PLING!
August 12, 2006 7:27 AM   Subscribe

Do you have any connotations, good or bad, with the word PLING! (yes, written just like that)?

[I'll explain later. I don't want to influence any responses by giving background. Thanks!]
posted by melixxa600 to Writing & Language (49 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
it sounds like an achievement word.

"Man I just scored big!"... "PLING!"

Other than that.. Isn't it a word for an exclamation point?
posted by sindas at 7:30 AM on August 12, 2006


Sounds like a gambling site.. PLINKO comes to mind.. but it is fairly neutral.
posted by SirStan at 7:36 AM on August 12, 2006


"Pling", meaning exclamation mark is a word I never use anymore but I do associate it with having fun mucking about with Acorn computers so that's some kind of positive association. I'm not so sure about the all caps and following exclamation mark but it would depend on what you wanted to do with it.
posted by teleskiving at 7:36 AM on August 12, 2006


Sounds like an onomatopoeia for a video game sound of some sort -- maybe collecting a ring in Sonic the Hedgehog.
posted by danb at 7:36 AM on August 12, 2006


Onomatopoeic for a sharp sound?
posted by davcoo at 7:39 AM on August 12, 2006


...maybe collecting a ring in Sonic the Hedgehog.
I was trying to come up with a good analogy, and I think danb hit it perfectly.
And makes me want to pull out the old Sega and fire-up some Sonic this weekend
posted by Thorzdad at 7:40 AM on August 12, 2006


The sound of a pachinko machine. A cheap, tinny, metallic sound, like that made by the old pull-tabs on cans of soda or beer, knocking agianst the inside of the empty can.
posted by orthogonality at 7:43 AM on August 12, 2006


It has good connotations for me, like the slot machine just paid out, or you just got a ring in Sonic, etc.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 7:46 AM on August 12, 2006


What bling used to connote before it meant gaudy jewelry and spinning rims.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:51 AM on August 12, 2006


A rare-used Batman sound effect when punching thugs into pinball machines along with "TILT!"
posted by Saydur at 7:54 AM on August 12, 2006


The sound of plucking a very very high note on a guitar. Or maybe one of the strings behind the pickup or at the top of the neck. Neither positive nor negative.
posted by Bugbread at 7:55 AM on August 12, 2006


Sounds like a portmanteau of "plink" and "bing", both onomatopoeic words themselves. Oh, and yes. It's definitely the right word for the Sonic noise!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:07 AM on August 12, 2006


A sound somewhere between BING! and PLINK!

Or, what danb said.
posted by Lebannen at 8:08 AM on August 12, 2006


Also: connotations wise, especially written like that, it reminds me of PENG!, the Stereolab album.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:08 AM on August 12, 2006


So, on failing to preview, what Jon Mitchell said.
posted by Lebannen at 8:10 AM on August 12, 2006


i would never buy anything from a company with an exclamation mark in its name.
posted by dydecker at 8:16 AM on August 12, 2006


But, as dydecker points out, the connotations/denotations behind a word don't all stick for all possible cases. For example, "sexy" has a good connotation for me, but I wouldn't want to bury a loved one in the "Sexy Graves Funeral Home". So "PLING!" might be good, but it would be a lousy company name.
posted by Bugbread at 8:22 AM on August 12, 2006


Immediately thought PLINKO as well.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:23 AM on August 12, 2006


Sounds a little Web-2.0-ish to me (for good or ill). Like "Wists" and "Clusty" and "Goowy" or however you spell that.

OK, let me back-form a Web 2.0 business model for "PLING!": A website where users can submit orders for custom jewelry they'd like to buy, and jewelers log in and bid on the designs to get the commission. There is also a "Top PLING!ers" list, where a jeweler can increase the prominence of a link to their catalog (and web storefront), by bidding on (and winning) more commissions. Alternate name: "Jewelr"

No other connotations jumped out at me, but the Sonic thing is true, now that I am reminded of it.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:27 AM on August 12, 2006


I imagine a coin falling from a slot machine or a bullet hitting a target or a glob of spit hitting the spitoon. In other words, I imagne metal, movement and success.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 8:33 AM on August 12, 2006


Makes me think of a Price Is Right game.

Also make me think of some web 2.0 ish social networking term. Like sending broadcast messages to the contacts on your list by "plinging" them.

oh, and rock steady - TOO funny
posted by necessitas at 8:38 AM on August 12, 2006


"Isn't that a Shuggie Otis track?" (It is.)

It also reminds me of the sound individual beads in a rain stick make when they fall, as well as some of the sound effects on Jeopardy.
posted by Vervain at 8:47 AM on August 12, 2006


It's what we call dumplings in our house.
"Should we get an order of 'plings?"
"Hell, yeah!"
posted by bink at 8:47 AM on August 12, 2006


Is the sound an imaginary lightbulb makes when cartoonist put it over the head of a character that implies a creative idea that solves the current problem. Is in PLING! Brilliant Idea........... or not........
posted by xenophanes at 8:51 AM on August 12, 2006


For some reason i thought immediately of a stereolab album called Peng.
posted by freq at 9:53 AM on August 12, 2006


Written like that, it looks like the word "PUNGI," but I have no connotations, good or bad, except for the fact that, in my head, I pronounce it like "PUNJI."

Wikipedia^ tells me that "Pungi" is the instrument played by a snake charmer. It also tells me that "punji" are feces-covered, sharpened sticks driven into the ground, with points left upward in hopes that soldiers might step or fall on them.

So there's a connotation, I guess, as tenuous as it may be.
posted by dersins at 10:11 AM on August 12, 2006


MetaFilter: When You Can't Afford a Real Focus Group.
posted by baylink at 10:11 AM on August 12, 2006


Makes me think of a ringing metal sound... possibly like coins. So a good connotation.
posted by beerbajay at 10:19 AM on August 12, 2006


Makes me think of BLING! So, for me, bad connotation.
posted by bricoleur at 10:22 AM on August 12, 2006


To me, it has a positive connotation.
posted by Meagan at 10:23 AM on August 12, 2006


That came out like a response to beerbajay in particular--not intended that way at all...
posted by bricoleur at 10:24 AM on August 12, 2006


Did I miss something? Why are we assuming this is a potential company name?

(if it is, i would totally go to a casino named pling!, but would probably never a visit a website of the name b/c i'd figure it would be out of business in a yearish)
posted by echo0720 at 10:30 AM on August 12, 2006


It looks like an excited word, but I have no idea what it means. Maybe it would appear in an excited-looking bubble on a page in a comic book.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 11:17 AM on August 12, 2006


I think of aluminium baseball bats. Which I don't care for at all.
posted by .kobayashi. at 11:57 AM on August 12, 2006


It's the song on Inspiration Information you skip. After Rainy Day and Xl-30 you're about ready to get back into the funkier stuff.
posted by Prince Nez at 11:58 AM on August 12, 2006


It sounds positive to meā€”kind of like onomatopoeia from a comic or manga, or like Sonic collecting a ring. I don't usually like P-words too much, either, but PLING! works pretty well.

It is pretty close to fling, though, and I don't like that word very much.
posted by limeonaire at 12:04 PM on August 12, 2006


Made me think of bling also.
posted by Zinger at 12:37 PM on August 12, 2006


Written "just like that" (caps plus bang) I gotta dislike it on-sight, more or less the same way I dislike Yahoo! or other words that impose their punctuation/stylization on anybody trying to write them. I get a "meh" from such words deep in my belly. (But I like 'plings for dumplings, and apostrophes get a pass from my meh-detector, so what do I know?)
posted by cgc373 at 1:05 PM on August 12, 2006


Made me think of Plugh.
posted by paduasoy at 1:19 PM on August 12, 2006


Response by poster: OK, thanks for the many responses - I didn't expect to elicit so much.

It's true, I can't afford a real focus group as I am trying to finetune a very serious, heartfelt plea from a young couple hoping to adopt a child. They use "PLING!" over and over in their materials to denote something along the lines of an "aha!" moment - a sudden strong emotional response that tells them something is exactly right. A leap of the heart; a thrill of recognition, rightness; a split-second of recognition. They felt it when they first laid eyes on one another; they felt simultaneously when they saw a photo of the dog they ended up taking home from the pound and loving. They are hoping that a birthmother will see their photos, or read their bios, and feel the same.

I'm the translator but feel I'm getting interference from the source language - can't decide if "pling!" (I would actually write it without caps, in italics, with the exclamation mark) expresses all this, or rather comes across as silly. Or, God forbid, even has negative connotations I may not even know about. Alas, I found myself thinking a bit of "schwing!" (ugh) when I saw it again and again on the page. But no one else has mentioned this one. I could also choose in the end to go with something like "aha!," "magic moment" or similar.
posted by melixxa600 at 2:23 PM on August 12, 2006


If you had to figure it out, then someone else will too. Translate into something that doesn't need expected interpretation.
posted by qwip at 3:12 PM on August 12, 2006


melixxa600 : "I'm the translator but feel I'm getting interference from the source language - can't decide if 'pling!' (I would actually write it without caps, in italics, with the exclamation mark) expresses all this, or rather comes across as silly."

Unfortunately (from my POV), both: it makes sense, but it sounds a bit...trivial. Perhaps because of the oft-repeated metal connotation. A possible translation (though it isn't quite as excited as "pling!") is "click".

Out of curiosity, I gather that you're translating into English, but what is the source language?
posted by Bugbread at 3:14 PM on August 12, 2006


My Swedish friend claims that "pling" is what you do when you press the button to tell the driver you want to get off the bus. "Hey, there's our stop -- pling, quick". Weird, really.
posted by reklaw at 5:24 PM on August 12, 2006


Out of curiosity, I gather that you're translating into English, but what is the source language?

I too would like to know.
posted by languagehat at 5:31 PM on August 12, 2006


Well, I'd use "ding!" (as in the lightbulb-going-off-over-the-head sound), but even then, depending on the context, it might not be crystal clear. If it is set up right, many structural and grammatic quirks can be clear and powerful additions to a text (I always think of Stephen King as the master of this), so as long as it is properly "defined," pling might be OK.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:31 PM on August 12, 2006


Response by poster: The source language is German.

I am edging away from "pling." I haven't really liked it from the beginning, to be honest, but in this case did not want to tinker too much with this couple's personal mode of expression. I think bugbread hit it on the head by pointing out its "trivial" sound - the many associations with metal and jingling metallic sounds (I don't think anyone here has mentioned "ka-ching!" but doubtless we've all had it in the back of our minds).

I don't really like "aha!" either. I am trying to find something that comes across as unique to this couple, with their unique sensibility. Distinctiveness and personality are what stand out in letters to birthmothers, what set one letter apart from the pack. This is why I wondered whether I should stick with "pling!" from the outset. (Not sure if I mentioned it before, but this concept - this PLING! - comes up again and again in all the profile materials, the thread weaving everything together. Or the gimmick, if you will.)

What I'm working toward now is something along the lines of "yes!" - you know, the great YES, the existential YES, the life-affirming YES! Of course, as usual, I'll have to make a strong case for it to the client, as people become very very attached to their little linguistic crutches. (I know I do.)

Thanks, everyone, for your input.
posted by melixxa600 at 7:21 AM on August 13, 2006


Thats Stereolab song, Peng!, was also covered by Iron and Wine for an iTunes only EP. It's a nice cover
posted by GilloD at 3:34 PM on August 13, 2006


Strikes me that it would be a sound I didn't want to hear when sky diving.

Just a thought.
posted by DrtyBlvd at 5:13 AM on August 14, 2006


It reminds me of a television commercial for Bank Austria. In the commercial, a young girl is trying to turn a stuffed dog into a real one, if I recall correctly. She waves a toy wand at the stuffed animal and says, "hokus pokus, pling!" repeatedly.

There's also the concept German of the "aha! Erlebnis" - the moment at which one makes an important discovery or realizes an important connection.
posted by syzygy at 8:49 AM on August 16, 2006


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