The sounds and the fury

Here's something near and dear to the hearts of longtime comics fans: onomatopoeia. Seriously.

In a curious article, The Malaysia Star focuses on "the aesthetic values of sounds," and "comic onomatopoeia" -- words like kaboom, zoom and kerplunk that are most often seen in comic books.

The best part, though, is "selection of weird but rare gems for sound effect and symbolism":

gweek-gwak: the squeaking noise made by someone walking in leather boots or in shoes with rubber soles.

Kinclunk: the sound of a car running over a manhole cover.

skirr: the whirring sound of birds scurrying into flight.

tirl: rattling or clattering sound made by spinning or moving rapidly up or down; also, to make a string vibrate by plucking it.

blodder: to flow with a gurgling sound out of a vessel with a narrow aperture.

gwick: the sound made in swallowing; also, to make a swallowing sound.