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Clearing one's throat is a nice way to signal that special attention is needed. For example, two colleagues are making fun of their boss as she walks right by. She listens for a second and then ... clears her throat to say "I'm here".

  • Is there an onomatopoeia for that?
  • If not, how could that be expressed in writing?
Emanuel
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  • Yes, but it's not onomatopoeic, except that ahem has two syllables, and there are usually two chest pulses in an attention-getting throat-clearing event. – John Lawler Apr 02 '14 at 15:28
  • @JohnLawler... but isn't it the attempt that makes it onomatopoetic? I mean how good or bad it is is largely up to the person, considering that the onomatopoeia for a certain sound can vary quite a lot from language to language – Emanuel Apr 02 '14 at 18:52
  • Onomatopoeia is an attempt to imitate the sound; there's very little of that with ahem; you could just as easily say cough, cough. – John Lawler Apr 02 '14 at 20:08
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    @JohnLawler... so you're saying that "ahem" is not an attempt to imitate sound? What is it then? I think, it may not be a very successful o. but it is one all the same. As is "to cough" by the way – Emanuel Apr 02 '14 at 20:55
  • OK, if you say so. I don't care, particularly; it just seemed like a particularly stylized imitation, is all. – John Lawler Apr 02 '14 at 21:22
  • There's a reason we went to the trouble of defining words to mean things rather than imitating the sounds all the time. – Oldcat Apr 02 '14 at 22:32
  • When I listen to myself about the closest I can come is "cuhuhuhuh" or perhaps "cuhcuhcuhcuh". – Hot Licks Mar 29 '16 at 23:40
  • @emanuel et al. Moo is onomatopoeic. That being said, onomatopoeia change sounds with language and culture. Thus, the onomatopoeia for the sound a chicken makes will be different in French than it is in English or Chinese. –  Sep 07 '16 at 12:28

4 Answers4

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Ahem.

exclamation 1. used to represent the noise made when clearing the throat, typically to attract attention or express disapproval or embarrassment. "ahem, excuse me"

Meaning.

John Lawler
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Ronan
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Cough

This is the first word I'd think of, and it's onomatopoeic.

Rich
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In the immortal words of Dolores Umbridge:

Hem-hem.

Rand al'Thor
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Ahem is either but not both. If Ahem is said "I say, ahem, I say" it is an exclamation. This is equivalent to British "Hem hem!" If ahem replaces the sound of the clearing of the throat in a sentence, it is onomatopoeic.

Peter
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