"Clop", definitely. It's listed in the dictionary as "the sound of horses' hooves on a hard surface; origin imitative"; i.e. it means exactly the same thing, and has exactly the same origin, as "clip-clop" and "clippety-clop".
"Clang" is more arguable. Yes, it's the sound of metal hitting metal. But "jail bars closing" is very specific, and "clink" definitely has that specific connotation.
The Wiggles agreed with Thomas - a choo-choo train goes toot toot. And it was definitely "toot toot" on "Pettycoat Junction". The choo choo comes from the steam turning of the wheels.
No. "Woo-woo" is not a real word; I checked a bunch of English dictionaries, and it wasn't in any of them. (Well, Wiktionary listed it, but it listed it as the sound of an ambulence siren rather than of a train whistle, and it didn't offer any citations.) And the onomatopoetic word for the sound a train itself makes is "chug", which is a completely different sound from the "choo-choo" of the train's whistle.
The word is actually "whoo" and is defined as "a whistling sound". "Choo" is not the sound of the whistle - who ever heard of a whistle with a "ch". In fact, it comes from the sound trains used to make before the track was welded, The "choo", "chug",etc. described the noise of the train going over the joints between lengths of track.
I thought choo-choo is the sound of the train chugging along, not the shrill shriek of the train whistle. So I think making the clue "train" rather than "train whistle" is probably more helpful.
There is the issue that there are two things you could consider as the train whistle. When an old steam train blows of steam, which would be the choo-choo and woo-woo I guess. And the (shrill) whistle of the conductor to signal the train is leaving. I was thinking of the 2nd type, the first hadnt even occurred to me tbh.
To stop all the arguments and make the question less ambiguous I would also suggest using train instead of train whistle.
(even looking at it now train whistle choo-choo looks weird to me, a whistle doesnt say choo choo, but pffrrrttttt!! in my personal experience ;) train signal allready seems better)
chuga chuga , woot woot, clickity clack those are the sounds of the man working on the chain. And Nike would be the pump... whatever air noise that was.
I still say 'choo choo' is wrong. 'Choo choo' is the sound of a steam train and comes from the sound of the steam engine. The whistle is a completely different sound and is nothing like 'choo choo'.
The train sound we grew up with was the following "CHOO-choo-choo-choo...CHOO-choo-choo-choo...CHOO-choo-choo-choo..." with heavy emphasis on the 1st "choo" each time, not the 2d, 3d, 4th. Hold your molars together, tongue sides against them, and touch the roof of your mouth to form syllables. It should make a steam engine noise.
zlake is right there, the sound you are describing is when people are saying chug chug chug (or possibly chu-chu-chu-chug) with a short u, but the choo-choo noise people refer to is with a very long oooo and just twice, i.e. the typical noise when the driver pulls on the steam engine cord to release steam through the pipe.
A train whistle does not go choo-choo; that's the sound of steam operating the pistons in the cylinders that drive the wheels. A train whistle goes 'woo-woo' or 'toot-toot' or 'hoot' or ??.
Things that make me slap my forehead and go D'OH!!: I tried 'clank' for jail bars being closed, thought and thought and didn't try 'clink'.
I think many of these could have lots of different answers, and it's impossible to say which answers are correct or wrong. I tried ba-dum-tch, and just tch for cymbals, bang for explosion, shazam for magician, and slam for jail bars.
Not sure if slam or shazam are onomatopoeia. I tried woosh for the magician though. And clang, clash, cling, cloink I dont know for the cymbals :/ zing mayybe aswell
Funny how onomatopoeia is defined as "sounds like what it describes", but even onomatopoeic words are very different in different languages even though the sounds that they describe are the same ones. -- Also thought prison gates would sound more like a clang :P
Actually, you know, even if the Big Bang happened, which it didn't, 'bang' cannot sound like it describes, because sound is airwaves, and there is no air in space. Therefore, the Big Bang wouldn't have made any sound.
yea clink sounds when someone tries to sneak away a quietly pushes the (metal) door closed. Close to click. When you give it a hard shove what is usually done, it is clang clank or even cloink (which makes a low sound) (dont think slam is a onomatopoeia)
I don't think clink is really representative of jail bars closing... I thought of "clang". I think of clink as the sound when people say "cheers"... then they clink their glasses together.
I reckon patter should be accepted for pitter patter. The train whistle should be changed to the train horn so that people won't get confused with the conductor whistle as I did.
hehe... I see a Monty Python reference! Or maybe it was just a coincidence? If it isn't, good for you! (If you don't understand what I'm talking about, go and watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Possibly the best movie of all time!)
"Clang" is more arguable. Yes, it's the sound of metal hitting metal. But "jail bars closing" is very specific, and "clink" definitely has that specific connotation.
And for Basketball shoes i tried "Creak" and "Screech".
Though I can see toot toot instead of choo choo, choo choo is definitely not the sounds of the wheels being turned.
Also, I loved the allusions to the Wizard of Oz and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. :D
Or so my Speak-and-Say tells me.
To stop all the arguments and make the question less ambiguous I would also suggest using train instead of train whistle.
(even looking at it now train whistle choo-choo looks weird to me, a whistle doesnt say choo choo, but pffrrrttttt!! in my personal experience ;) train signal allready seems better)
Things that make me slap my forehead and go D'OH!!: I tried 'clank' for jail bars being closed, thought and thought and didn't try 'clink'.
Good quiz!
Clue: Thomas the Tank Engine YouTube Poops use this when they are rushing.
Answer: Wheesh!
Sorry, couldn't resist. Great quiz tho.
tu-whit tu-woo for owl sound