Don't Feed The Geek – Updated every Tue and Thurs, unless I don't.

Audiom: A sound or sound effect that has an origin that may not be readily known to the person hearing it, but the meaning is clear. e.g.: cha-ching, a needle removed from a record

I’m proposing a new word. I had found a need for a new word recently. While listening to the radio I often hear sound effects. I know what the sound effect is and its origin. Even my kids know what the sound effect means, because of the context. However, I don’t think my kids have ever listened to a phonograph, yet know when they hear that noise on the radio what the advertiser is conveying. They have never heard a cash register go cha-ching but when they hear that sound, they know it means money. I can think of many examples. I imagine a time when my grand kids will have a whole slew of these “audioms” and will have no idea where it came from. Much like when we hear phrases like “rule of thumb” we usually don’t know the origin. ( I do know this one) Or how about “the elephant in the room”.

So in a conversation with a co-worker and friend Joe Harms, I explained the need for the word and he came up with audiom form the word idiom. I think it was genius. So this is the new word. ‘Audiom’, use it often.