onomatoPOEia?

This is going to get to books in a second, I swear, so just follow my train of thought. I'm going somewhere, I promise.

So, I was at a wonderful concert last weekend with Christmas carols given a rock edge, and this band, Future of Forestry, managed to do what NO ONE else has ever done- make me look forward to the song Little Drummer Boy.

Generally speaking, I really, really hate that song. HATE IT.

This band does a long drum section to finish the song- I saw it last year so I knew it was coming- and it is PHENOMENAL. But that's not the point of this.

So a friend couldn't believe that I generally don't like Little Drummer Boy, and I was trying to explain my peeve to her. Then, I realized the problem.

Pah-rum-pah-pum-pum.

It really annoys me that the song so literally states the drumming. Yuck. I mean, why? Is it necessary? You are playing instruments, for goodness sake- let the drum speak for itself! Sigh.

But it got me thinking about onomatopoeias- words that imitate a sound, like "bang", or "zap!" or "meow...". I was told by a creative writing teacher that they were named after Edgar Allen Poe (thus the spelling of onomatoPOEia) because he used them so much, especially in his poetry. For those of you better suited to this than me, is this rumor true? Have you ever heard this before, and is there anything to support this? I've read a LOT of Poe, and I've never noticed an irregularly high number of onomatopoeias. Am I missing something?

Also, what are your favorite onomatopoeias? This goes out to everyone! Before you laugh and say to yourself, "PSSSSHHH, what kind of nerd has a favorite onomatopoeia?" stop and this about it. Think about Batman and POW! or that stupid kid from the Mazda commercials saying ZoomZoom in that freaky voice. Onomatopoeias are a pop culture stigma, especially (to my knowledge) in English. For those of you that I KNOW are reading and have never commented, this is your chance! Give me your best contributions- I would love to hear them! Or just rip me apart for hating the little drummer boy- he really annoys me to death. Thanks to everyone that's been following!

Happy Reading!