Is everyone aware that "Oh Snap!" is gay slang?

[Roon]

Thought you might like to know.Didn't bother me that it went mainstream until I started seeing conservatives use the term.

[valerief]

1. Thanks for the 411!

[no name no slogan]

2. ...

This is the DU member formerly known as OhSnap.

[Roon]

3. LOL!!

The first time I heard it was back in 1989 when I first came out of the closet and started hanging with gays. Some gay people are so funny.....

[no name no slogan]

4. Wow, I was unaware of its pedigree

I thought it was a late 90s thing.

We have a sofware package at work called Snap, and we always end up calling it Oh Snap! instead. What can I say, my job is boring. :)

[Roon]

5. That is the earliest I can remember it being used..

probably been around for longer than that.

[Orrex]

8. It used to make me think of Damon Wayans' movie critic on In Living Color

But I don't know if there's any direct connection...

[Roon]

9. Oh yeah

I am sure they had some gay writers come up with their catchphrases.

[Orrex]

6. It is? That's so gay!

I hear it all the time, and it always cracks me up. Especially when a Conservative uses it!

[Roon]

10. LOL!

You should tell the conservative that it's gay slang. He will drop the term like a hot potato.

[Fire Walk With Me]

45. Or stare at them and let them know they've just caught teh gay!

[TK421]

7. I didn't even know that...I've heard people say that but never knew what it

meant, exactly.

[Roon]

12. It's like being "read" by another gay guy..

If you screw up or wear something tacky they will "read" you while they snap their fingers. (Tell you off)

[TK421]

32. I think I got it now

[truedelphi]

36. I think i may hav eit now too.

If I have it figured out, then I can go "Oh Snap!" as well as the next guy

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Conversely,

the word "gay" used to be mainstream and meant "happy," but now has a whole different meaning.

Words have a way of taking on a life of their own. I love that.

[Roon]

14. I remember being in first grade reading a book

about the "gay" woman who leaned our her window to shake out her dustmop.The picture was of a woman smiling while she shook out her mop. I remember then,before even knowing that gays existed, that it sounded "Odd".

[Tangerine LaBamba]

27. Not odd at all...........

"Gay" was always a lovely word that simply meant carefree, happy.

Perhaps it sounded odd to you because you rarely heard it. It was not a word used much in conversation; it was, however, a common word in literature and music.

[Roon]

29. True eom

[muriel_volestrangler]

59. The bizarre thing is reading Jane Austen twice calling Brighton, England 'gay' 180 years early

Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia's imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp; its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv2n41.html

The plan of the young couple was to proceed, after a few days, to Brighton, and take a house there for some weeks. Every public place was new to Maria, and Brighton is almost as gay in winter as in summer. When the novelty of amusement there was over, it would be time for the wider range of London.

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/jausten/bl-jausten-man-21.htm

And now it's generally known as "the UK's gay capital": http://www.visitbrighton.com/site/your-brighton/gay

[trof]

26. "Our hearts were young and gay." "A gay blade."

[Tangerine LaBamba]

28. Exactly.........

Cornelia Otis Skinner.

I remember reading that book when I was a little kid. What a joy it was!

[Captain Hilts]

37. GREAT book! GREAT movie! COS was a riot. And Emily Kimbrough...whose nephew...

was the anchorman on "Murphy Brown."

[Tangerine LaBamba]

39. He WAS?

What was his name - Charles Kimbrough? The uptight anchor? He was a riot.

You know the BEST stuff!! Thank you so much!

:toast:

[Captain Hilts]

43. Yes, Charles. The movie and book are both great fun. nt

[XemaSab]

33. My mom's middle name is Gay

Seriously.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

40. My sister's best friend

when she was a kid was named Gay.

And the actress, Marcia Gay Harden.

[darkstar]

13. From "Snapping Zs"? Meaning roughly the same?

[Roon]

16. Yeah, ther are variations of it

but the "snap" is all gay.

[supernova]

15. In Living Color was the first time I heard it

:D

When they did the gay movie reviews. :rofl:

That was back in the mid 80s.

[Roon]

17. Yeah, ,that is when it started making it's way mainstream

Still gay slang though, I witnessed it used first hand in the gay bars and ghettos.

[supernova]

19. It's always good to hear the history

of different figures of speech. I love that kind of stuff.

Here's the first ILC skit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWdL9mrYNmQ&feature=related

[MsKandice01]

18. Seriously???

I had no idea. As a black person, I hear it allll the time from other blacks but I never knew where it came from.

[crimsonblue]

20. i don't buy it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Actually, gays stole it from high school science teachers in the 70's.

I have some extraordinary first-hand proof for my claim, but there's not enough room in this post to show it.

[Sequoia]

22. Why? I didn't know...I thought it meant like snapping your fingers

when an idea suddenly occurs in your brain.

[philosophie_en_rose]

23. I didn't realize...

[Kali]

24. Teh Gays are in the forefront of every trend!

[Roon]

25. Yeah

Like you straights stealing halloween from us..LOL

[Lars39]

30. I thought I remembered it being used in a Bobbsy Twins book:

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:yzwCafNEZxUJ:www.edrants.com/the-mysterious-origins-of-oh-snap/+snap+origins&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[Bucky]

31. What, a subculture's slang terminology worked its way into mainstream lingo? Fer shizzle?

Are there any new words in the language that didn't start off as an artifact from a subgroup?

[XemaSab]

42. Napes

n/t

[Shell Beau]

34. I always think of Biz Markie's "Just a Friend" song

So I came to her room and opened the door
Oh, snap! guess what I saw?
A fella tongue-kissin my girl in the mouth,
I was so in shock my heart went down south

[Tommy_Carcetti]

58. Oh snap!

You and I were thinking of the same thing!

[WinkyDink]

35. Oh, Mary!

[Roon]

44. Oh, hey girl!!!

[mzteris]

38. first time I heard it was on

"That's So Raven" (i have kids.) I thought it was african american slang. . .

[struggle4progress]

41. Digby Mackworth Dolben used "oh snap" in the (untitled)

poem which is the fourth poem in

The Poems of Digby Mackworth Dolben
By Digby Mackworth Dolben
Oxford University Press
1911
http://books.google.com/books?id=58AVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Poems+of+Digby+Mackworth+Dolben&lr=

Since Dolben died in 1867, the phrase "oh snap" must have been known at the time of the Lincoln. After the 1911 republication of Dolben's work, other authors used the innovative phrase, notably Laura Lee Hope, who published in 1919 a widely-circulated story that included:

"Oh, snap!" cried Bert, "Flossie and Freddie are under the hay! ..."
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=AwwEAAAAYAAJ&dq=The+Bobbsey+Twins+in+Washington&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=ie-k6R0Maj&sig=T63v__FdLU6zFMNhqHssdKO0LaE&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

:D

[Roon]

46. Very interesting

so that is where it all begins...

[struggle4progress]

49. Wanna buy a bridge?

;)

[HEyHEY]

47. I thought it was gang slang

[hvn_nbr_2]

48. Well, when you hear a conservative use it, just wink knowingly. nt

[Oeditpus Rex]

50. It's British for 'Jinx! You owe me a Coke!'

I was told this some years ago by a British person.

[muriel_volestrangler]

60. Because of the children's card game, 'Snap'

in which you shout 'snap!' when the cards match. it took me some time to work out what the hell DUers were doing when they said 'snap!' and 'jinx!'.

[Kat45]

51. I always knew it was gay slang, but I'm still not sure what it means.

I tried to figure out the meaning going by the context of when I've heard it said, but I'm still not sure exactly what it means. Can someone please enlighten me?

[jobycom]

52. Oh yeah, well "gay" was straight slang for "merry" in 14th century England.

And gay people stole THAT! Oh snap!

[bridgit]

53. "Two snaps up!" -- Men on Film I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWdL9mrYNmQ&feature=related

[Drunken Irishman]

54. You gays take credit for everything!

:eyes:

:P

[meow2u3]

55. I always heard "Oh Snap!" from school kids

Little kids always said that instead of "Oh Shit!"

[begin_within]

56. Meanwhile

[Tommy_Carcetti]

57. I always thought it originated from Biz Markie's song "Just a Friend"

I arrrived in front of the dormitory
Yo, could you tell me where is door three?
They showed me where it was for the moment
I didnt know I was in for such an event
So I came to her room and opened the door
Oh, snap! guess what I saw?
A fella tongue-kissin my girl in the mouth,