"). I had thought there should be some "L" sounds in there, but the effect of alternating between upper- and lowercase G's and h's works, too, for some reason that I can't quite explain.
posted by thirdparty at 3:36 PM on December 17, 2004

aughhlaughhhjllaughh. something like that. I agree about the L.
posted by jessamyn at 3:39 PM on December 17, 2004

Does starting it with the letter H help?
posted by JanetLand at 3:47 PM on December 17, 2004

See, I think it should start with a G.
posted by sugarfish at 4:18 PM on December 17, 2004

Nghaagghhhaaaa?
posted by Specklet at 4:54 PM on December 17, 2004

Perhaps a few "r"'s in there as well, no?
posted by mollweide at 5:27 PM on December 17, 2004

Be sure to differentiate with HUGLAGHALGHALGHAL.
posted by mendel at 6:53 PM on December 17, 2004

Best. Question. EVER.
posted by GaelFC at 7:09 PM on December 17, 2004

Nggggaaallllgggaaalllggghhh.
posted by Sidhedevil at 8:24 PM on December 17, 2004

Ghhahhlnghhahhln.
posted by squirrel at 8:30 PM on December 17, 2004

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, it would probably be represented as a random string of the phonemes ?, ?, ?, and ?.

Yes, I took too many linguistics classes in college.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:21 PM on December 17, 2004

Ah, goddammit, those worked on preview. Just pretend that those four question marks are the four voiced uvular consonants.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:23 PM on December 17, 2004

Ummm! Johnny said a dirty!
posted by squirrel at 9:33 PM on December 17, 2004

I think you're right, though, JA. Something along the lines of the English breathy "huh" sound mixed with the uvular R that the French use in "etre."
posted by squirrel at 9:36 PM on December 17, 2004

*drool*
/homer
posted by furiousxgeorge at 1:52 AM on December 18, 2004

grrarrgh
posted by squirrel at 2:04 AM on December 18, 2004

Aggle-buh-gaggle-glaggle-lugh.
posted by painquale at 6:15 AM on December 18, 2004

I see it like this :
Huuuuuuuuughhhh.
posted by dong_resin at 7:11 AM on December 18, 2004

ghlghghrlghhhh...
posted by languagehat at 7:25 AM on December 18, 2004

This might be the most appropriate place to say that this Phonetic Symbol Guide is a lot more fun than you'd think.
posted by kenko at 10:02 AM on December 18, 2004

I think if I wanted to have somebody Homer-drool in a comic I'd just have them go "ngglll" but the more complicated ones like Sidhedevil's are more accurate.
posted by furiousthought at 10:16 AM on December 18, 2004

Well see, I think everyone is stuck on the vowel "a" which is lending itself to argh thoughts. How about "Oggroggglogggghoggguuuuhduuuuh"? In this example the 3rd and 4th gs would be silent.
posted by DeepFriedTwinkies at 6:42 PM on December 18, 2004

Needs more ?.
posted by kenko at 7:46 PM on December 18, 2004

Dammit! That was an engma.
posted by kenko at 7:46 PM on December 18, 2004

Is there no definitive answer from the Simpsons creators? Maybe in a script? The experts in alt.tv.simpsons discussed this in 2001, and came up with "uhhhHHHhhrghhhuuuuHHHggrruhhhHHhh."
posted by waxpancake at 6:52 PM on December 27, 2004

that's exactly what I was thinking, curiousxgeorge. heh
posted by menace303 at 2:04 PM on December 29, 2004