# "Oh, Snap!" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192 "2006-03-28T02:32:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/21 "2006-03-28T13:25:45Z")
> [@Otanx](#): > > I ended up picking it up. Now to find replacments for the rest of my vocabulary. bloody -\> bleeding damn -\> darn damnation -\> tarnation fucking -\> fricking, frigging hell -\> heck Jesus -\> jeez, jigger Jesus Christ -\> Jiminy Cricket shit -\> snap, sugar I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few there ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/22 "2006-03-28T14:57:27Z")
I thought, ‘Oh, _snap!_’ this morning when I looked under the sink. A mouse had found the peanut butter I’d thoughtfully left out for it on a snap trap. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/23 "2006-03-28T15:05:58Z")
I know that Joy says it often on **My Name Is Earl**. Maybe she’s contributing to the revival. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/24 "2006-03-28T16:04:40Z")
I always heard it was an Ebonics term, from the game of “The Dozens”. The only cite I could find was good old [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dozens#Examples_of_snaps): > [@](#): > > The dozens is a contest of personal power—of wit, verbal ability, and mental agility, but especially of mental toughness and self-control. Each putdown, or snap, ups the ante. ---
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/25 "2006-03-28T16:37:53Z")
**MannyL** beat me to the Bizmarkie reference. 😛 That’s the first time I heard it. It caught on a while up until the demise of C+C Music Factory (I guess that’s the time when Snap! also fell out of popularity). I didn’t hear it again until the Dodgeball movie (then, right away again, catching a re-run of Futurama). ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/26 "2006-03-28T17:10:55Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Jesus Christ -\> Jiminy Cricket Cheese n’ Rice ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/27 "2006-03-28T19:24:31Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I first heard a variation of it on _In Living Color_. (I’ll give that three snaps in a circle!) All cool snaps appear in a Z-formation, dear. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/28 "2006-03-28T20:23:05Z")
At times like this you need to [go to the source](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5580805&postcount=74) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/29 "2006-03-28T20:37:59Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > And here was me thinking it came from the card game! I’ve certainly heard it used in that sense. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/30 "2006-03-28T21:00:28Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > shit -\> snap, sugar > I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few there Or, as Steve Jobs would have you say: Sugar Honey Iced Tea. I knew a guy who’d say: “Sunny Beach”. Cracked me up everytime. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/31 "2006-03-29T03:56:08Z")
I always thought it came from the [Children’s Card Game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_%28game%29) , and so figured the term was meant in a “Gotcha!” or “Pwned” sense. I’ve never used it myself, though- I prefer the pure, unadulterated Seven Words You Can’t Say On US Network Television for my blunt communication needs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jastu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/32 "2006-03-29T05:27:23Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > And here was me thinking it came from the card game! I too thought it originated with the card game. Back in the 50’s and 60’s “snap” was said when two people said or did the same thing at the same time as in the card game when two identical cards were played at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/33 "2006-03-29T06:05:21Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > I always heard it was an Ebonics term, from the game of “The Dozens”. The only cite I could find was good old [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dozens#Examples_of_snaps): this is where I picked it up, I played dozens as a white kid in a mostly black part of town. a snap is a good insult. usually requiring your opponent to comme up with a better one or admit defeat. that and the phrase applies to a good insult. step mom to 11yr old step daughter (teasing) “are you sure you dont want a beer? it makes you pretty to boys?” 11yr old girl “is that how you got daddy?” Daddy in the background “Oh Snap!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/34 "2006-03-29T06:18:09Z")
I’ve heard it in Black vernacular for as long as I can remember. It’s a substitute for “shit,” in this context. It usually means something significant was said worthy of comment. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192/35 "2006-03-29T08:44:50Z")
> [@McNew](#): > > I know that Joy says it often on **My Name Is Earl**. Maybe she’s contributing to the revival. I first noticed it last week on the Y2K episode! That’s what I immediately thought of when I saw this thread title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-snap/350192.md?page=1)