When you’ve been around the Multiverse (or my particular version of it) for a while, you start noticing things that are similar in all the worlds. Example: Have you ever noticed how many doors sound like they were stolen right off the Enterprise? (We were watching the first season of Buck Rogers last night; their doors have the same Star Trek sound, only slowed down! Sheesh!) Ever realize how many vehicles, when they fail, sound just like the Millenium Falcon with a wonky hyperdrive? And I can’t tell you how many times my wife has heard an engine and, without looking up, said, “That’s a landspeeder.”
My personal favorite in this category right now is the Interdimensional Sound of Annoyance (ISA). I’ve heard it from a Mallisterean in Coruscant traffic; I’ve heard it from an Uruk-Hai outside Helm’s Deep; I’ve heard it from the lips of countless humans, past and future, no matter what language they speak or what time/space period they’re from. The ISA? It’s “What’da . . . !”
Now I know someone is going to point out that this is actually a contraction of the English “What the . . ., ” where the last word of the phrase, usually not welcome in a family-friendly environment, is left to the imagination of the hearer. I have no idea whether these exclamations are translated in other versions; the Mallisterean might be, the Uruk-Hai is probably not. Someone else might argue that this is the ISA as translated by an English-speaking brain, and that we really don’t know what the ISA sounds like. That may be true, and we won’t know till we get there. But since I live in my own little world, and my own little Multiverse, I’m going to take my ISA as fact. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. 8-P
What fascinates me is not the sound of the ISA, but the fact that it exists at all. It’s pointing to the fact that all sentient beings seem to need an expression to use when something unexpected happens; and that when it does, what comes out of our vocal orifices is a little muddied. They aren’t quite words, but hey — if a Jedi suddenly flew by on a ‘bot and nearly kicked you in the eye-stalk, you’d be a little muddled, too! The phrase usually lasts as long as the confusion, as the event either passes by or becomes obvious. But it does seem to be one of those little things we all have in common.
So listen for the Interdimensional Sound of Annoyance — I’m sure you’ll hear it in the next 24 hours, from your own reality or one of the ones you like to hang out in (think TV, movies, books . . .). Where can you find it? Let me know!
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