The frog that says "ribbit"
Donna Richoux
modern US representation (OED 1968) of the noise the frog makes, I asked
myself, which frog *does* make that sound? The ones of the Northeast
sure don't. There was a sound file at the "Sounds of the World's
Animals" page that did indeed sound like "ribbet, ribbet" but it was
unidentified. So I went cruising for other sound files in hopse of
finding both the right sound and the name. I heard a lot of whirring and
chirping and plunking, with increasing frustration.
I explained to my husband what I wanted; he thought about it and
suggested the Pacific Chorus frog. Unfortunately, I got the name and
location mixed up with some similar frogs, so it still took a while. But
after he told me again, I found a sound file right away, and -- Eureka!
Here is the frog that goes "ribbit":
A Pacific Chorus Frog (Hyla pseudacris or Pseudacris regilla) calls
from the edge of a stream on Carmel Valley Road, east of Carmel,
California, 3/25/99. (34K)
http://www.naturesongs.com/frog4.wav
A California frog! What is more natural to have lodged itself in TV
situation comedy than a frog found all over the state of California and
up the coast toward Canada? What frog more likely to be used on
Hollywood sound tracks?
A painting:
http://www.jgrayartist.com/jpgs/hugger.jpg
I'm pleased. But I think there's a moral to the story somewhere -- it
would be as misleading to teach our children that *all* frogs go
"ribbet" as it is that *all* birds go "tweet". There's a sort of lazy
cultural imperialism here. We can listen for the frogs in our own area
say, just by going for evening walks (which is how I learned the New
England frogs, but never the California ones.)
--
Best -- Donna Richoux
Pat Durkin
"Donna Richoux" <tr...@euronet.nl> wrote in message
news:1gtkki8.wx8llup515b6N%tr...@euronet.nl...
Very entertaining.
Now, I wonder if anyone can explain the froggy origin of the "frog in the
throat". I have a candidate that it isn't an English-speaking frog, as far
as I know.
On a trip to the Yucatan, while spending a balmy evening on the patio beside
the pool at a hotel in Merida, a few frogs were a-courtin' oh. The daughter
of the hotel owner, sitting in the pool-side barroom, began singing in a
very husky voice, the song "Ay! Jalisco, no te rajes!" Being somewhat
inebriated, her voice wandered off-key now and then.
Between refrains, the froggy chorus became more and more noticeable as the
song progressed (and she must have sung every possible verse). At some
point the frogs completely drowned out her voice.
I can't say how or when the song or the froggy response ended. Early the
next morning, taking breakfast at the same pool-side table, I watched the
maintenance crew net about a ton of the long strings of frog eggs from the
surface of the pool, and I was relieved not to have to stay longer and be
asked to take a swim. I didn't ask if their was a bumper crop of frogs in
the neighborhood after the lady sang there in other seasons.
Or maybe they were toads.
>
voice_imitator
>After the recent conversation here about "ribbit"
>(ribbet, rivet) as the modern US representation
>(OED 1968) of the noise the frog makes, I asked
>myself, which frog *does* make that sound?
Did anyone mention Aristophanes' frogs? -- they make a noise that's
written "brekekekex koax koax". I remember a commentator (I suspect it
was Sir Kenneth Dover) raised the same question about this: What frogs
actually sound like that? Has frog language itself evolved since
Aristophanes' time? etc. I can't remember what conclusion he came to.
Anyone know how French or Spanish or German, etc renders frog?
A suggestion, in case it hasn't been said (my apologies if it has). --
Is it possible that people differ in their perception of frog language?
After all, if you're going to transcribe this non-human noise, you have
to isolate certain qualities as the most distinctive or promiment, and
you assimilate the sound to phonemes you're accustomed to. The process
might be very subjective, differing between cultures and languages and
persons.
=====
Regards,
VI
Donna Richoux
> Donna wrote:
>
> >After the recent conversation here about "ribbit"
> >(ribbet, rivet) as the modern US representation
> >(OED 1968) of the noise the frog makes, I asked
> >myself, which frog *does* make that sound?
>
> Did anyone mention Aristophanes' frogs? -- they make a noise that's
> written "brekekekex koax koax". I remember a commentator (I suspect it
> was Sir Kenneth Dover) raised the same question about this: What frogs
> actually sound like that? Has frog language itself evolved since
> Aristophanes' time? etc. I can't remember what conclusion he came to.
A few frog species may have gone extinct in that time, but likely not
much other change.
Frog calls are as distinct and varied as bird calls -- it's pretty much
limited to one call per frog, but it's unique to that species. For
birds, sometimes the call is so distinctive that it has become the name
of the bird; some birds go "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" and some go "Bob
white?" and some go "Jay!" As different as that.
>
> Anyone know how French or Spanish or German, etc renders frog?
That page of "Sounds of the World's Animals" that I suggested gives word
lists like that. Here it is:
http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/animals/
But maybe what you need is not words but to listen to sound files of
actual frog calls. You can try some of these:
Guide to Animal Sounds on the Net
http://members.tripod.com/Thryomanes/AnimalSounds.html#frogs
I'm sure you will have no trouble hearing some differences -- some are a
shrill "yeep yeep yeep yeep" and some are "Plonk" and some are "tecka
tecka"...
I don't know "brekekekex koax koax" but I bet it could be tied to a
particular European species, too, with some knowledge of geographical
range.
Ha, while I was looking for a page to suggest to you, I came across
another US frog that sounds a lot like "Ribbit" -- the Carpenter Frog of
the South.
http://www.naturesound.com/frogs/pages/carpntr.html
I may have to back pedal on my scorn that California's frog has been
taken on as the national standard. I'm rather pleased there is a
Southern candidate -- "ribbet" just sounds to me as if it should have
been coined in the backwoods, not in a suburb.
>
> A suggestion, in case it hasn't been said (my apologies if it has). --
> Is it possible that people differ in their perception of frog language?
Did you listen to that sound file I gave, and did it sound anything
vaguely like "ribbit" or "rivet" to you?
By the way, it should sound like the sound file that illustrates the
Georgetown URL above -- they show a pretty black-and yellow poison dart
frog from South America, but they attach someone else's sound.
Misleading.
> After all, if you're going to transcribe this non-human noise, you have
> to isolate certain qualities as the most distinctive or promiment, and
> you assimilate the sound to phonemes you're accustomed to. The process
> might be very subjective, differing between cultures and languages and
> persons.
That's true. But frogs are so distinctive and so regional, I think we
have easier explanations kicking in first.
R H Draney
>
>But maybe what you need is not words but to listen to sound files of
>actual frog calls. You can try some of these:
>
> Guide to Animal Sounds on the Net
> http://members.tripod.com/Thryomanes/AnimalSounds.html#frogs
>
>I'm sure you will have no trouble hearing some differences -- some are a
>shrill "yeep yeep yeep yeep" and some are "Plonk" and some are "tecka
>tecka"...
I wonder if there's a real frog with a croak close to that of the "ytram" found
in the computer game Riven....r
Laura F. Spira
Do you remember Frogger? We played that a lot on our old Sinclair
Spectrum. It was very unkind to frogs.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
the Omrud
Still a firm favourite with Nerds. There are innumerable versions
available online - this is an easy one:
http://www.crazybone.com/onlinegames/link_in_frame.php?link=450&c=
--
David
=====
replace usenet with the
Linz
"voice_imitator" <voicei...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1111089079.4...@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Did anyone mention Aristophanes' frogs? -- they make a noise that's
> written "brekekekex koax koax". I remember a commentator (I suspect
> it was Sir Kenneth Dover) raised the same question about this: What
> frogs actually sound like that? Has frog language itself evolved
> since Aristophanes' time? etc. I can't remember what conclusion he
> came to.
I mentioned them, but in another thread.
J. J. Lodder
> Donna wrote:
>
> >After the recent conversation here about "ribbit"
> >(ribbet, rivet) as the modern US representation
> >(OED 1968) of the noise the frog makes, I asked
> >myself, which frog *does* make that sound?
>
> Did anyone mention Aristophanes' frogs? -- they make a noise that's
> written "brekekekex koax koax". I remember a commentator (I suspect it
> was Sir Kenneth Dover) raised the same question about this: What frogs
> actually sound like that? Has frog language itself evolved since
> Aristophanes' time? etc. I can't remember what conclusion he came to.
The only valid conclusion nowadays seems to be
that the letter combinations used to render animal sounds
differ enormously in different times and places.
(even when one attemps a more or les phonetic pronunciation
according to the rules of the language)
There is a lot of convention involved.
Someone I know had made a collection of it,
based on sources such as translations of Asterix or Donald Duck
into various languages.
Best,
Jan
Jim Ward
wrote:
>After the recent conversation here about "ribbit" (ribbet, rivet) as the
>modern US representation (OED 1968) of the noise the frog makes, I asked
>myself, which frog *does* make that sound?
I was also recently wondering about sounds in different languages,
especially mechanical ones. For example, helicopters always seem to go
"buda-buda-buda", pistols go "click", and foghorns cry "aoogha".
Jim Ward
<la...@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> wrote:
>Do you remember Frogger? We played that a lot on our old Sinclair
>Spectrum. It was very unkind to frogs.
Perhaps the frogs were alien? I was recently opining on the difference
between an alien and an invasive species. My view was that they
only became invasive after the probe.
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>I was also recently wondering about sounds in different languages,
>especially mechanical ones. For example, helicopters always seem to go
>"buda-buda-buda", pistols go "click", and foghorns cry "aoogha".
And machine guns say "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
R H Draney
>
>On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:19:35 -0500, Jim Ward <tomca...@NyOaShPoAoM.com>
>wrote:
>
>>I was also recently wondering about sounds in different languages,
>>especially mechanical ones. For example, helicopters always seem to go
>>"buda-buda-buda", pistols go "click", and foghorns cry "aoogha".
>
>And machine guns say "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"
If you're Walter Mitty, *everything* goes "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"....r
Carmen L. Abruzzi
> On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:19:35 -0500, Jim Ward <tomca...@NyOaShPoAoM.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I was also recently wondering about sounds in different languages,
>>especially mechanical ones. For example, helicopters always seem to go
>>"buda-buda-buda", pistols go "click",
Well, maybe, but then they go "bang".
> and foghorns cry "aoogha".
"Aoogha"? No. Foghorns go "Bwaaayyy-ooooooom". It's old style-car
horns, from the era when the drivers still had to wear goggles, that go
"aoogha".
>
>
> And machine guns say "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"
>
>
No. That's how they old style car engines go.
Carmen L. Abruzzi
> Steve Hayes filted:
>
>>On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:19:35 -0500, Jim Ward <tomca...@NyOaShPoAoM.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I was also recently wondering about sounds in different languages,
>>>especially mechanical ones. For example, helicopters always seem to go
>>>"buda-buda-buda", pistols go "click", and foghorns cry "aoogha".
>>
>>And machine guns say "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"
>
>
> If you're Walter Mitty, *everything* goes "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa"....r
>
engine and day-dreaming that it's something else.
Jim Ward
<carmenl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>"Aoogha"? No. Foghorns go "Bwaaayyy-ooooooom". It's old style-car
>horns, from the era when the drivers still had to wear goggles, that go
>"aoogha".
You're right! Now I'm trying to write what noise those bicycle horns
with a bulb on the end make ... but I can't get it into type. The
bells with the thumb pull "ching".
Linz
"Jim Ward" <tomca...@NyOaShPoAoM.com> wrote in message
news:ac65415c4un5dqtm4...@4ax.com...
"Parp" and "ting" for me.
Jim Ward
wrote:
>"Parp" and "ting" for me.
Now that sounds like a vaudeville act!
R H Draney
More like an ad(vert) for a couple of new soft drinks....r