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Is "to go + (onomatopoeia)" a recognized pattern?

English Language & Usage Asked on April 19, 2021

Multiple times I saw that "to go" is used with strange things, especially in memes:

But I don’t see such scheme to be listed in a dictionary as phrasal verbs or idiomatic phrases.

How this thing is called? Is it still a sort of phrasal verb? Is a sort of verbing, applied to onomatopoeia? Is this usage of "go" even described somewhere? Can other words instead of "go" serve this function?

One Answer

One of the definitions given by Oxford Dictionaries is 'make a sound of a specified kind'. This is a common usage in informal speech and when teaching animal noises to children:

The cow goes moo.

The balloon went bang.

Correct answer by Kate Bunting on April 19, 2021

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