Making harsh, loud, unpleasant noises, similar to the sounds made by angry birds or frustrated parrots.
From the onomatopoeia 'squawk,' which combines 'squall' (a sudden loud cry) and 'hawk' (a bird), first recorded in American English in the 1800s. The word perfectly imitates the loud, raucous sound of birds and complaints.
Squawking became super common in American English during the radio era, when people needed a word to describe the static noise and loud broadcasts—it's funny how a word born to describe bird sounds got pressed into service for electronic noise!
Squawking applied to women (especially older women, often with 'old bird') as derogatory for loud, annoying speech; overlaps with animal deprecation trope linking women to non-human creatures.
Use only for animal/mechanical sounds; avoid for human speech, especially gendered criticism.
["complaining loudly","protesting","speaking forcefully","voicing objections"]
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