Leave The Future For The Mystics

I’ve been thinking a lot about the question you posted last night about sound vs noise and figured that my answer would be too long to be posted in a response… so here it is!

By definition they’re the same, technically speaking. In fact, in each definition there is the use of the other word. However, I think it’s more complex than that.

For example, as a writer you would think that if the words were the same they would be perfect synonyms for each other. But I find that’s often not the case. I mean, which sounds better/less ridiculous?
“The sound of her voice echoed in my memories.” or “The noise of her voice echoed in my memories.”

That led me to look at the connotation and realize that “noise” is often used by people with a more negative connotation while “sounds” are viewed more pleasantly.

In my own opinion “noise” is just a cacophony of sounds, mixed and muddled until they don’t really make sense anymore. If “noise” was an image it’d be chaotic and busy where “sound” would be a lot less complex.

I don’t know if any of this really makes sense, but it’s what came to mind on my bus rides this morning and I thought I’d share.