Just wanted to dedicate a thread to a sometimes neglected part-of-speech. When you think about the word categories, it's easy to remember the big guys: your nouns, verbs and adjectives. But how much time do we take to really acknowledge the power of the humble interjection? I was thinking about this and I ended up assembling a list of my favourites. It was fun, and I had to pare it down a lot to get to ten. There's just so much they can express, something so visceral and emotional, practically preverbal. I love how an actual word can be transformed into a reflex, like a grunt or a squeal, and at the same time be loaded with cultural meaning and idiosyncratic individuality. So here's my top ten (in no particular order): "Bam!" "Sweet." "Goddammit." "Yikes." "Bada bing bada boom." "Aw, [man/dang/hell/nuts]." "Crap." "Egad!" "What." "Wahay!" What are your favourite interjections? Which do you use on a daily basis? Which do you like for your characters? Which (if any) just make you smile?
Just to be clear, some of those are onomatopoeia (sound effects). Do you have characters who say "splat" or "biff"? That said, I want to find an excuse to use "Pow!" in dialogue now. (I know my first example was "Bam!" but that's because it amuses me when characters say "Bam!" to each other, in the sense of "Take that!")
No, but I'd love to if I could make if work. Splat is a good one. I use that all the time when describing a bad plot idea or other writing snafu, as in, "This story of mine went splat earlier than usual." Biff? I don't know. Have to get a bit more creative with that one. Aside from Biff Tannin of Back to the Future fame and the obvious Batman exclamation, I can't think of another biff-y reference. I'm going to keep it in mind though. Look for a possible biff opportunity.
Of course, woohoo's a great interjection. But do they use "splat" as an interjection, like "Oh, splat!", or do they say things like "It went splat", which would just be onomatopoeia? If they really use splat as an interjection, I gotta admit that's interesting. That's just using it as a verb phrase though, not really an interjection. Great use of the word, though.
Personally, I use the interjection "FUCK!" a lot. Multiple times daily, usually in combination with various other swear words. I'm a tad vulgar.
Not a common interjection, no. I mean, I've probably seen my dog fall off the couch and said "splat" before, but I don't think it's entered the lexicon of common usage or anything,
I first heard it 50 years ago. I know several people who would say it in the appropriate situation. How many people need to use it to make it common enough?
