oomph
noun

-  power, strength, or energetic activity

The Cambridge Dictionary

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ORIGIN

"Oomph" is an example of an ‘imitative word’ or ‘onomatopoeia’ - Greek for ‘making or creating names’.

Today’s OWAD is thought to come from boxing. Imagine the forceful sound of a boxer taking a punch to the midsection and you can almost hear him/her making a sound something like “oomph!”.

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SYNONYMS

ardour, beans, bounce, dash, drive, dynamism, effervescence, elan, emotion, energy, enthusiasm, esprit, exhilaration, exuberance, fervour, fire, fizz, get-up-and-go, ginger, gusto, heart, hustle, juice, kick, life, moxie, OOMPH, passion, pep, pizzazz, power, punch, sparkle, spirit, vibrance, vigour, vim, vitality, welly, zap, zeal, zest, zing, zip

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ENGLISH EARS

Can you guess the animal corresponding to these common onomatopoeias?

bleat, bow-wow, buzz, cock-a-doodle-doo, coo, croak, gobble, hee-haw, hiss, hoot, miaow, moo, neigh, oink, quack, squeak, trumpet, tweet-tweet, twitter, whinny, woof (answers below)

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Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“This presentation needs to be delivered with a bit more OOMPH!”

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ENGLISH EARS (answers)

bleat = sheep, goat
bow-wow = dog
buzz = bee, fly, mosquito
cock-a-doodle-doo = chicken
coo = pigeon
croak = frog
gobble = turkey
hee-haw = donkey
hiss = snake
hoot = owl
miaow = cat
moo = cow
neigh = horse
oink = pig
quack = duck, frog
squeak = mouse
trumpet = elephant
tweet-tweet, twitter = bird
whinny = horse
woof = dog

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HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

Paul Smith