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Saturday, September 28, 2013

"Onomatopoeia"

I had to look this word up when I saw it on Illustration Friday this week.  It’s a super difficult word that basically says “moo”.  In other words, a word that’s the same as it sounds.  Geez some people make life unnecessarily hard.

I’m actually very good at mooing.  I went to a farm with a boyfriend once and while he and his buddy showed off their knowledge of tractors they got the thing stuck in the mud.  Then they got another tractor to pull out the first and got the second tractor stuck in the mud.  All the cows surrounded them and I spent a long time sitting on the fence perfecting my mooing while the two guys pondered gravity, suction, and mud.

Cows have very little to say.  It all boils down to “moo” (hungry), “mooo” full udder, or “moooo” really hungry.  At least that’s all I’ve figured out from it.  I spent a bit of another afternoon learning goose too.  I think it’s safe to say that I mastered it, or at least “honnnk” (I’m no threat and have nothing better to do than be a part of your gaggle for a while).

When I was young, I laid under the trees and watched the crows.  They’re far more interesting than cows and geese.  The crows were peacefully eating whatever they were eating on the ground, with a juvenile in the tree watching out for the family, when I decided to “CAW!” and the crows scattered.  Cool.  I have power over birds.

I let them scold me for a while before they returned to their usual stuff, this time with an adult male as lookout.  Just when he was looking comfortable again, “CAW!” and they scattered again.  Awesome cool.  I giggled and waited for my next opportunity.  The male crow was getting annoyed with me and gave me the evil eye.  “CAW!” and he “CAW”ed back at me.  That’s okay, and I “CAW”ed back and forth until I got his voice.  Papa Crow seemed to enjoy giving me lessons after a while.

Next time I went to their area, I “CAW”ed at Papa Crow and he gave me a “CAW” back.  I went about my serious business of being a child and he went about being a crow.  We developed an understanding.  He taught me more crow words, though admittedly most of them are a variation of “CAW”.  The other crows helped with my linguistics studies.  They all went with me to the bus stop when school started again.  I left them berries and shiny things as peace offerings.

This family of crows moved south in winter.  I figured I’d have to reintegrate into their group when they came back in spring, but Papa Crow called to me the first day he was back in Ohio.  I was overjoyed and told him so.  He told me as much as he could about his travels, given that while I might understand a lot of crow, I don’t get the finer details.  I do know that he had a lot to say that first day, and felt rather urgently about telling me about it.  We understood the main point, we missed each other.

My crows told the other crows downstream that I should be watched over.  I don’t know how they did it, and I didn’t talk with the downstream crows, but all of them were my babysitters.  They warned me of dangers.  I can never be lonely in summer as long as there are crows.

This is old art.  Once it was finished I recognized that must be a really giant cow or a really short farmer.

17 comments:

  1. Very cool picture and story. I think Moooo - "That bull over there looks fine." Might be in their vocabulary ;)

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  2. A fun, fun read over morning coffee! Moo (me likey).

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  3. Your cow piece has a pretty sentimental look. I know. I had to look up the IF word this week as well. Uff da. I decided it was a good week to do Wild Bird Wednesday instead.

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  4. I like to drive by cows and scream "MOO!" out the window, so they think a cow is driving the car. But, now it's gotten to the point where we yell "MOO!" at any animal we see as we drive.

    MOO!

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  5. I love the cow! Cows are so funny! But your story about the crows is just magical. I think we should all re-visit our childhoods a bit more often, and remember our animal friendships and magical hideaways. :)

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  6. I guess I do understand another variation of "Moo" -- like "don't jump on my back from a tree when I'm peacefully grazing". I really liked going for a cow ride back when :) Thanks for the comments everybody!

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  7. A lovely illustration of a very big cow, feeding, I assume, a large family. If you had enlarged the cow a bit more, your illustration would have this naive style, which is often lovely.

    I knew the word Onomatopoeia young because many Dutch birds are named after the sound they make: an Owl (although it hoots, it says its name), a Peewit *Peewit-Peewit*, Jay, Crow, and many more. I'm sure many bird names in your country are onomatopoeias too.




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  8. Thanks Paula! It makes so much sense to name things after what they sound like. Maybe I'm more bilingual than I thought?

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  9. Hi Linda! I want you to know that I appreciate you being a loyal follower/commenter on my blog. I haven't been participating regularly in IF, so I miss some of my blog buddies! I've thoroughly enjoyed sitting here this evening catching up on your latest blog posts. And I think your "too large" cow looks like something out of a cute children's book...something like "Tootsie the Too-Big Cow"! :)

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  10. Thanks Sarah! I thought about fixing the size of the cow in Photoshop, but decided that showing mistakes is important too. Now I'm thinking about what kind of story to make with "Tootsie" :)

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  11. No it's a moolodramitic cow, just the right size because the cow is the centre of the universe - especially if you are the calf. So this is colour pencil? Pastel? You have a brilliant handling of whatever medium it is. Omnanapapopaapoae is a favourite word of mine, one that I rarely write for obvious reasons. Just close a thick book and listen to the word it says to you. And I like "patina" as well, just like the end of my nose. Hope you are well :)

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  12. It's colored pencil, Prismacolors to be specific. I made this when I had endless patience and seemingly endless time for this kind of thing too. When are you going to start blogging again Andrew?! I miss your stories and creations.

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  13. Ahhhh, what a nice story. Get it? Ahhhhh... :) My kids taught me what onomatopoeia is when they were in elementary school.

    Of course, I had to scroll back to see how it's spelled.

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  14. Oops, I forgot to say how much I love your illustration. You surprise me here and there with your multifaceted art.

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  15. A fun post Linda...I wonder what crows call us.....?? Great cow drawing, I would be pleased if I could just draw one let alone worry about size! Happy weekend x

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  16. Isn't it nice when kids teach us something? Thanks for the comments, and a happy weekend to you too!

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