CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, and a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.

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Pfft!

The British expression "noise stroke gesture" (in American parlance, "noise slash gesture" or "noise/gesture") refers to the intriguing fact that some vocal expressions seem to call for an accompanying hand gesture.  Take, for example, Pfft!  No matter what its intended meaning, it virtually demands to be echoed in sign language.

Reader Jonathan Caws-Elwitt suggests some other great examples:

Someone pretends to moisten a finger, then touches it briefly to her posterior and mimes the effect of the finger "sizzling" -- to the accompaniment of a "Tsss" vocalization.   And how about the triumphant "Yessss!" that is always(?) accompanied by body language?  Or Fonzie's "Ayyyy" with thumb extended?  Or the one where someone acknowledges someone else by briefly pointing at him/her while making a one- or two-syllable clicking sound (reminiscent of a shutter-release)?

Have you noticed a noise/gesture in print?  Please share!

(For a variety of surprising definitions of noises like pfft, check out my Dictionary of All-Consonant Words at OneLetterWords.com.)

February 21, 2009 (permalink)

"The shed went quiet save for the pfft of Paul dragging on his cigarette." —Screwthedaisies, Things Inside.
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February 15, 2009 (permalink)

"He could hardly be held accountable for determining how much time had passed in her presence, for soon she was gone: 'Pfft,' he expounded." —Joseph Di Prisco, Confessions of Brother Eli.
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February 1, 2009 (permalink)

"Don't go pfft. It's true," he said. —Sue Miller, While I Was Gone.
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January 26, 2009 (permalink)

"I just — pfft-pfft — spent money like that." —John Miller Chernoff, Hustling is Not Stealing.
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January 18, 2009 (permalink)

MORRIS: What does that mean — pfft?
SHLOMO: It means nothing. ... Pfft this, pfft that.
—Allan Knee, Second Avenue Rag.
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January 10, 2009 (permalink)

"'Pfft, pfft, pfft,' Mama made spitting noises to drive away the demons." —Sylvia Smoller, Rachel and Aleks.
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January 4, 2009 (permalink)

"The pfft! would be complete if I had developed any flair for fiction." —C. H. (Brick) Garrigues
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December 21, 2008 (permalink)

"I've never told you but back in London (that time she was in hospital and refused to see me) she almost gave up the ghost pfft." —Gérard Bessette, Incubation.
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November 23, 2008 (permalink)

"The moth bounced against a row of books: pfft, pfft, pfft." —Andrea Barrett, The Voyage of the Narwhal.
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November 2, 2008 (permalink)

"Of course, the audience was full of the most dreadful people imaginable, and all these balloons were going pfft, pfft, pfft." —Elton John, The Rolling Stone Interviews.
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October 12, 2008 (permalink)

"'Pfft — pfft — pfft!'  That is the stars whistling for the soul of the shaman." —John MacDonald, The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore, and Legend.
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September 6, 2008 (permalink)

"He thought for a second and shpritzed me with four quicker, quieter Bronx cheers: 'Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft.' ... And I had no idea PFFFFFFT was a four-letter word." —Joel Siegel, Lessons For Dylan.
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August 16, 2008 (permalink)

"At night, a figure in dungarees with a mop of shaggy hair would have shaken a canister and angrily, joyfully, sprayed graffiti on the substation: pfft!" —Francesca Ferguson, Deutschlandscape.
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August 9, 2008 (permalink)

"'Pfft, Pfft . . . Pfft, Pfft . . . Pfft, Pfft' was all that was heard during the next one and half seconds before the lights came back on." —Martin C. Arostegui, Twilight Warriors.
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August 2, 2008 (permalink)

"Every spritz makes a pfft." —Wilhelm Genazino, The Shoe Tester of Frankfurt.
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December 10, 2006 (permalink)

On my right, Natasha stops eating the apple she brought from home and waves my smoke away with one big hand, making pfft pfft pfft noises as if I’m poisoning her air.  —Jean Harfenist, A Brief History of the Flood.
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November 16, 2006 (permalink)

[S]he walked out of the studio one day, just like that.  Pfft.”  He made a little gesture with his hands.  —Robert Rodi, Kept Boy.
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October 12, 2006 (permalink)

My father slapped at the air and made a pfft sound.  —Claire Messud, The Last Life: A Novel.
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September 6, 2006 (permalink)

Ludwig waved his arm dismissively.  “Pfft!  The loss is his, not mine, and his theatre’s.”  —John Suchet, The Last Master: Passion and Anger.
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August 9, 2006 (permalink)

“You went out into the hall, and then you—pfft!”  She made a gesture intended to represent disappearance.  —John Dickson Carr, The Emperor’s Snuff-Box.
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