Wednesday Word: Cacophony



A barking dog, a crying baby, loud music, slamming doors, sirens, alarms, repetitive sounds of all kinds, the cacophony of a room full of people talking; ... Kelli Jae Baeli

Cacophony
noun ca·coph·o·ny \ka-ˈkä-fə-nē, -ˈkȯ- also -ˈka-\

1:  harsh or discordant sound :  dissonance
2:  harshness in the sound of words or phrases

1650-60; < New Latin cacophonia < Greek kakophōnía

This is a very interesting word. As you can see from the picture above, the term inherently points to a negative connotation. Too many harsh noises sounded together at once to become an overwhelmingly unbearable sound.

However, there are other ways to look at this word. For example, when I had three boys all under the age of one year, their cries could become a cacophony of hunger. When I am feeding my little rescue cats, their meows are what we call a "CATcophony". Before an orchestra plays, and the musicians are warming up, the sound is definitely a cacophony of instrument sounds.

I look at this word as less of a negative, and more of a description of a variety of different sounds, bumping into one another and bouncing off into waiting ears.