Did the Nail Scrape Shudder Die With the Blackboard?

The Daily Word #42 [Raspy] 322 words

ChatGPT-created image for the author Jim Parsons

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Traditionally, it was the raspy sound of fingernails scraped down a blackboard that sent chills down your spine, made you grit your teeth and shudder.

The current generation has probably not seen a blackboard or a powder-coated blackboard duster… unless they have visited one of those museum schoolrooms.

Whiteboards do not screech convincingly. The chemical fumes of the marker pen are more likely to undo you.

Has the visceral shudder died along with the blackboard? Does anyone still have this experience, and what would cause it? I can’t recall having to screw up my face in torment for any other sound since leaving school.

But surely, this physiological response to a sound must not be unique in human experience! There must be a range of things that would cause this response.

Now, of course, I consulted AI and discovered that this phenomenon has a scientific name … and why not?! It is called Aphristia… yes, write it down for your next social gathering when you want to wow someone… ‘I say, Penelope, have you ever had aphristia?’

I am reliably informed that one experiences goosebumps, a shiver, and an elevated heart rate, and it is all because your ear canal is shaped to amplify that exact frequency and triggers an ancient evolutionary distress signal in your brain.

Moreover, contrary to expectations, it is not the high-frequency screech that does it, but rather the low and middle frequencies between 2000–4000Hz.

We must surmise that, if this is an ancient brain flight signal, it must date to prehistoric times. I put my money on it resembling the sound of a sabre-tooth tiger sharpening his eyeteeth on a convenient rock. I’d be running still.

Those of a more scientific bent suggest it resembles the predator alarm calls of our cousins, the chimpanzees and Macaques. Then why don’t they also make me shudder?

Has anything replaced the blackboard shudder for you? Donald Trump?

[embed]The Daily Word #42 Monday, July 6thmedium.com

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