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Topic : Is there a dialog tag for when someone is saying something in awe? I'm looking for a dialog tag for when someone is in awe and saying something along the lines of "oooooo!" or "wooooooow!" - selfpublishingguru.com

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I'm looking for a dialog tag for when someone is in awe and saying something along the lines of "oooooo!" or "wooooooow!"

"Oooooooo!" they ______ed.

Does it exist? If so, what is it?


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One option you may want to keep in mind is that ooh or ooh and aah can actually be used as a verb, in place of writing out "ooooo" as dialog. Something like "Ooooo!" say said with awe can be replaced with something like

They oohed in awe/wonder.

or, of course,

They oohed and aahed (at the wondrous sight).

As a bare sentence this sounds a bit primitive, but depending on context it can be less jarring than spelling out the interjection, and also cleanly conveys a sense that some people may have said "wow" while others used "ooo" (with varying numbers of Os and exclamation marks) or some other exclamation.

If you have other dialog for your character to say, oohed can even be its own dialog descriptor. For example:

[H]e still remembers hitting poor Jasper Moss in the face with a baseball, Jasper distracted by an airplane, "An L 10–11," he oohed right before the ball smacked his nose . . . .
—David Gilbbert, The Normals: A Novel

Bacharach, clutching his first Oscar, alleged he was overwhelmed. "Two of them, it's fantastic," he oohed, and added: "I'll put them on the breakfast table" . . . .
—Films in Review Vol. 21, snippet view

Just don't combine an interjection with the oohed tag:

*"Wow!" they oohed.


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gasped

"Oooooooo!" they gasped. Their eyes were like saucers.


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Swoon

It could work, depending on the context of the "Ooooo!"

Definition:
"be emotionally affected by someone or something that one admires; become ecstatic"


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I agree with @MarkBaker , that, in this case, there aren't many ways to express the line your character says.

However, you could try to show something about the character that matches his/her behavior/reaction, if you wanna make it more obvious e.g.:

"Oooooo!" they said, standing for a moment with glowing eyes and their mouth still open.


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"Wooow!" they marvelled.

To marvel is the word that comes to my mind in this case.

But in general you should realize that often it's not that important to find the one word to describe something. It may be hard for your audience to understand - after all it's hard for you to come up with it. There is a difference between active and passive vocabulary, but the point still stands. Have a look at my answer to Describing body language? for a longer discussion about always trying to find the one word.

You may want to consider some longer alternatives, such as:

"Wooow" they exclaimed in awe of what they just saw.

or

"Wooow" they said, smitten with amazement.

or

"Wooow" they exclaimed in an astonished voice.

or

"Wooow" they said, amazed by what they had just seen.

Often to say is good enough if you then proceed to describe in detail how your character reacts.


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I can't think of a definitive go-to one per se; there's probably many ways to express this.

Exclaimed, breathed, said softly, said incredulously, murmured.


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