Transcribing an explosion

October 8, 2005 5:20 PM

I'm transcribing a speech and the speaker just did that thing where you simulate an explosion noise with your throat. What should I write?
posted by cillit bang to writing & language (20 comments total)

Speaker demonstrates or imitates explosion sound?
posted by 517 at 5:22 PM on October 8, 2005

"Boom"?
posted by my sock puppet account at 5:23 PM on October 8, 2005

Yeah I would say "Boom!" too. Without the sentence for context it's harder to say. But I'm generally unimpressed and distracted by the effort to transcribe such things exactly as the writer hears them (eg: "Poouuugghhk!") or in some goddamn phonetic alphabet like IPA when there is a perfectly usable proxy like "Boom!" that people will absorb, cognitively, right away.
posted by scarabic at 5:30 PM on October 8, 2005

[simulates explosion noise with throat]
posted by vacapinta at 5:34 PM on October 8, 2005

And then then priest turn so the rabbi and goes

[speaker make explosion sound with throat]

to which the mullah replies "Why did to come to this dman party in the first place".
posted by alan at 5:35 PM on October 8, 2005

Kabloowie! (alt.: Kapow!)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:51 PM on October 8, 2005

Perhaps you should consult The Thesaurus of Champions.
posted by lazy-ville at 5:52 PM on October 8, 2005

Lazy-ville, that page you linked reads like a summary of old Batman shows.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 6:10 PM on October 8, 2005

lazy-ville, I am surprised and amused that the link goes to a Canadian government site. And thank you for the resource
posted by seawallrunner at 6:36 PM on October 8, 2005

"Pchhhhhhhh!"
posted by jimfl at 7:00 PM on October 8, 2005

[explosion noise]
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:07 PM on October 8, 2005

On "The Simpsons" homer's "D'oh" is scripted as "[ Annoyed Grunt ]".

Any non-word sound should be placed in brackets like that with a description for the reader. I would go with [ vocalised explosion ].
posted by shepd at 7:34 PM on October 8, 2005

Thanks all. I did figure I'd end up describing the sound, but it's in the middle of a sentence for half a second, and the sentence sounds wrong without it, so it's all a bit awkward. I was wondering if it might have a name?
posted by cillit bang at 7:36 PM on October 8, 2005

see also
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:43 PM on October 8, 2005

There is a whole academic world built around this. Here is the international phonetic alphabet. For more of the same, google 'discourse analysis.'
posted by bingo at 7:57 PM on October 8, 2005

"cillit bang"
posted by louigi at 8:27 PM on October 8, 2005

"Kapow!"
posted by mbrubeck at 9:44 PM on October 8, 2005

Attempting a sensible answer here: Do you really mean simulating explosion with his throat, or do you mean a glottal stop (where the air is kept in the throat and then released explosively - a sound common in arabic)?

If the latter, the symbol's like a question mark without a dot.
posted by handee at 1:46 AM on October 9, 2005

I can't figure out how to make an explosion noise with my throat. Seems to me it's all in the mouth.
posted by jjg at 2:09 AM on October 9, 2005

[ahem]?
posted by 6am at 6:13 PM on May 15, 2006