I generally enjoy onomatopoeia, but I'm not a fanatic.

I think it's different when you learn a foreign tongue and see a particularly good example. And I was reminded of this when I saw a bit of standup comedy from Brian Regan. He was complaining--in a very funny way--about how the words we use to describe animal sounds aren't terribly accurate. Saying "hoot" to describe the owl's call was a particular target and it reminded me of one of my favorite German words.

The word for "owl" in German is "Uhu" (pronounced oo-hoo). How cool is that?

CDs listened to today:

• Arnold Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder, disk 2
• Various Artists: Best Of Techno, Vol. 3
• Test Icicles: For Screen Purposes Only
• John Speight: Symphony No. 2
• Emma Lou Diemer: Concerto In One Movement For Piano
• Charles Wuorinen: Genesis