Audio Sting

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Gina from Allen, Texas.

Well, hi, Gina. Welcome to the program.

Thank you.

What can we do for you?

Well, I have eight-year-old twin daughters, and one of them, her name is Elena, started using kind of the word for a sound in her sentences, and it just struck me by surprise, and I couldn’t contain my laughter, and she just was using it all the time.

Ooh, do tell.

She will say, my friend was walking home after school last week, and dun-dun-dun, the door was locked when she got home.

And she’ll say, the other day I was riding my bike, and dun-dun-dun, I fell and nearly broke my arm.

And I think she’s heard it as a sound in conversation on TV or in the movies.

And so she’s imitating that dramatic pause that she’s heard in the cartoon.

Right.

How interesting.

But without the music in there, which is interesting to me.

So instead of going, dun, dun, dun, she’s just going, dun, dun, dun.

Right.

Huh.

Well, the more I talk about it, the less she does it.

Oh.

I’ve tried not to bring it to her attention anymore, and it’s coming back.

She started saying it again.

I could see how that would be charming.

Yeah, so do you think it’s cute, and you just stand around waiting for her to say it?

I do, and I tell my friends about it in front of her, which is also a big mistake.

Oh, that’s a big no-no.

Dun-dun-dun.

Well, at least she’s still talking.

Wait until she’s 13.

Right.

That’s true.

I’ve never heard of this.

Have you agree?

No, but I’m immediately fascinated by it and charmed.

It sounds really cute.

Did she tell you where she picked it up?

Is she relating to you how she learned it?

Well, I finally started asking her about it, where she had heard it, and she says, I don’t know, I guess Spongebob or something.

So I don’t know if it was specifically that cartoon, but I’m thinking the dramatic music that plays in the background.

How interesting.

And does she have a twin, did you say?

She does.

And does the twin do it?

No.

And I’ve never heard any of her little neighborhood friends or school friends do it either.

Well, I hereby resolve to watch more Spongebob to find out.

All my way.

I’ve seen a couple episodes of it.

He’s got some terrible habits, and the script writers must have a huge amount of fun writing that show because it’s one of the goofiest things I have ever seen in my whole life.

It’s incredibly wacky.

There’s a lot there to laugh about.

That’s hilarious.

Hey, do you know the dramatic prairie dog?

No.

Half the audience is going, yes! And the other half is going, what?

Google the dramatic prairie dog.

This is a famous, very short YouTube clip that has something like a bazillion views, and that’s an actual count.

And it’s a prairie dog looking out the corner of his eyes, and this cheesy, dramatic, dun-dun-dun music is playing.

And he looks like some great truth has just been revealed, like the killer has walked into the room and been caught or something.

It’s really funny.

So dramatic prairie dog.

And maybe she’s doing a version of that.

I don’t really know.

Maybe so.

Because it’s one of the biggest YouTube hits of all time.

That’s funny.

Jeez.

And Gina, if it’s any comfort to you, we can give you a word for what your daughter is doing.

Yes, that would be great.

Nice.

Okay.

I mean, it’s not that special, but the word in the TV industry is that’s a sting.

A sting.

Dun, dun, dun.

How do they differ from a stinger?

A stinger’s at the end?

Yeah, a stinger’s at the very end of, say, an episode or something.

Right, right before you go to commercial, that little whirl of music that they do on the news, right before they go, that’s the stinger.

Yeah, yeah, Sting and Stinger.

Very cool.

So, you know, if you want to do some more Googling about TV stings and that kind of thing.

Yeah, teach you some more.

Maybe there’s a sting support group out there for moms like you, you know.

I will Google that and the dramatic prairie dog as soon as I hang up.

Gina, thank you for calling us today and sharing stories of your family.

Love it.

Thank you, thank you.

All right, best of luck with the twins.

Okay, bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Very cool.

Children are wacky and funny and I just love the crazy stuff they come up with.

I am really curious to know if there are other kids who do this or supply their own sound effects that way, just sort of unselfconsciously.

I don’t know.

It’s possible.

We’d love to hear about it.

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The address is words@waywordradio.org.