噗通 PK 扑通: What's The Difference? If Any?

Question

Most dictionaries (ABC/A Chinese-English Dict) claim that 噗/扑 are variants of each other, while giving 扑 as the simplified form of 撲.

Liang'an seems to say that 扑 is the simplified version of 噗. [This seems wrong].

Hanyu Da Cidian offers another alternative: 噗嗵.

百度知道 has the following question: 扑通与噗通的区别

扑通一声跪下

还是

噗通一声跪下

请路过的大侠给指条明路

With the best answer having been chosen as:

扑通形容动作

噗通形容声音

Another answer claimed:

都是拟声词，但形容跪下一般用扑通，因为有滑稽、贬义的效果，还用在有物体向下落的时候，比如球落水扑通一声。

噗通则用在中性的语句中，比如“噗通一声，瓶盖开了”

and lastly another reply:

扑通不是声音大姐

噗通才是声音大姐

I'm not sure where the claims that 扑通 is not onomatopoeia are coming from, as it seems to be widely accepted that it indeed is.

• Can Anyone Clarify Things A Bit: What's The Difference Between 噗通 and 扑通?

Answer 1

The way I see it is that 噗通 is neutrally describing the "plonk" sound when you drop something into a liquid, while 扑通 describes something going "plonk" into a liquid (there are other uses of these characters to describe other sounds). Generally, one is an action, the other is a sound.

Because the 2nd one is an action of "going plonk" (to phrase it inelegantly), it could be used comically to describe somebody falling into a pond, for instance. But, I wouldn't say that it's usage is connected to something being comical all or even most of the time.

Contrary to what one of your sources says, 噗 and 扑 are not variants of each other, and 扑 is not the simplified form of 噗 (it's the simplified form of 撲). It just so happens that the two are interchangeable in this one word.

Even though this difference exists, most people seem not to distinguish between them because they sound the same and are so similar in meaning. Many people will just use 扑通 all the time, especially on a computer when sifting through 扑通 and 噗通 is a pain.

To back up my claim with google:

扑通: 969,000 results

噗通: 639,000 results (and most of them a K-drama)

噗嗵: 74,000 results

Answer 2

no much difference. this one is better: 噗嗵.