h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

When I grew up on the east coast of the US, the agreed on
background murmur-word was "banana". When I moved to the
Midlands of England, I discovered that it was "rhubarb".
In each case, it seemed to me that the noise-word very
accurately reflected the average sound of the local dialect.

Wubba is a new one to me, though. I wonder how many other
agreed-upon noise words there are: what word do the Germans
use? Or is there one word for the Plattdeutsch and another
for the Bavarians?

As for wubbas personnified, I hate to say this, but in the school
where I worked for 10 years, it was the children, the students.
The school itself had as its prime mission the completion
of statistical reports for the Dept. of Education.

Lil

Oddly, where I grew up, the stage-folk tended to murmur 'watermelon-cantelope-watermelon-cantelope' over and over for the simulated crowd sounds.

Where was this??

Where I learned the art of background noise (Washington, US), we said "cheese and crackers, nuts and bolts." I've often wondered why this peculiar combination.

Lil,

When I was in North West of England, the agreed background noise would be "Rhubarb" "Rhurbard" - but we said it in a posh (queens english) voice. So saying it related to dialect, is a new one to me.