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submitted 8 months ago by Rentlar@lemmy.ca to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

Bonus points if there's a known onomatopoeia to describe the sound.

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[-] stoy@lemmy.zip 77 points 8 months ago

"Myrornas krig"

"The war of the ants"

[-] Lux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 8 months ago

This goes so fucking hard

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[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 62 points 8 months ago

Nothing more fancy in Boston than "snow".

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 8 points 8 months ago

Yeah that's a common one, I wonder if it would seen as more or less commonly like that depending on how cold the local climate is.

[-] alquicksilver@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

California, here, and not any of the parts that get snow. (Closest we get is hail, which feels like it happens maybe twice a decade.) We called it "snow," too. :)

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[-] p0ppe@lemmy.world 50 points 8 months ago

War of the ants

[-] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 46 points 8 months ago

We called it static.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 40 points 8 months ago

What prompted this question is some Japanese TV service ended this past weekend for a relative and the word to describe the static noise was "sand storm".

Thought it might be interesting to hear what it's called elsewhere.

[-] lettruthout@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

So Japan still uses analog broadcast TV? Maybe it's different for other US TVs, but since the switch to the digital broadcast system my TVs show black when a channel is not available. Snow has gone the way of the old test pattern of years ago.

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[-] Yrt@feddit.de 37 points 8 months ago

Schneesturm (snow storm) or Ameisenkrieg (ant war) in German.

[-] Numhold@feddit.de 14 points 8 months ago

We always called it Ameisenfußball (ant soccer).

[-] orgrinrt@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Had the exact same two in my childhood and youth in Finland. Probably some nuance differences in language, but semantically very similar ones! Muurahaissota and lumisade 🕺

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[-] Anticorp@lemmy.world 27 points 8 months ago
[-] troed@fedia.io 23 points 8 months ago

"the war of the ants" (myrornas krig)

/Sweden

[-] marc@feddit.de 14 points 8 months ago

Know the term ‘Ants Soccer’, quite similar (Germany)

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[-] athos77@kbin.social 21 points 8 months ago

Snow or static. It's cosmic microwave background radiation - the remnants of the big bang.

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 25 points 8 months ago

Some of it is cosmic background radiation - it's also machine vibrations, manufacturer defects, power line radiation, and nearby appliances. The more remote and well shielded you are the more likely it's pure background radiation... but in a big city it's likely to be local radiation sources. The inverse square law has a big role here.

[-] hondaguy97386@sh.itjust.works 20 points 8 months ago

Always called it "Ant races"

[-] bobslaede@feddit.dk 19 points 8 months ago
[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 13 points 8 months ago

That's cool. Something like "flickering", I would guess?

[-] bobslaede@feddit.dk 13 points 8 months ago

Yeah, pretty much. It's danish btw 🙂

[-] Jajcus@kbin.social 18 points 8 months ago

In Poland it was „śnieży” (snowing).

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[-] robocall@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago
[-] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 15 points 8 months ago

Back in the days when we all had antennas and cable hadn't been born yet, the static stations were a great thing to watch if there might be a tornado in your area. Apparently if one formed, it would significantly change the look of the snow on the TV and give you a warning to quickly head to the basement. I never actually saw it happen, but there were a couple times we had local warnings and my parents plopped me down to keep an eye on the TV.

[-] andrewta@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Never heard about this. Interesting tid bit.

I remember getting our first tv about 1982 I think.

[-] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 15 points 8 months ago

I actually started questioning whether this was something my parent's told me to keep me busy, but turns out it's a real thing.

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[-] z00s@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

We called it the "Chinese rice fight"

...the 80s was a different time lol

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[-] pietervdvn@lemmy.ml 15 points 8 months ago

In Chiba city, it is described as "The sky above the port"

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Static or Snow where I grew up in the US Southeast

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[-] ginerel@kbin.social 12 points 8 months ago
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[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

UK here, we just called it static.

[-] NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml 12 points 8 months ago

Dreh die Antenne nach links, ich krieg nur rauschen hier unten.

It would be white noise, “weißes rauschen”, but nobody ever said the “white” part.

[-] jlow@beehaw.org 12 points 8 months ago

In Germany it's called "Weißes Rauschen" (so akin to white noise, white rustling / murmuring?). It seems to be both about the sound (rauschen) and the visuals (weiß).

[-] nik9000@programming.dev 10 points 8 months ago

The sky above the port.

[-] Daerun@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago
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[-] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 10 points 8 months ago

Salt and pepper fight!

[-] moreeni@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago

In Ukraine we say that "the image/display is snowing" (зображення/екран сніжить)

[-] kindenough@kbin.social 9 points 8 months ago

'Sneeuw' in the Netherlands.

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[-] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

In Croatia, we call(ed) it 'snow' (snijeg).

[-] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 months ago
[-] therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 8 points 8 months ago

Yea white noise and static

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

No. But I did learn that if you put your sunglasses over one eye and look at it, it makes a trippy 3D motion effect.

[-] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 8 months ago

In Poland we say that it's show or it's snowing.

[-] mediOchre@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 months ago

sssssssss - dumbass kid

[-] bentusi@lemm.ee 7 points 8 months ago

We called it "flies" or "snow".

[-] LoreleiSankTheShip@lemmy.ml 7 points 8 months ago

We call this "fleas" in my language

[-] zarcher@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago
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[-] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 7 points 8 months ago

In China we call it snow and describe the sound using the exact onomatopoeia as rain

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 7 points 8 months ago

"Bures" -- javanese

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this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
161 points (98.2% liked)

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