Singing sand refers to the roaring noise or boom produced by vibrations in sand dunes. Barking sand, which makes yipping noises when you drag your feet along it, is found along coastlines in Hawaii and elsewhere. These terms are discussed in more detail in Homeground: A Guide to the American Landscape, edited by Barry Lopez and Debra Gwartney. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Singing and Barking Sands”
Here’s another cool term from that book, Homeground, about words for features of the landscape,
Singing sand.
This is familiar to me.
Is it?
Perhaps it’s from reading Dune. I don’t know.
Or perhaps it’s from watching a National Geographic documentary.
I didn’t know this, but apparently sand dunes can make this sort of roaring noise.
Really?
Yeah, I watched a whole segment of a National Geographic.
Singing sand.
There’s something about the way that it vibrates that produces this sound.
Sometimes it’s a big booming sound, but then there’s like barking sand in Hawaii
Where you step in sand and you kind of move your feet and it kind of makes this little yip, yip, yip sound.
Yeah.
Yeah, so there’s singing sand and barking sand.
Barking sand.
How about that?
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