Ribbit! (1965)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Years ago (1992) I mentioned "ribbit" to Fred Cassidy.  Either he was unfamiliar with it, or he had encountered it only recently.

I do recall that he volunteered "jug-o'-rum" as his childhood frog sound.  All I can dredge up from my frog-deprived urban existence is a creaking baritonal "CROOOOOAK!!"

The possibility that "ribbit" is the result of an unreported language shift within the frog community has not been addressed.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Ribbit! (1965)
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According to the literature available when and where I was a child,
bullfrogs "croaked" the sound "jug-a-rum." Other, smaller frogs
"chirrupped" and spring peepers, of course, "peeped."

"Brekekekex koax koax" is a transliteration of what Aristophanes's
frogs said in the textbook that I used for the study of Greek.
However, given that spacing between words was not the usual practice
in antiquity, "bre ke ke kex ko ax ko ax" or any one of several other
possible transliterations would be just as acceptable, IMO. But, as
to how this croak might be translated, I have no idea.

-Wilson


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Tom Kysilko

>Subject: Re: Ribbit! (1965)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Quoting Jonathan Lighter :
>
>> The late appearance of "ribbit" may be compared with the earlier, but still
>> surprisingly recent, appearance of "quack," "honk," and "oink."
>
>What interests me is that "ribbit" has attained this status as *the* answer to
>the question "What does a frog say?" so recently. When I was a child, I
>learned from my mother and Captain Kangaroo that froggies went "garump".
>"Greedeep" (or some spelling thereof) has also had considerable currency in my
>lifetime.
>
>It might be interesting to compare the various English translations
>of the frog
>noise in Aristophanes, THE FROGS. I believe Dudley Fitts used "Brekeke kesh"
>or something similar.
>
>--Tom Kysilko


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