‘Words That Aren’t Words’, An Explanation of Sounds Used to Convey Meaning In Different Languages

In “Words That Aren’t Words” by Quartz features different people explaining the phonosemantic phrases that are specific to their native languages. In English, the sound “tsk” expresses disapproval, “meh” expresses apathy and “hmm” can express a variety of meanings including complete disinterest. Such is the same with every language in the world.

OCH (Scotland), it’s like “oh”, och aye – oh yes. … Ech (Poland), it’s a sigh of resignation, of apathy, of indifference. It can mean a lot of things. “Do you like that borscht I just gave you? Ech.