"Everybody Else Is Going To Thank You For Being A Friend, Andrew...I'll Just Say...Thanks..."

Onomatopoeia.

The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.

Beep.

Bark.

Crunch.

Purr.

Shuffle.

Trickle.

Zap.

Zoom.

And here's one you don't automatically think to add to the list.

Obituary.

I'll tell you how it deserves a place on the list in a minute.

First, though, sad news this weekend of a life well lived and ended too soon.

Andrew Gold died yesterday.

59. Heart attack.

Ouch.

Onomatopoetically speaking.

As with the passing of James Arness this weekend, Andrew Gold is going to get next to nothing in terms of name recognition from anyone under the age of forty five, save for the ardent audiophile, pop music trivia type or TV theme song buff.

His sudden passing will likely generate hardly a splish, let alone a splash.

Twin onomatopoeia. Double word score.

Any mention of his name you might happen upon this weekend will almost certainly be prefaced with the term "singer/songwriter".

As in "singer/songwriter Andrew Gold dies at 59", etc.

Because while much of his considerable portfolio of career accomplishment arguably qualifies as "household words", his name itself will require the aforementioned preface to make his inclusion in any news reporting valid.

As opposed, say, to if Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian were to suddenly and unexpectedly pass, when everyone would instantly know who we were talking about, making it completely unnecessary to include the identifying preface "talentless, self absorbed celebrity/reality show star..".

Zing.

So to onomatopoetically speak.

I won't wham, wallop or splatter you with the minutiae of Andrew Gold's life and career here.

That's why God created Google.

A website name, by the way, I think deserves a place on the list as well.

What I'm willing to bet, though, no matter your age, is that you have been exposed, at one time or another, to the work of "singer/songwriter Andrew Gold".

I'm also willing to bet that any news you read about him this weekend is going to include, likely early on, that he was the composer of the theme song to the TV show, "The Golden Girls", "Thank You For Being A Friend'.

And any testimonial to him that appears at all is likely to have that song and/or title plunked and plopped in our direction.

I'll spare you the squawk, snarl and snort about how predictable that is.

And simply offer up, as tribute to a talent too soon gone zip, zap, zoom, a song written and performed by a close friend, collaborator and fellow performer of Andrew Gold's.

Singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff.

Oh...and as for reason I think "obituary" deserves a place on the list of onomatopoetic words?

Trying to distill a full, rich and amazing life into just a few, attention span challenged sentences is a bitch.

Yikes.