3 ms·

If one in five people hears flashes of lights, I'd expect one in five writers to use such words, to describe evocatively some scene with that in it; I'd expect

If one in five people hears flashes of lights, I'd expect one in five writers to use such words, to describe evocatively some scene with that in it; I'd expect others to think it's some metaphor, and I'd expect a few sound-words to make it into the language of describing flashes of lights. so, are there any? stars twinkle - but they don't "sizzle" or "crackle". a shooting star or a far-off flare does not "sigh" or "whistle" or click or any other sound word. Can anyone think of a single common, and clear example in the language? If not - why not? I've used lots of words to describe lights (shimmer, twinkle, etc) not one of which happened to be introduced by one or more writers using sound-words evocatively. We could say "I saw a flare pop in the distance" - but we don't. Why didn't these 20% of writers make some sort of mark on the language like that? (with everyone else not realizing it wasn't supposed to be a metaphor?)

JasonSage 10y ago
Pure speculation on my part, but I think to some extent writers are conditioned to think of writing things a certain way by the sheer amount of literature they read, creating a reinforcement loop where there are various idiomatic ways to explain things and moving too far away from that is jarring to the reader.
- logicallee 10y ago
  But lots and lots of writers (and poets!) are happy to go for jarring effects :) I wonder if a single one of them has ever used a sound-word to describe a flash of light. Even ambiguously. (for example, I said we could say "I saw a flare pop in the distance" - and it could be about the sound/act of firing the flare, rather than what thd sight "sounds like". (so 80% of readers could misunderstand.) so can anyone quote an example from poetry or literature?