boughing and soughing, roughing and soughing

[Mark Spahn]

[After proposing a possible translation]
> Sough,
> Dale Ponte

So, is "sough" an interjection, as "*Sigh!*" would be?
A desktop dictionary say that "sough" is pronounced
to rhyme with either "bough" or "rough", and that it means
"a soft, low, murmuring, sighing, or rustling sound"
(not necessarily produced by a human vocal tract).
So how is "sough" pronounced, and what is it a
sound *of*? Of exasperation? resignation?
Barely controlled anger?
-- Mark Spahn, trying to learn English
(thus far unsuccessfully) and grateful for the
Dale Ponte Vocabulary Expansion Service

[Doreen Simmons]

My only experience of this usage is "the soft suffing of the wind" -
but have you noticed, as someone has recently remarked, that
replies sent after 21:30 tend to be more relaxed?

Doreen @ soon to be relaxing

[Laurie Berman]

On Apr 1, 2010, at 12:05 AM, Mark Spahn wrote:

> So, is "sough" an interjection, as "*Sigh!*" would be?
> A desktop dictionary say that "sough" is pronounced
> to rhyme with either "bough" or "rough", and that it means
> "a soft, low, murmuring, sighing, or rustling sound"
> (not necessarily produced by a human vocal tract).
> So how is "sough" pronounced, and what is it a
> sound *of*? Of exasperation? resignation? Barely controlled anger?

Although the dictionary may not say so, I would classify "sough" as
literary--not the kind of word one tosses out in conversation or an
annual report. And I think it's mainly associated with natural and
other non-human sounds. The mood is definitely not angry or
exasperated. Mournful or soothing, I would think, depending on the
context.

"Sigh!" is already a bit self-conscious for a genuine interjection.
As for "Sough!"--forget about it. Unless, perhaps, you are a tree,
in which case, feel free.

Laurie Berman

[Dale Ponte]

Yep, it's the sound trees give off in wind. For one thing, it has
long seemed to me sad that “brainstorming,” such a loud caricature,
has almost overwhelming currency for what it's supposed to denote.
Unable at the moment to come up with an agreeable commonplace
alternative, and with much equinoctial soughing going on outside my
window, I meandered through sincerity till just sough's what fell from
the tree, so to speak, vis-à-vis brainstorming. Not exactly Newton's
apple, I'll admit.

For another thing, sort of 物の哀れ variation on “Peace” as a closing
salutation. Rather startling that Laura caught the tone exactly with
“mournful” and “soothing.”

Other things, as well, but here I'll subside.

Dale

~
The world hangs like a bead of perspiration
In the writer's eyebrow.
He slogs on in his space-ditch
Under a straw sombrero of culture.

(…
.
.
…)

The writer's sweat drops. He stares hopelessly.
(finis)

From “Dog Days on the Black Sea”
by Ted Hughes