this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2024
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Asklemmy

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

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[–] stoy@lemmy.zip 77 points 5 months ago (8 children)

"Myrornas krig"

"The war of the ants"

[–] Lux@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 5 months ago

This goes so fucking hard

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[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 62 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Nothing more fancy in Boston than "snow".

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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 5 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 5 months ago

War of the ants

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 46 points 5 months ago

We called it static.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 40 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 5 months ago (1 children)

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 36 points 5 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] Numhold@feddit.de 14 points 5 months ago

We always called it Ameisenfußball (ant soccer).

[–] orgrinrt@lemmy.world 7 points 5 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 5 months ago
[–] troed@fedia.io 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

"the war of the ants" (myrornas krig)

/Sweden

[–] marc@feddit.de 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] athos77@kbin.social 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 24 points 5 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 5 months ago (4 children)

Always called it "Ant races"

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[–] bobslaede@feddit.dk 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] bobslaede@feddit.dk 13 points 5 months ago

Yeah, pretty much. It's danish btw 🙂

[–] Jajcus@kbin.social 18 points 5 months ago (3 children)

In Poland it was „śnieży” (snowing).

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[–] robocall@lemmy.world 17 points 5 months ago
[–] pietervdvn@lemmy.ml 15 points 5 months ago

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

[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 5 months ago (1 children)

Never heard about this. Interesting tid bit.

I remember getting our first tv about 1982 I think.

[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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 5 months ago (1 children)

We called it the "Chinese rice fight"

...the 80s was a different time lol

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[–] tacosplease@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Static or Snow where I grew up in the US Southeast

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[–] ginerel@kbin.social 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)
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[–] NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml 12 points 5 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 5 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).

[–] 13esq@lemmy.world 11 points 5 months ago

UK here, we just called it static.

[–] moreeni@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago

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

[–] ReallyKinda@kbin.social 10 points 5 months ago

Salt and pepper fight!

[–] nik9000@programming.dev 10 points 5 months ago

The sky above the port.

[–] Daerun@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

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

[–] kindenough@kbin.social 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

'Sneeuw' in the Netherlands.

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[–] therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 8 points 5 months ago

Yea white noise and static

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 8 points 5 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.

[–] DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works 8 points 5 months ago
[–] bentusi@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago

We called it "flies" or "snow".

[–] mediOchre@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 months ago

sssssssss - dumbass kid

[–] zarcher@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)
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[–] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 7 points 5 months ago

"Bures" -- javanese

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago

Polish: śnieg (snow) or kasza/kaszka/kaszana (groats)

[–] Aatube@kbin.melroy.org 7 points 5 months ago

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

[–] LoreleiSankTheShip@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 months ago

We call this "fleas" in my language

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