[Dixielandjazz] kludge/klunge/swoosh/gloop, etc.

[Russ Guarino]

Onomatopoeia.... Words that sound like the object.  Like "Growl".   I knew
someday my 11th grade teacher, Mrs. Wilkerson, would prove to  have given me
somthing to advance my stature as a human being.

Russ Guarino

Bill Gunter wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Don Kirkman wrote (regarding my short version of this topic):
>
> >Nah, that's a variation on the original gloop, which was popular in WW
> >II.  The way I heard it, a sailor just out of training was assigned to a
> >destroyer.  When he reported, the officer in charge asked him what his
> >training was.  He replied that he was a trained gloop maker.  The
> >officer wasn't too current with all the new specialties, so he didn't
> >press the issue.  He asked the sailor what kind of facilities and
> >supplies he would need, and the guy ended up with a machine shop and
> >several large blocks of solid steel.  He spent day after day locked in
> >his shop, and passersby could hear the machines whirring and grinding
> >away inside.  After a couple of months his chief began to wonder just
> >what was going on, and started asking how he was coming and when he
> >would be finished.  After several more weeks the sailor said he was
> >almost finished, promising to display the gloop on the fantail the next
> >morning.  At the appointed time, he appeared with a tarp draped over a
> >large object, the contours of which couldn't quite be discerned.  When
> >all was ready, the tarp was removed and a large steel ball was
> >revealed--it was immediately sent overboard with a resounding "gloop".
>
> Exactly right! (except, possibly, for the name of the device).
>
> I was also in WWII and that's where I first encountered the story. It was a
> simple "shaggy dog joke" and who is to say which name (klunge, kludge,
> swoosh, gloop, etc.) was the original. It makes no difference anyway because
> the thrust of the story was in the telling - not the precise name of the
> stupid thing.
>
> The names are all onamatopoetic (sp?) versions of the sound created by an
> object falling into a body of water (splash, splish, klunge, plunge, swoosh,
> gloop, bloop, bleep, etc.).
>
> Also, seems to me I remember a popular song of the era entitled "Bloop,
> Bleep." It's about a leaky faucet preventing someone from going to sleep,.
> Anybody remember that old song? I bet it would make a funny OKOM song at a
> festival somewhere.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Bill "Glug" Gunter
> jazzboard at hotmail.com
>
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