Boop?

Language Log 2025-06-11

The latest xkcd:

Mouseover title: "With a good battery, the device can easily last for 5 or 10 years, although the walls probably won't."

The joke worked for me, although I was pretty sure that a (current) MacBook makes no sound when a usb device connects. I checked, and that's true.

A current Windows 11 laptop does make usb-connect sound — but "BOOP!" is not really a good onomatopoeia for it:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

There are two distinct notes, roughly a descending fifth (at approximately 587 Hz and 392 Hz), so a monosyllabic "BOOP!" doesn't really work. And the onset of the first note is not really very stop-like, much less evoking a [b]:

It seems to me more like [ˈa.u] (= "AA-oo"), though I admit that's not nearly as evocative as "BOOP!". Commenters may have better ideas.

The only "device connect sound" I could find on the internet was this one:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

It's more complicated, and even less BOOP!-like. The video's caption is "Windows 10/8 Device Connect Sound", which may be why it's familiar, though I can't place it more exactly than "that's a familiar sound".

Maybe Randall has a laptop with a different (and more boop-like) usb-connecting sound? Or maybe he was subconsciously inspired by the new musical?

The explanation and discussion at explainxkcd are not helpful with respect to this aspect of the joke.

Update — Commenters YRG and AKMA note that MacBooks make a rather boop-like sound when connected to charging power — here's what it sounds like on my laptop:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

There are two partials, one at 880 Hz and the other at (concert A) 440 Hz, with amplitude contours that you can see in the spectrogram.

I wonder who invents such sounds, and who "owns" them (if anyone does)?