Punch

About the Punch sound

No real fist has ever made this noise. Cinema punches sound like this because reality disappoints — the genuine article is a dull slap, so foley artists have spent a century hitting sides of meat, leather gloves and phone books to produce something an audience will accept. Editing inherited the whole tradition. Use it for physical comedy, for verbal knockouts, and for the moment an argument lands like a haymaker somebody had been holding back for three paragraphs. THWACK. The debate has concluded.

OriginThe classic cinematic punch impact.