Sounds like…
Why would a word about sounding like sounds sound so… weird?
Tongue twister aside, onomatopoeia might be the most counter-intuitive word ever.
It categorizes words that sound like the in-real-life sound they’re standing in for. Examples: buzz, sizzle, murmur, thud, jingle.
The word itself - onomatopoeia - is not at all onomatopoeic. It does not sound like any natural sound. Frankly, I get completely distracted by the PEE syllable, which I assume is a hold over from learning the term in grade 5. And the word is pretty much impossible to spell correctly the first time, unlike buzz, thud or jingle.
I blame the guys in the 1500s who turned to ancient Greek whenever they needed a new word. "Onoma" means "name" and "poiein" means "to make" or "to create." Well done. You just created a name for the act of name-creation. The term was coined by an English linguist John Cheke, who taught Greek at Cambridge University and presumably believed the Ancient Greeks did everything better. So thank you Dr. John for giving us a complicated and un-spell-able term for some of the simplest sound-words in our English language.
Rant over… Other than grade 5 poetry class (PEE teeheehee), the concept doesn’t come up that often in writing about coaching, consulting and healing businesses. But it DID occur to me when I was writing about Resilience and Grit.
When I first heard about “grit” as a character trait (I already knew the word for those crunchy bits of dirt you end up with in your teeth when you don’t take time to wash the lettuce), I was fascinated. It accurately described my teenager at the time. “Stubborn” and “exhausting” were the words I was using previously. “Grit” was a more complimentary way of describing his perseverance. It describes pushing ahead even when things aren’t going smoothly. Somehow it feels scrappier and even more determined than “tenacity.” Like my lettuce, it’s a bit dirtier. But “grit” doesn’t step on other people’s toes the way “obstinance” does. It’s not competitive — no one has to lose or fail for you to have or show your grit.
“Grit” was not a new term, but the psychologist Angela Duckworth brought it back into common usage in 2013 with a TED Talk and 2016 with her book. Grit became a good thing to have, and everyone claimed to respect it, want it, have it, and require it in others.
You have probably figured out by now that I’m not a fan of Hustle Culture. I don’t promote business growth-at-any-cost, being ‘on’ 24/7, revenue-boasts, humble-bragging, the glorification of busy, or any of the bro-marketing instagram quotes out there like "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.”
Interestingly, business culture and marketing quickly glommed onto the short, abrupt, teeth-clenched-in determination term.
During the pandemic, another word bubbled up to the surface of common language: “resilient.” With four syllables, lots of vowels, and a sibilant (two sibilants, in fact, in “resilience”), resilient has a similar meaning but a much softer, elongated sound.
That, my friends, is when onomatopoeia becomes a tangible, useful factor in word choice. Such a subtle yet fascinating difference… Would you say your clients have grit? Or are they resilient? Do you help teams face challenges with grit? Or respond to difficult times with resilience? Do kids today have enough grit? Or are they proving to have the resilience they need?
Grit and resilience are both positive, powerful, current-apocalypse-necessitating traits. They refer to the same stick-to-it-iveness, but carry a different degree of in-your-face-ness. That’s really the best I can do in describing the difference between the two words. Other than saying, “I don’t know… but there’s something onomatopoeic going on.”