#812 Zonk

Consider the word “zonk.” It functions as a word in a cartoon. Someone hits someone else and the sound effect balloon says zonk. Zonk, wham, bam, pow.
It does this well because it ends with a “K”. Most words that end with “K” in our language have a hard edge to them. Rock is a prime example. Brick another.
Bric without a “k”, even though it ends in a hard “c”, is nonetheless soft enough to be included in the term bric-a-brac, and as such, allowed to sit on tiny tables next to puffy chairs gathering dust in cluttered living rooms and parlors.
Brick with a “k” is used to build the foundations and walls of those parlors.
Words that end in “T” are kind of hard. Take the term nugget. A nugget of truth is seen as a hard kernel of truth. Gold nuggets are pretty hard as well, hard enough to sift out of the even softer sand and stay in the pan.
But nuggets are still a little softer than rocks. They also share almost every letter and most of the sound of the term nougat.
I spent way too much time as a youth trying to define in my own mind what nougat was. Numerous candy bars claimed to contain nougat. Yet to my uncultured tongue, the creamy center of a Milky Way differed significantly from the turgid texture of the interior of a Payday. Maybe the Payday’s load of nuts tricked my tongue into thinking the rest of the bar was firmer, but I don’t think so.
Today’s Milky Ways Bars are just as creamy and melt far faster than a Payday.
Nougat. It really is fun to say. Yet it’s always in a supporting roll. You never here anyone say, “Waiter, bring me more nougat.”
Finally, words that end in vowels tend to be softer. The more the vowels the softer it is. Like tissue. Just a breath of an object, light as air. Tissue. So elegant and refined.
Not, “I need a rag.”
But, “Someone please fetch me a tissue. It appears the zonked out neighbor child has smeared nougat on my bric-a-brac...”
America, ya gotta love it.