Posted by:
PrinzHilde (---.dip0.t-ipconnect.de)
There is a french-german TV programme called
karambolage that, between a lot of other things, compares onomatopoetic representations of sounds in german and french language. (You get to see some people from both countries who apparently got asked things like: "Make a sound like a cow!") It is extremely instructional.
Could you, for example, imagine the vast differences between the sound representation of sneezing? German: Hatschi! French: Atchoum! ...and in english, I found two spellings which even differ in the number of syllables: atishoo! and achoo!
I can remember there was also once a comparison between echoisms for the cry of a cock, where not only the different languages had completely different perceptions of what is heard (kikeriki vs. cocorico vs. cock-a-doodle-doo), even all the individuals trying to imitate the sounds did widely different things with them!
So, only one thing is sure: 'plock' may be a lot of things.