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Unsound Effect - TV Tropes

  • ️Mon Jan 14 2008

Unsound Effect (trope)

"I don't know how flinging someone actually made the sound 'fling'."

Or, if you will, "Unomatopoeia."

In comics and shows emulating comics, we'll see words which indicate the action taking place. "Bash!" and "Kick!", for example, just happen to sound a bit like the impacts they're describing. They are almost, but not quite Written Sound Effects. Some authors will just bypass the whole "sounds like" thing and use words for the action in loud capital letters. "Glare!" "Leap!" "Flourish!" and even "Idea!"

This is the Unsound Effect. It's a humorous technique, although it is also seen in fight scenes. ("Block!" "Slash!")

This is usually attributed to Richie Rich in the original Harvey Comics versions, which lasted from the 1950s to the 1980s. They included such effects as "BOUNCE!" for large rubber balls impacting a hard surface, and went on to "EXPAND!" when Richie utilized one of Prof. Keenbean's Applied Phlebotinum devices meant to go from pocket-size miniature tool/vehicle/etc. to full-size.

It's worth noting that manga has different conventions for use of non-spoken words, some of which aren't even meant as onomatopoeia. Japanese writers will use them to represent more abstract events like "smiling" ("niko niko", or just "ni!", or extended to "nikkori"), "sudden realization" ("ha"), "silence" ("shiiiiiiin"), "menacing atmosphere" ("gogogo"), "staring" ("jiiiiiiiiii") or even "blushing" ("kaaaaa"). These are known as phenomimes when they describe external phenomena and psychomimes when they describe psychological states (both can be referred to in Japanese as gitaigo, lit. "mimetic words", since they mimetize such cases). Some anime, generally the more surreal sort, turn these into actual sound effects or have a character say them aloud (like, for example, the character will actually say "jiiiiiiii" when staring at somebody).

And sometimes, the unsound effect isn't even written. A Super-Deformed version of the character in the margin, a mascot, an animal, or other living thing in the background will say or represent the character's feelings.

Related to Editorial Synaesthesia. See also Visible Silence, the Unsound Effect for no sound; and Sound Defect for real sounds that go wrong. When this occurs in-universe it's Saying Sound Effects Out Loud.

Examples:

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Advertising 

  • It is common practice for closed captioning to caption sound effects as well. There is a Windex ad in which the mother cleans a window with Windex to let the sun shine in and wake up her kids. The kids rush out while the mother smirks — because it's Saturday. Her smirk is captioned as "(mother smirks)".

Anime & Manga 

  • One Piece:
    • During the Alabasta arc, the camel in the last panel gets, appropriately, CAMEL!!(ラクダ!!)
    • As Corazon's power is to completely suppress noise, he always gets the effect of "Shi~n!/No Sound!" when doing things with it.
  • The Negima! Magister Negi Magi manga does this a lot. Of course, this is probably due to the translators being very faithful to the original;
    • During a silent scene you'll see the giant "shiiiin" kana with tiny English "the sound of silence" written underneath.
    • There's also a "Pettanko" sound effect when Anya first sees Yue and Nodoka.
    • When Negi goes all out the Kanji for "Destruction" appears when he hits someone.
    • Sometimes even the characters seem to hear or read those unsounds.
  • Having a sound for silence can actually be done quite seriously. In the Death Note episode entitled "Silence", a prominent scene combines a "shiiiin" noise with Muted Soundtrack, to great effect. (Along with For Doom the Bell Tolls, and Ominous Latin Chanting, and Red Filter of Doom, because Death Note is melodramatic even when it's not given a decent excuse to be.)
  • The manga adaptation of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has a onetime "One-Megaton Punch", for when Kamina and Simon, in their newly-combined Dai-Gurren, delivers one of these to Viral.
  • In chapter 9 of The Two Of Them Are Pretty Much Like This, Wako's pudding has the sound effect "SWEEETS—".
  • The anime versions of Pani Poni Dash!, Lucky Star, Hayate the Combat Butler, DD Fist of the North Star, Ōkami-san and Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei have all used "staring" ("jiiiiiiiiii") as a vocalised sound effect, in SZS's case as a Running Gag.
    • Russia does this too in one episode of the anime of Hetalia: Axis Powers - as in, he actually says "jiiiiiii..." while staring at someone. A second later, he does it again, only louder. The other character looks severely uncomfortable by this point.
    • Also in SZS, when The Voiceless Meru types abusive messages with her cell phone, we hear the sound "Meru Meru".
    • The later seasons of SZS have all of the sound effects written on screen and read out loud with a humorously monotone, bored-sounding voice.
    • Lucky Star also has "ira-ira" appear as Kagami gets progressively more irritated with Tsukasa's attempts at texting.
      • Tsukasa goes into lala-land about something, and she actually makes the sound "kira-kira" while her eyes twinkle. (This might even have been preserved in the English dub, with "twinkle-twinkle".)
      • In the dub, Kagami starts reading a new manga that Konata had just handed to her, getting more and more drawn in as she reads on. Konata just stands there, waiting for a reaction, all while saying "Staaaaaaaaaaaaare~". It even intensifies as she "Staaaaaaaaaaaare~'s" in a higher octave.
  • Manga publisher Tokyopop used to do this, with some such sounds including "Stand", "Glare" and "Turn". Probably one of the funnier ones was "Cadillac!" in Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders.
  • The manga MPD Psycho employs this trope in both humorous and straight forms, for instance, when Amamiya's glasses gleam with light, the other characters swear they can hear the "shing" noise that results. An example of the serious form of the trope in action is the "dokun" or "kadoom" noise that indicates Amamiya's personality changing.
  • The Bleach Official Bootleg book has the members of the Soul Reaper Women's Association react to Momo's Aizen Glasses cookies with "AGHAST".
  • A burn victim in Case Closed had a speech balloon reading "mouthing words" or something to that effect, having been too injured to say anything discernible.
  • From Hayate the Combat Butler, we also have the inestimable: COINCIDENCE!
  • Ouran High School Host Club, with "POINT".
  • One translation of the hentai doujin Blue Eyes featured such sound effects as "ORGASM!", "CLIMAX!", and possibly funniest of all, "KA-FUCK!"
  • In the space of two pages in the first chapter of PandoraHearts, we have "GRAB," "FIDGET," "SURPRISE," and of course, "THREATENING ATMOSPHERE."
  • Otome Kikan Gretel has a rather freaked out Yuu with the effect "startle" (next to, of course, someone who talks with hearts)
    • The very next page has "Confused" and "Realization" on the same panel, then "The Culprit" immediately after
  • Chi's Sweet Home uses a number of these, including things like "dejected" and "loom."
  • When the author of Kaiji discovered there wasn't an onomatopoeia for dramatic tension, he invented his own: ZAWA.
  • Manga such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bleach, and Shaman King often throw "DOOM" on dramatic panels. Even more dramatic panels might get "DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM".
  • In Dr. Slump, Genki Girl Arale's greetings are so loud and boisterous that the sound effect for it ("KON'CHWA!" - more often contracted to "N'CHA!" - , approximately, due to a Verbal Tic) easily dwarfs her and knocks the people she greets off their feet. The aliens attempt to weaponize this power, but fail every time.
  • Fai of Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- starts saying "Fiuuu" instead of whistling, for which Kurogane mocks him. It later turns out that he did that because his whistling has magical powers.
  • In The Miko's Words and the Witch's Incantations, the Mountain God offers Isuzu some sweet rice balls with a "Proffer!".
  • In one of the Excalibur episodes of the Soul Eater anime, a fistfight between two gangs features such Gratuitous English Sound Effects as 'AH!', 'YEAH!' 'NICE!', 'PENCIL!' and 'AMERICA!'.
  • In Area no Kishi when Kouta gets especially irritated with his teammate Nishijima, a "Glare" sound effect is displayed in the panel.
  • Higurashi: When They Cry: Rika's catchphrase is "Ni-pah!"
  • Baby Steps: After his first grueling day of tennis training, protagonist E-chan's inability to stand up from his desk was denoted by "shivering" sound effects.
  • The Ranma ½ manga is lousy with the "Boot" onomatopoeia for whenever someone gets punted into the sky by a Megaton Kick. Ironically enough, NONE of the characters in the series, with the exception of Ryoga, ever wear boots.
    • We also got LOOOOOOOOM for bad guys looking badass followed by a much smaller LOOOOM for the good guys trying to but not managing it.
  • Satou Kashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai features a non-humorous in-universe example when newly-arrived strange girl Umino introduces herself to the class:

    Umino: Then please treat me well.
    Umino: Bow.
    Nonplussed Student: She actually said "Bow"!

  • Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt:
    • By the fourth episode, the Gratuitous English sound effects have branched out into unusual territory. It just escalates from there on.

      "Nice Dunk!"
      "Muffin Top"
      "Pants On!"
      "Red Carpet"
      "SEEEEEEAAAAA WAAAAAAATTTTERRRRRR"
      "Pissed Off!"
      "GOD DAMM!"
      "Fuck You!"

    • A crowning example occurs in Episode 11: Panty is channel-surfing, and while we can't see the TV, we can see the Written Sound Effects that each channel produces. The first channel goes "Blah Blah Blah," the second channel goes "Yak Yak Yak," and the third channel (clearly porn by the sound) goes "A Cock Sucker."
  • During an undersea episode early in the Sgt. Frog anime, Keroro's platoon accidentally fire several torpedos at a city on the bottom of the sea. He hopes they all miss, but...they all hit. All of them. Direct hits too. The platoon's reaction can only be described as "Atmosphere of Oh Shit".
    • In one chapter of the manga, Kululu decides to shake his team-mates out of a streak of complacency by brain-washing their friends and forcing them to fight. Fuyuki offers to face Keroro in a riddle contest instead, to which Keroro responds "Alright, but I should warn you, Master Fuyuki, I filibuster all riddles!" As the other members of the Keroro Platoon do battle, you can see little word balloons with the words "Riddle!" and "Filibuster!" in the background.
      • Earlier in that same chapter Keroro threatens to eject Kululu from the platoon for the trouble he'd already been causing, accompanied with a "Decisive action!"
    • In one episode of the anime's dub, Mr. Caption translated the on-screen sound effect for someone making a fist as "fisting"—which is the literal meaning of that word, but "fist" is rarely used as a verb anymore because the other meaning.
  • Naruto:
    • The manga has "DREAMY!".
    • At least one scanlator translated the sound made by Tobi teleporting to some place as "appear".
    • Deidara's explosions are always preceded by Yeeaagh! in the English manga. This lends itself to a Woolseyism when some of his bombs land near Tobi:

      Tobi: Time out, partner! Don't Yeeaagh yet!

  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple once had Kenichi outlining to a bunch of delinquents exactly why being a delinquent was a bad lifestyle choice, punctuated with the words "SOUND ARGUMENT!" dramatically appearing at the end of his speech.
  • Misaki's "INDIRECT KISS!" in Junjou Romantica
  • The everpresent "WOW~!" used to punctuate fanservice that originated in Fairy Tail.
  • Nichijou features the unsound effect GASCOIGNE!
  • One scanlation of the Dream Eater Merry manga uses "apocalyptic CRUNCH!" in a dream-world sequence where the moon appears to be shattered.
  • The Beautiful Skies of Houou High has sounds effects such as 'gets up' and 'barf'.
  • Sumomo Mo Momo Mo also, at one point, uses the aforementioned Petta~n sound effect for both Momoka and Iroha, for good reason.
  • Yuruyuri: Akkariiin!, the sound of someone turning invisible from sheer lack of presence.
  • In the sixth chapter of Dragon Ball, Bulma's capsule boat makes the sound "BOAAA••T!!" Later, the sound effect "GUN!" accompanies Goku breaking someone's gun.
  • As mentioned above, this is par for the course in anime and manga due to cultural differences, but the official subtitles for the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime dove into this territory by translating the already memetic ゴゴゴ (GO GO GO, "rumble" or "dramatic tension") as "[MENACING]".

    Yoshikage Kira: What a beautiful Duwang! Chew.

  • Gyo infamously used "GASHUNK" to describe the sound the walking shark tank made whenever it took a step, which was later applied to the sound of it plowing through a door.
  • Himouto! Umaru-chan has "UMARU~UN", which seems to be the sound of Umaru being beautiful/graceful/perfect. The Animated Adaptation adds to it by having Umaru's voice actress Aimi Tanaka saying the effect, and occasionally using it as something of a transformation sound when she changes from "Indoor Umaru" to "Outdoor Umaru".
  • One particular fan translation of Made in Abyss is infamous for using bizarrely literal translations of sound effects (such as "loli spilling noises", "struggling to poop quietly", and "rumble of scientific triumph") even in serious or dramatic scenes.
  • Ayakashi Triangle: In the English version, Mei teleporting from shadow is given the sound effect "voom", and the Extreme Close-Up of her breasts in the next panel "va-voom". This is slightly different from the Japanese version, where the joke was both using the same sound effect, "zu-zu-zu (rumbling)".
  • The reboot of Urusei Yatsura has Lum's voice actress saying "ZAP ZAP ZAP" (bari-bari-bari) whenever she uses her electricity.

Asian Animation 

  • Lamput: In "Transfer Gun", Skinny Doc and Specs Doc whack the Boss after he and Lamput have swapped back to their normal bodies, Skinny and Specs thinking they're still under the effects of the transfer gun. The whacking is accompanied by text reading "WHACK".

Comic Books 

  • Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware, author of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, takes this trope to a new level by featuring a panel that says "Onomatopoeia: front door opening"
  • Batman: Black and White: In the comedic "Batsman: Swarming Scourge of the Underworld", a gargoyle collapsing makes the sound "Collapse!".
  • In X-Men, at least one X-Babies encounter ("Mojo Mayhem") has gone this way (with arguing murmurs written as "argue" or "debate" or "mutter" and the like.)
    • Chris Claremont (as noted above, since he wrote the X-Babies storyline) tended to use this device, especially toward the end of his stint on Uncanny X-Men. In one issue we see an angry mob in the distance, and as they approach their angry murmuring is expressed as unsounds expressing their intent to do horrible things to the object of their wrath, such as "murder," "mutilate," "bludgeon", and "sue."
    • In one issue by Claremont, Jubilee is served some Foreign Queasine and reacts with "That's it, that's it, that's IT!", followed by a speech bubble simply saying "hate, scream, cry, rage, rant, gripe, shriek!"
  • Played with in "Tank Vixens" on several occasions, most notably Uta Von Steppenschlammer drinking a beer can in one gulp with "Im-BIBE!"
  • Averted in an issue of the Thor comic book, where the Hulk hits Thor with an entire freight train (complete with attached cars). The editor's note on the page confesses that there's no onomatopoeia there because nothing they could think of would do the scene justice.
  • MAD, illustrating the reality of a six-man utility crew - one guy digging a hole (accompanied by the sound effect "dig") while the other five are in various states of leisure (accompanied by "eat", "siiiip", "snooze", "hang out", and "read".)
    • Another comic features a massive five-way collision accompanied by "HORRENDOUS UNSPELLABLE SOUND EFFECT!"
    • Wally Wood once told a detective story entirely in pictures and exaggerated sound effects (with a couple of unsounds). All the murder victims produced the same sequence of AAAARGH!..THUD...BOUNCE BOUNCE and, in the first case the guy who had been shot rounded off with a quiet BLEED BLEED. The detective was quite mystified by the screams until he realized that the killer was one Joe Aaaargh, alias Joe Eeeech, alias Joe Uuuuugh.
    • The Don Martin strips were famous for featuring bizarre sound effects like "wugga wugga!", "zit, zit, swizap!" or simply "fump!".
    • Don Martin's Captain Klutz goes after a mad bomber in one story, with explosion sound effects "POWM", "BROON", "PLOOM", "FLOON", "FAKKAK", "KASH-SPLINTER", "FAGLOOM", and finally "reader's note: write in your own terrifying sound effect here."
    • One article played with this by claiming some companies' names were derived from this, like the sound of a jet's engine falling off and bouncing with a BOEING!, or a certain meat product falling out of the can and hitting the person's foot with a SPAM!
  • Tiny Titans gives us some like CHAIR! and TIE!
  • Frequently used in Twisted Toyfare Theatre. Examples include Spider-Man running across some assorted Beanie Baby animals. They make sounds like "Moo. Moo.", "Me-mew. Me-mew.", "Quack. Quack." and "Kangaroo sound. Kangaroo sound.". And when he gets them to stampede, it's "Angry Moo! Moo!", "Angry Baa! Baa!" and "Angry kangaroo sound! Angry kangaroo sound!".
    • A much, much later strip features Christian Bale interrupting the Manly Men of Action's dancing with the sound effect of "record screeching to a halt!" Dolph Lundgren then displays his musical talent by playing a drum solo; the sound effect is "Drum Solo!"
  • German comic artist Ralf König is good at this. he rather describes the mood of scenes with his unsounds. One scene shows a guy laying in bed, hearing "sounds" like "cooking coffee" and "doorclap".
  • "God Hates Astronauts" plays with this constantly. Before we're four pages in, someone is thrown out a window with "De-FENESTRATE!"
  • The Tick is also fond of this, with the best being "CONTEMPLATE!"
    • In the first issue, The Tick and Clark Oppenheimer are fighting in a subway tunnel, when a train hits them, making the following noises: *BANG* *CRASH* *REALLY LOUD NOISE!*
    • *TUSSLE*
    • At one point the Tick disarms the Red Scare of his hammer and sickle with "Take!" sound effects.
  • The first volume of Atomic Robo features a good one:

    Helsingard Soldier: Hey, this looks like a—
    Sound Effect: DOOR!

  • Amerimanga Ninja High School has used literal sound effects from the beginning of its run. They do sort of mirror manga's onomonepetic effects, but Ben Dunn has admitted he got the idea from Richie Rich.
    • One example: a character lifts a huge tree out of the ground, to the sound of *UPROOT*
    • The Time Traveling schoolteacher whisks a cloth away from her time machine: REVEAL! Also, two girls ponder a question with the effects: THINK THINK THINK THINK.
  • The City of Heroes comic has a mook cry out in pain: "MMORPG!!"
  • De Familie Fortuin, a Dutch comic about the titular white trash family, has used such sound effects as *ENORMOUS EXPLOSION! FLYING BODY PARTS! BLEEDING GUMS! COOL MAN!* and *EXPLODING SCHOOL WITH EVERYONE INSIDE*.
  • Dinosaurs for Hire featured Archie the T.rex dusting himself off ("dust, dust") and Reese the Stegosaurus adjusting his eyepatch ("adjust").
  • Carl Barks's Duck comics sometimes had this, although not extremely often. For instance, in Land of the Pygmy Indians, the Unsound Effect "Glom" is used a couple of times whenever a character is swiftly, well, glommed, by the mysterious kidnappers.
  • Another Dutch comic, De Generaal had one when the eponymous general is dropped with tank and all from a hot air balloon (don't ask): *SMASH OF GIGANTIC PROPORTIONS!*
  • A series of Disney albums had Goofy playing different historical persons. In the Beethoven story all sound words were composer names. Knocking on a door sounded like BACH BACH, knocking over a pile of stuff produced a loud BRAHMS and so on.
  • Speaking of Disney, a Darkwing Duck comic in Disney Adventures had some offstage action indicated with words like "BLUDGEON" and "ASPHYXIATE." Lampshaded by onlookers.
  • Unsound effects were used a lot in Erika Fuchs's German Disney translations (one of her more creative ones was where "censored" was replaced by "Einziger Aufschrei der erregten Massen" (single outcry of the excited masses"). German-speakers brought up on Fuchs' Donald Duck comics will sometimes use such unsound effects like "grübel, grübel" (ponder, ponder), and at conventions of the D. O. N. A. L. D. (Deutsche Organisation Nichtkommerzieller Anhänger des lauteren Donaldismus = German Organisation of Non-Commercial Adherents of Pure Donaldism) they customarily applaud by chanting "klatsch, klatsch, klatsch!" (clap, clap, clap!).
  • Strange Suspense Stories #69, "Thunder Alley": BOWL! (No, it's not the sound of bowling; it's the sound made by a guy going to a bowling alley. Yeah.)
  • Buster Brown, no. 42: DREAM! MAGIC!
  • The Incredible Hercules no longer even tries to have standard sound effects. Instead, the sound of an impressive punch to the face is WHATAMANNN, a dragon's firebreath goes SMAAAAAAAAAUG and an attack aimed squarely at the opponent's nipples is represented with a bright purple NURP.
    • Arguably the best sound effect ever: Hercules smashing a wall while impersonating Thor: GODDATHUNDAA!
    • Herculesnote  punching Thornote  in the face in mid-sentence: SUKKAPUNCH!
    • Thor giving as good as he gets: BACKATCHA!
    • Their EPIC battle reaching a suitably EPIC conclusion: NUHHKKRACK!note 
    • Hercules backhanding someone: BICHSLAPP!
    • Hercules flinging The Sentry upwards by his cape: N-TU-DASUNNN!
    • Sisyphus' boulder respawning in front of him: Sisy-poof!
    • The sequel miniseries, Prince of Power, carries on the grand tradition with getting chucked into a table being IKKKEA!, among others.
  • Marvel Adventures: The Avengers
    • The sound effect "GAMMABOOOOOM" for the Hulk landing after a jump in Issue #32.
    • The sound of Captain America punching Batroc in the face is "Lebomp".
  • Hawkeye: Hawkeye has "KGLASSSSSSS" to represent a Super Window Jump.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) had unsound effects in the early days before they went down the toilet. Two that stand out are "RABOOM" and "ROBOOMNIK". Guess who was getting blown up on those occasions.
  • Scott Pilgrim has a number of these, including "GLARE", "FLING", the rather puffy and cute "POUT", and "BOSS FIGHT."
  • Brandon Graham's King City has "TOAST" as a sound effect for when some bread pops out of a toaster.
  • In The Goon, rather than show all the gruesome details of Frankie's signature "attack," it's just presented as a black panel with "KNIFE TO THE EYE!" written in big white letters.
  • Hate does this a lot.
  • Too Much Coffee Man even used this in the autobiographical segments, such as the time writer/artist Shannon Wheeler rode his motor scooter accompanied by the unsound "SCOOT."
  • Scud the Disposable Assassin uses such sound effects as "KICK UP!" (Scud kicking a Mook's laser cannon out of the way) and "GROSS!" (A character getting his head graphically blown apart.)
  • The Super Mario Adventures series, thanks to Charlie Nozawa's art style borrowing heavily from manga, does this fairly frequently, with onomatopoeia such as "PEEP", "LEER", "DASH", "LOOOM", "SKEDADDLE" and "TIPPITY-TOE"
  • A Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic decided to represent the sound of Buffy and Dracula crashing to the ground from a tower in a shower of broken glass as "Land!"
  • Matt Howarth is fond of these:
    • At least one Howarth comic used the effect "REALLY LOUD SOUND BUT YOU CAN'T HEAR IT" repeated over and over in the background of a panel for some kind of reality warping effect.
    • In one chapter of the "Changes" serial in Heavy Metal, Ron Post throws a female assassin at a wall, with the effects "THROW HIT SMEAR DRIP DRIP..." (with a total of 19 "drips").
    • Those Annoying Post Bros #25 has Ron Post scraping an opponent's face against a wall; the sound effect is an asterisk leading to a footnote reading "FLESH SCRAPING ACROSS A HIGHLY ABRASIVE STONE SURFACE...A SOUND SO UNSPEAKABLE THAT IT DEFIES SPELLING."
  • Whenever superspeedster the Blur uses his powers in Grounded, the sound effect is "Sonic BOOM!"
  • The Impaler, the cool-as-hell stake gun from the French graphic novel series Requiem Vampire Knight, goes "TEPES!" when it's fired.
  • Brazilian comic Monica's Gang has a huge slew of onomatopoeia, but a few enter this trope, such as "COICE" (Portuguese for horse kick) and "HOPPITY" (to which a character asks "what kind of onomatopoeia is that?")
  • In The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, "The Cowboy Captain of the Cutty Sark", our intrepid hero experiences the Krakatoa explosion firsthand (he did, however, stuff his ears full of cotton, which somehow worked). We are treated to a beautiful rendition of the explosion, but the sound-bubble only contains an asterisk. A note from the editor points out:

    In consideration of the fact that on August 27, 1883, the island of Krakatoa exploded with a force equivalent to 10,000 hydrogen bombs and produced the loudest noise in history, we deemed it wise to delete the sound effect to preserve the sanity (and ears) of our readers.

  • The Wallace & Gromit comic Anoraknophobia had sound effects including "LOUD CLICK" and "DEEP GLOOM AND CONCERN".
  • Pure example: In an old Harvey Comic, a character gets a plunger to the face with a "BWOP!" sound effect - he pulls it off with an "UNBWOP!" sound effect.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW) uses this a lot, especially in issues written by Katie Cook.
    • Issue 1 features Rainbow Dash following up a "KICK!" with a "BETTER KICK!" while fighting some changelings.
    • The "Neigh Anything" arc features "Insert Bowling Pin Sound Effect HERE!" (during Shining Armor's attempts to sabotage Buck Withers) and "Bonding!" (between Cadance and a young Twilight Sparkle).
    • Issue 2 of the micro-series contains sounds effects like "FAIL!", "FACE!" and "BROHOOF!".
    • Issue 6 of the micro-series has Big Macintosh throwing a net over the Sass Squash accompanied by "NET SOUND!"
  • Spewn, a parody of Spawn published by Image, featured a fight between Spewn and the Violator expy with the sound effects "TITTER", "POKE", "BUSTLE", and "FRESHLY SQUEEZED", this last one eliciting some confusion from the combatants, who aren't sure what caused it.
  • "Elbschock", a horror comic from Hamburg (think early EC), had a story about a terror attack on a soccer world cup play. All sound effects were names of (mostly German) soccer players: explosions going "BALLACK!", speed lines going "PODOLSKI!" etc.
  • Many Golden Age and Silver Age American comics used the rather curious "BAW!" to indicate a child or childish adult crying. It isn't really onomatopoeic, but probably has something to do with "bawl".
  • The Dark Horse Plants vs. Zombies graphic novels do this a lot. These are from the first installment alone:
    • LEMONADE BREAK!
    • LET'S GO!
    • BUNGEE SLAM!!!
    • CHERRY BOOOOM!
    • PRESS!
    • FSHAA BURRRNN
  • Norby: In panel three of chapter thirteen of the Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot adaptation, when Zi bites Jeff, it is rendered with a NIP! sound effect.
  • In Spider-Man/Deadpool #1, when Spidey hurls Deadpool onto a roof, he impacts with the sound effect "ASPHALT!"◊
  • The Beano: Mainly those comic strips that are drawn by Tom Paterson.
    • Extra points if said comic strip is a Calamity James comic strip.
  • Jackpot & Black Cat: The cover of issue #2 depicts Jackpot with numerous Laser Sights trained on her, with Jackpot trying to redirect the snipers' attention to Black Cat by pointing to Felicia with a "POINT POINT" effect.
  • Transformers (2023) features a truly glorious one—when Optimus gets his Heroic Second Wind against Devastator, the background sound effect is "AW YEAH" and his charge back into battle is announced with the sound effect "YOU KNOW THE SONG", referencing the fan-favorite song "The Touch" from The Transformers: The Movie.note 
  • A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel has a scene where the protagonists enter the Stepford Suburbia planet of Camazotz, where everyone acts totally in unison like robots, even kids who skip rope and bounce balls identically. It uses "SKIP!" "BOUNCE!" "CATCH!" as "sound effects" while emphasizing how Calvin O'Keefe in particular is creeped out by this behavior. One panel shows a closeup of Calvin while the rest of the panel is filled in with only these words being repeated in sound effect style fonts.

Comic Strips 

  • One Bloom County featured the wonderfully memorable "unprovoked KICK!"
  • Calvin and Hobbes:
    • One strip has Calvin walking around in galoshes that go "galosh galosh galosh".
    • In a school strip, Susie asks Calvin to name the old capital of Poland, and hears him mutter, "KRAKOW! KRAKOW!" which happens to be the right answer but is really a sound effect from his Imagine Spot about Spaceman Spiff fighting aliens.
    • Yet another involves Calvin asking Hobbes to go spelunking. When Hobbes points out that there are no caves nearby, Calvin takes him to a lake and they proceed to drop rocks into the water... which make a "spelunk" sound effect.
    • The Scientific Progress Goes "Boink" arc lampshades this with the sound the duplicator makes.
  • A Cold Snap strip of Chuff used "WARM GLOW" as a sound effect.
  • Dick Tracy has had some very strange sound effects such as "sqlud" for Dick getting hit in the face, "qwink" for a machine powering down, and "qlunq" for a briefcase hitting Dick in the head.
    • "Qlunq" is particularly odd, as it could have been written simply as "clunk", which is a real word.
  • For Better or for Worse is in love with this trope—partly because every other Sunday strip is mostly silent, save for the Unsound Effects flying all over the place. One panel where the family dog was eating something was accompanied by *gobble snarf eat*.
    • Another, dealing with Elly's frustrations with a fax/copier, had UNPLUG, although the design of the balloon made it ambiguous whether that was a sound effect or Elly loudly vocalizing the action as a form of venting.
  • One FoxTrot strip used *crank crank crank* and *uncrank uncrank uncrank* for the sound of someone turning up, then turning down, a thermostat.
  • There is a Garfield comic where Garfield is unscrewing a saltshaker with the sound effect *unscrew* hanging in midair. It's unclear how that sounds any different from just plain ol' screwing.
    • Pictured here◊ is the sound effect hammer, which is what Jon is using on a really long nail.
    • A really early strip showed Jon dialing on a rotary telephone, the sounds of him operating the rotary mechanism were *dial dial dial*.
    • A strip where Odie was being picked on by another cat had Garfield punch that cat to the horizon, to the sound effect *WANGO*.
  • In an early (1950s-era) Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown is perplexed when Lucy tosses a pebble into a pond with a "ker-SPLASH!", and Linus jumps into a pile of leaves with a "ker-LEAF!".
    • There was also one about how Snoopy doesn't like to be scratched on the head; he prefers to be "skritched." Sure enough, when Schroeder works his fingers on Snoopy's head, the sound is "Skritch skritch skritch."
    • Another strip has Linus telling Charlie Brown that it's "soppping wet" (notice the 3 "p"s) outside. Charlie Brown remarks "I think you mean sopping wet", followed by Snoopy walking in accompanied by sound effects of "SOPPP SOPPP SOPPP".
    • In yet another strip, one of Snoopy's bird friends goes, "Gripe gripe gripe, complain complain complain, crab crab crab," after which Snoopy wonders, "If he doesn't like it, why does he go there every year?"
    • A 1962 strip has Snoopy playing "polkas, schottisches and waltzes" on the accordion — as in, literally making the accordion produce those words.
  • Pens in the Pearls Before Swine world make "write write write" and "scribble scribble scribble" sounds when used. The creator, Stefan Pastis, admits to this bit of creative license in the book commentaries.
    • At least in the early days of the strip, there would also be "sound" effects such as "run run run run" and "hurl!"
  • Rip Haywire, an Affectionate Parody of action-adventure strips, constantly creates new sound effects by putting "KA-" before selected nouns, verbs, or adjectives (and possibly adverbs).
  • The Wizard of Id is fond of this trope, using such sound effects as "Deliberate deliberate deliberate" for a jury. Or (from the underground press) "Print print print".
  • A Zits strip showed Jeremy taking a test, with the Unsound Effect "Essay! Essay! Essay! Essay! Essay!"
    • At one point he was also seen using a computer, with the UE "double-click"
    • In yet another strip Jeremy walked down to breakfast and sucked it all up with a loud "INHALE!"
  • The New Yorker had a cartoon by Roz Chast called "No Action Comics." It had sound effects like "MULL! MULL!" and "WORRY! WORRY!"
  • Doctor Who comics have had a variety of onomatopoeia for the TARDIS, of which the most famous is Doctor Who Magazine's "VWORP! VWORP!" At least one of the comedy strips, however, used Terrence Dicks's stock description "a strange wheezing groaning sound" as a sound effect.
  • Conchy: Conchy finds a Message in a Bottle reading "IF FOUND WASHED ASHORE, PLEASE RETURN TO BOB!". Conchy returns it to the bottle, tosses it back in the ocean, and it floats with the Unsound Effect of "Bob, Bob".

Fan Works 

  • From Calvin & Hobbes: The Series: UN-BOINK! — The Duplicator being reversed.
  • Cirikilo, a popular My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan artist, has the recurring sound effect "ZAS!" It's one of his trademarks, along with a Creeper hidden somewhere in the comic and a terrible English translation (his first language is Spanish).
  • PMD: Another Perspective:
    • The prologue has "Grab" and "Puts on" for the Rocket grunt's backpack.
    • When attacks are used, their names are written as sound effects.
  • A fanmade PVP mod for Hollow Knight can have audio cues set up in "Hunter VS Hunted" mode, so when the Hunted player pulls a lever to open a shortcut, not only does the sound effect get heard by the Hunters, the text log will record it as a "KRONK!" sound effect.

Films — Animation 

Films — Live-Action 

  • Subtitles for the hearing impaired can come off a bit like this when done badly. There's no better mood killer in the middle of a romantic moment than seeing *dramatic music intensifies* pop up on screen.
  • In Blazing Saddles, this is lampshaded during a meeting with the governor. After it's announced that Rock Ridge had been bombed, the Governor shouts "We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harumph! Harumph! Harumph!" Everyone else says Harumph along with him, with one notable exception. "I didn't get a 'harumph' out of that guy."
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. The World includes this as abundantly as it was in the comic book.
  • In Hot Fuzz, Nick Angel says "idea" when, well, coming up with an idea. Thanks to the numerous cop show references there are a number of instances of characters Saying Sound Effects Out Loud.
  • Tex Richman, the Big Bad of The Muppets (2011), has No Sense of Humor, so instead of actually laughing maniacally he just mutters the phrase "Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh".
  • An odd example occurs during the torture sequence of Audition due to a trait of the Japanese language. When Asami is inserting acupuncture needles under Aoyama's eyes, she coos, "Kiri kiri kiri kiriiii", which is Japanese onomatopoea for sharp pain. note 
  • Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: When Ron and his friends are privately objecting to the hiring of Veronica Cornerstone as an new co-anchor, Brick yells "LOUD NOISES!" at one point.

Jokes 

  • There's a joke in which a new recruit is told that the Army doesn't have enough equipment for him, so he should use sticks as stand-ins for his rifle and knife, with the appropriate Unsound Effects of "bangety-bang" and "stabbety-stab" respectively. He makes it into the field so "equipped", and returns wounded. When asked what happened, he replies that he was run over by a guy muttering "tankety-tank".

Literature 

  • Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg writes these frequently.
    • "poke-poke"
    • (when Mr Heffley is sawing wood) "saw-saw!"
    • "TOUCH" (when Rodrick touches a sculpture made of butter)
    • (when Alex Aruda is writing) "Write write"
    • (his dad typing) "type, type"
    • "SNORE"
    • "SCREAM!!!!!" or "SHRIEK!!!!!" whenever someone screams.
  • Discworld
    • Gaspode, a talking dog says 'woof'. Due to a near-universal Weirdness Censor, this mostly just makes people look at him funny.
    • And there's a recurring theme in Discworld of words for the sounds that things would make if they did make a sound except that they don't. These are usually associated with reflected light, and for some reason usually begin with "gl." "Glint," "gleam," and "glisten" are given as examples.
  • Meg And Mog: When Mog stirrs his tea with the thermometer in the Sick Episode Mog's Mumps, it says "stir, stir"
  • German author James Krüss made a nonsense poem for children, the Bachkrontian Crab Eater Song. 1/3 complete nonsense, 1/3 genuine crab eating sounds (or what you expect them to be), 1/3 this trope, thinly veiled: "Schmakulan schnabulik" note 
  • A similar nonsense poem for children by Franz von Pocci about the cannibals being after poor Kasperl (Punch) takes it to near 100% (translation would take too long):

    Spißi, Spaßi, Kasperladi

    Hicki, Hacki, Karbonadi

    Trenschi, Transchi, Apetiti

    Fressi, Frassi, Fetti, Fitti

    Schlicki, Schlucki Kasperlucki

    Dricki Drucki mamelucki

    Michi, Machi Kasperlores

    Spißi, Spaßi, Tscha kapores.

  • Roys Bedoys: There are a few “sound effects” that aren’t onomatopoeic, such as “snore” and “fart”.
  • Who Wet My Pants: When Reuben squeezes the donut box, the word "Squish" can be seen.

Live-Action TV 

  • The "Bicycle Repairman" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus has intertitle cards with effects like: "Screw!", "Bend!", "Inflate!", and "Alter Saddle!"
  • The 1960s Batman (1966) TV series is technically the Trope Codifier (as noted in the below Space Ghost: Coast to Coast entry), with sound effects in every fight scene, and always slipped a few unsounds in as well (e.g. "Sock!" or "Ouch!").
  • The Monkees parody this trope in the episode "Captain Crocodile" with a fight that has words like Rumble! Plink! Plank! Plunk! Miss! Foo! Bing! Bong! Bang! Splat! Kretch! Plop! Splinter! on the screen. (At the word Kretch, Peter Tork stops fighting, looks into the camera, and says, "Kretch?" before they agree to stop fighting and start breaking furniture.)
  • The Avengers (1960s) parodies this trope in "The Winged Avenger". At the end of the episode, Steed fights the villain by hitting him with poster-sized mockups of comic book panels, each containing a word like "Pow!" and "Splat!" Meanwhile, "Batman"-like music is playing in the background.
  • Mr. Show has a Batman parody that ends in characters punching each other with increasingly bizarre onomatopoeia, ending with "Taint!", which is used as a transition to the "Taint Magazine" sketch.
  • When a piece of viewer mail on Attack of the Show! asked what kind of sound effect they would want to have if they were in a comic, Kevin Pereira admitted he would want the word "SKANK!" to pop up when he slapped someone in the face.
  • The Muppet Show did a sketch entirely in action and spoken sound/unsound words. It started with a creature (possibly played by Animal) trudging through the wilderness while muttering "trudge trudge trudge" until it got interrupted by something flying past with a loud "FLY! FLY!" which made it stop and go "ponder... ponder... ponder..." as it, well, pondered the strange event. After this had happened a couple of times the wanderer lost its patience and went "fret foam" as it picked up a heavy stick, and the next time the flyer passed it got stopped by a massive SMASH SMASH!
  • On The Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien visits a Foley stage and makes his own sound effects, including a shout of "Throw baby!" when a character throws a baby.
  • While the well-loved "Sound Effects" game in Whose Line Is It Anyway? tends to slip into Saying Sound Effects Out Loud instead, a recent session in Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza flies straight into this trope when one audience member, faced with voicing over flexing biceps, actually goes "Magnificent!" and "Powerful!" for each arm. And flexing buttcheeks go "Beyonce!" for some reason.
    • During one game of "Props", Wayne had to somehow mime being a lamp that was turned on. So he just simply said "ON!" loudly.
  • The Daily Show featured a comic mocking George W. Bush with sound effects such as "STALL!".
  • This Saturday Night Live skit is about suburban moms and their spirit animals. When they anticipate the new mother joining them, they all make appropriate animal noises, except for Leslie Jones, since her 'spirit animal' is angels. She just says, "I'm an angel."
  • The Fairly OddParents!: Fairly Odder: Some of the Written Sound Effects seen in the trailer are regular words, like "CHOCOLATE!", "TALLER!", and "MONTAGE!"

Music 

  • P.D.Q. Bach's "Good King Kong Looked Out" has a choir singing an Unsound Effect - "hear", in this case - because seriously, what onomatopoeia could possibly used?
  • In "Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America", Christopher Columbus' crew indicate their displeasure with a chant of "rumble rumble rumble, mutiny mutiny mutiny". This has achieved a Memetic Mutation status, and Tyne Daly mentioning the phrase to Freberg got her a role in the sequel to the program.
  • On the song "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who, the band had originally planned to have a cello accompaniment in one section. But the money ran out, so the band just sang "cello cello cello cello" in the background over and over.

Video Games 

  • The Adventures of Ninja Nanny & Sherrloch Sheltie has Unsound Effects for things that shouldn't even have sounds at all. For example, the aroma of a bag of oats is represented by a whisper of the words "Fresh oats..."
  • In Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, you have to help a Kimono Girl whose sandals are frozen to the ground in the Ice Cave. You do this by shoving her. The sound effect shown in the text box for this? "Shove!"
  • NANACA†CRASH!! has "DEATH?" when you hit one of the guys, as well as "SLOW DOWN" and "STOP!" and others, though those might just be describing what happened to you rather than being actual sound effects.
  • The instruction manual for the PS2 game Flower, Sun and Rain includes screenshots accompanied by ordinary sound effect words, until one image gets the effect "KATHARINE!"
  • Final Fantasy VI—Eating food on the Phantom train results in the following message in a text box: "*gobble* *snarf* *snap* HP/MP restored, and status ailments like Poison cured!
  • Final Fantasy Tactics: Anything that is evaded gets the message of "Miss!", while attacks blocked by a shield get the message "Guarded"; additionally, any initial successful application of a status effect (beneficial or detrimental) displays the name of that effect, and again in a different color when/if it wears off or is cured.
  • In Team Fortress 2, scoring a Critical Hit on an enemy causes CRITICAL HIT!!! to appear over his head. These are only visible to the player responsible.
  • Any Valve game since Half-Life 2 has this in the closed captions. Includes things like "pain!", "laughter", "Crowbar Thwap!", "Bullet—Near Miss!", "Engine starting in water", "Headcrab Burning", and of course, "[Beep-beep-beeeeeeeeep.] User Fatality." Portal brings us "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee[bzzt]", "Peppy Music" and "Calming Wind".
  • In Return to Zork, the first hint that a duck is really a transformed wizard is the fact that it actually says "quack quack" in a human voice.
  • The World Ends with You: Bling!
  • A cheat in Age of Empires III, in reference to Teen Girl Squad (see just below), causes an effect that when a unit dies, the name of its killer pops up above it, followed by "-ed". So units can get "Musketeer'ed!", "Imperial Rocket'ed!", or, in one campaign level, "Fixed Gun Ruins'ed!".
  • In Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario World, when a bomb explodes (or when Mario destroys a castle), "BOMB!" appears.
  • An April Fool's joke for City of Heroes was that all in-game sounds would be replaced with onomatopoeia, including for energy-based attacks FREEM!!!
  • Persona 3 has "GLARE" appear occasionally.
  • In Brütal Legend, there is a scene where Ophelia stabs a Druid. SHANK!
  • In Plants vs. Zombies: Cherry Bomb goes "POWIE!!" when he explodes and in the sequel, he says "CHA-BOOF!". Potato Mine says "SPUDOW!" when he explodes, which is lampshaded in the sequel, where he notes that 'SPUDOW!! didn't happen overnight'. Doom-shroom explodes with a purple mushroom cloud and the words "DOOM!!".
  • Time Bandits has rolling bombs as one of the enemies to avoid. While shooting them normally causes them to explode, there's the occasional one that makes a loud "DUD"!
  • In fanworks based on Touhou Project, the "ZUN!" unsound effect is popular. It's often used for dramatic or shocking moments. It's a reference to ZUN, the pen name of the series creator. To a lesser degree, Parsee's fanon Pokémon Speak tic of "paru paru paru" has sometimes been appropriated as an unsound effect for jealousy when Parsee herself is nowhere to be seen.
  • In Fire Emblem: Awakening, Comically Serious Lon'qu combines this with Saying Sound Effects Out Loud when he plays house with Nowi.

    Lon'qu: Now I shall pretend to engage in agriculture. Chop, chop, shovel!

    • In fact, pretty much all Fire Emblem games have this, such as "NO DAMAGE!," which is shown when a character's defence stat completely nullifies an attack, and "MISS," which appears when you miss.
  • Lesser Dog of Undertale is more prone to Saying Sound Effects Out Loud, such as "pant pant!"...but it'll also sometimes go "excited noises!". After extended petting, it will start saying noises that have no business being emitted from a dog, such as "kettle whistling" and "plane takeoff."
    • During the explosion-filled segment of Metatton's antagonism against the player, things explode with the same "BOMB!" graphic as Super Mario World.
  • The English version of Puyo Puyo Tetris has the following, from the short and silly to comically verbose levels:
  • Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 also has plenty of these. For instance:
    • *Petrified babble*
    • *The lonliest whimper*
    • *A squeal so pure and childlike, reminiscent of a simpler time to which we can never truly return*
    • Many variations on *Thinking Sounds*
    • This is all probably inspired by the (Japan-only) Puyo Puyo!! Quest's (one of the few games in the series without extensive voice acting) use of equally bizarre gitaigo, something which is sometimes even pointed out by Ringo in-universe.
  • The Journey's End update in Terraria introduces the three new town pet NPCs: the cat, dog and the bunny. Interacting with the cat and the dog will have them meow and bark, respectively, but since English has no onomatopoeia for bunny sounds, interacting with the bunny just gives you the humorous dialogue of "*Bunny noises*" and "*Rabbit noises*".
  • The Legend of Zelda CD-i Remasters have subtitles that contain descriptions of some of the weird sound effects some cutscenes have. When Zelda talks to the blacksmith/former fisherman, "[Flexes]" is written even though the action itself makes no sound.
  • Not used in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but for whatever reason is very frequent in the wave 4 DLC's cutscenes - where their contents are more like parentheticals that were just in the script for voice direction. Examples include but are not limited to:
    • (panting, running for dear life)
    • (sigh of relief)
    • (gasp of realization)
      • This one in particular appears in the subtitles for such a short amount of time that it's unreadable in the first place.
    • (resigned sigh)
    • (offended breath)

Web Animation 

  • Homestar Runner:
    • Teen Girl Squad comics do this a lot, with such sound effects as "Children!" "MSG'd!" "Weirded Out!" "Late 360 Shove-It to Boneless'd!" and the immortal "POSSUMS..."
    • The Strong Bad E-mail "bike thief" had Strong Bad dress up as a bush while stealing Pom Pom's bike. Upon being noticed, he starts staying "Bush. Bush. Leaves. Branch. Um... Berries." This gets repeated in a Easter Egg when Homestar (dressed as a trash can) tries stealing the Lappy:

      Homestar: Garbage. Garbage. Rubbish. Umm... murder weapon.

    • The Strong Bad Email "shapeshifter" has Strong Bad's "cool trademark sound effect" of Dwayne!
    • One of the "sound based" cereals mentioned in "specially marked" is "Sugar-Rittled Gunshots in a Crowded Mall".

      Mascot: Can someone tell me how this is a cereal, pardner?

    • A Teen Girl Squad segment in "love poems" brings us "SHAKESPEARED!".
    • The website's "file not found" error page features 404'd!!!
    • In the "dictionary" SBEmail we have "Hurl!" and "Tooth!", which are actually SAID by Strong Bad and Homestar respectively.
  • One segment from AMV Hell 4 involved a Paranoia Agent / Batman mash-up. In it, Shonen Bat/Lil' Slugger is beating down people with his bat, with the typical Written Sound Effect staples seen in Adam West's Batman. The last one of the bunch (it's very briefly seen; you have to be quick to catch it) is OMGWTF!. The clip was titled "Shonen Batman".
  • The Ogres on Unforgotten Realms frequently mutter the words "Ogre Sounds" to no one in particular.
  • Yahtzee does this occasionally in his Zero Punctuation reviews. One notable example showed someone rotoscoping images by sitting at a computer that made the sound, "Rotoscope rotoscope."
  • If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device is an odd case. The series is fully voiced and subtitled, but the subtitles tend to turn everything that's not actual words into Unsound Effects; for example "[aroused snickering]" or "[inquisitorial pffft]".
  • Judgment, the prequel comic to No Evil, portrays the ooze of the Black Tezcatlipoca being unleashed with a "GOOP" sound effect.

Web Comics 

Before we start, let us warn you: this section is particularly long. For some reason, webcomics are a very fertile terrain for the Unsound Effect.

Web Original 

  • Some hovertext on CuteOverload includes "Perforate! Unspool!" and then goes into "Verb! Another verb! Yet another completely different verb!"
  • At FiveMinute.net, "GAK!" is always the sound of a character dying, regardless of how they die.
  • SCP -2557, a Holding of Envelope Logistics® features this at the end of a Delusions of Eloquence testimonial from an extradimensional entity attempting to speak English:

    V❊H❊Q❊H: Commissional, the boozing speech nontronite navigates visions of verbarspermophyta. Dietine overlooker seining, waddywood breathes, full breaths, malacostracology evident. Trip hammer, trip hammer, trip hammer, trip hammer.

Web Videos 

Western Animation 

  • Batfink has Karate knocking down a door in the opening sequence with the Written Sound Effect of... "Karate".
  • Drawn Together was choc full of this in the episode "Captain Girl". Random example: Wooldoor and Captain Hero washing their costumes. "DIRTY!" "FILTHY!"
  • The Fairly OddParents!: Unsound Effects are practically a Running Gag at this point; they show up in nearly every episode.
    • It once has "Replacement hamster!" as a Written Sound Effect.
    • For someone being punched: HURT!
    • The words written on the "Poof" clouds when Cosmo and Wanda (or any other magic-using character) does something with magic are usually related to a wish or another event. Norm the Genie, on the other hand, only has "GONG!". The Pixies have "PING!", as well. Unsound effects show up a great deal in the Crimson Chin comics, which of course are parodies of normal superhero comics, which love this trope.

      KA-CHIN!

    • The best comes from the opening cutscene of The Fairly OddParents!: Breakin' Da Rules, where Cosmo summons up Da Rules with the "Poof" cloud "PLOT DEVICE!"
  • Family Guy got in on the act with a '60s Batman cutaway reference, with four "Teabag!" exclamations directly following Peter standing over a knocked out Riddler.
  • Looney Tunes:
    • The short "Now Hear This" climaxes with a gigantic explosion, accompanied by the words "GIGANTIC EXPLOSION" appearing onscreen, probably one of the most unimaginative onomatopoeia ever devised. Rule of Funny, of course.
    • It was used again◊ in the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner short "Soup or Sonic", to cap off the penultimate scene.
    • When Bugs first sees the spaceship in "The Hasty Hare", he says "Gulp!"
  • The Loud House: Lucy usually sighs and gasps by just saying the words “sigh” and “gasp” in her usual emotionless monotone.
  • A Scott Pilgrim parody on MAD had "PUBLIC DOMAIN MUSIC".
  • Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse show used this in the two Bat-Bat episodes. Most noticeably in "Bat with a Golden Tongue", as Bat-Bat wallops Ski Nose's henchmen, the words "Ralph!" and "Love!" show up on screen. When he delivers his final blow to Ski Nose, the word "Bakshi!" appears.
  • In the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Party of One", Applejack and her friends are up to something in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, and keeping it a secret from Pinkie Pie. Applejack tells a skeptical Pinkie that they're doing renovations, and has the other girls make construction noises in the background... which includes Twilight Sparkle shouting "Safety gear!" and Rainbow Dash saying "Drill, drill!"
  • The "Good Manners with Max" shorts on the old Playhouse Disney block always began like this:

    Max: Hi, my name is Max, and this is my dog Banjo. Say hi, Banjo.
    Banjo: Bark!

  • Peg + Cat has the Arch Villain with the Unsound Effect of 'y=x^2'
  • Much like the Batman TV show, Roger Ramjet would use sound effects words over the screen during fight scenes (not actually showing the fight scenes themselves), but also throwing non-sequitur effect words like "indigestion" and "30% fewer cavities."
  • The Simpsons once parodied the 1960s Batman series with a similarly campy Radioactive Man show set in the same time period, complete with unsound effects such as "MINT!", "NEWT!" and "SNUH!" (the latter being the acronym name of Marge's organisation against cartoon violence from the earlier episode "Itchy, Scratchy and Marge").
  • When the townspeople of South Park get upset, they form a mob and just yell "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!" Which was once lampshaded by the mayor when she responded by asking the crowd how they thought standing around yelling "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE" was going to help.
    • Another episode, "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", parodies it by having a group simply repeat "peas and carrots!" to simulate shocked murmuring.
  • In the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Batmantis", Space Ghost notes the presence of word balloons out of the 1960s Batman series: "Oh, look! Shoot a ray, and you get a word." He then produces word balloons reading "Obvious Parody!", then at Zorak's prompting "Insipid!", "Kenny Rogers!", and three paragraphs of unreadably-small text offering a humorous explanation of the theory of evolution.
  • Appearances by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy on SpongeBob SquarePants often use these as part of their being a Batman spoof: "HANG UP!" "SIT!" "WINK!"
    • NAP!
    • KING ME! when the characters were playing checkers.
    • Not to mention the production values of their old show: PROP! CARDBOARD! LAME!
  • The "Self-Medication" episode of The Venture Bros. features a bar fight chock full of these: examples include "Judo!" "Cower!" and "Torn Meniscus!"

*WITTY STINGER!*