Beep (sound)

This article is about the "beep" sound. See Beep for its disambiguation page.

A beep is a noise, generally of a single tone, often generated by a machine. In some computer terminals, the ASCII character code 7, bell character, outputs an audible beep. Beeps are also used as a warning when a truck or bus is reversing — a sound sometimes referred to as a Nader bell.

A beep is also considered a colloquialism to describe a second telephone call coming in on the same phone line as someone is currently speaking, either on a landline or mobile phone. The call waiting feature often gives an audible "beep" noise to indicate that there is a second call coming in, and thus people may say "I have a beep."

When called bleep, it usually refers specifically to the sound introduce to overwrite or delay potentially offensive material (see bleep censor).

"Meep"

Meep is an onomatopoeic interjection that is often considered to be a recent variation of "beep."

Meep is used by many modern day school children and teens (mostly those conditioned by internet slang) as an exclamation, compared to a meaningless and random answer such as meh. It can also be a sort of squeaking, frightened noise, like a mouse squeak.

"MEEP" can also be an acronym with a number of different meanings.

In popular culture

• "Meep-meep" is often considered (incorrectly) to be the only verbal statement by the Warner Brothers cartoon character The Road Runner. According to the producers, it is actually meant to be "Beep-beep".
• "Meep" is used by Google Talk’s voicemail feature, which has "Please leave your message after the meep" instead of the more common "Please leave your message after the beep."
• "Meep" is the sound uttered by a hot spring turtle, Tama, in the popular anime and manga Love Hina.
• "Meep-meep" is also often used as 'excuse me,' in a silly or fun manner.
• "Meep" is used in Spongebob Squarepants by anchovies as an interjection. Normally, a chain reaction will occur when one anchovie speaks up and soon the entire group is chanting the nonsense.

See also

• Beep-beep
• Bleep censor