# Snapping fingers instead of clapping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816 "2014-06-15T13:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/1 "2014-06-15T13:01:39Z")
The last couple days I was at a conference where people snapped their fingers repeatedly and rapidly, rather than clapping. I understood it as a less noisy alternative. There was also clapping, and I think the clapping was meant to be more emphatic than the snapping. Most often people were snapping to indicate approval of a specific point the speaker was making during the talk, rather than to indicate general approval of the speaker after the talk ended, and I wondered if the intent was to show approval without making it so hard to hear the next thing the speaker was saying. This was at a conference of trans\* people, and I don’t think I’ve heard this in any other audience, but I heard it in each of five different seminars at this conference. Is this common? How new is it? Do I understand the intent right? Is this specific to any group or context? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/2 "2014-06-15T13:35:17Z")
There was [a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=723144) that wasn’t purely about this, but a few posts talked about it. There’s not much of a consensus, though. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/3 "2014-06-15T14:23:36Z")
Were the trans people jazz musicians and beat poets? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/4 "2014-06-15T15:11:54Z")
I believe Hamilton College students were doing it back in the early 70s. I’ve seen it happen elsewhere from time to time, but not as a general thing. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/5 "2014-06-15T15:35:11Z")
Next they’ll be using silent hand signals. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/6 "2014-06-15T15:38:19Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Next they’ll be using silent hand signals. Oh, wait… Well, those are mainly to express DISapproval. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/7 "2014-06-15T18:21:45Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Were the trans people jazz musicians and beat poets? Not that I ever saw. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/8 "2014-06-15T18:49:16Z")
In Germany people knock on the table rather than clap to show approval, especially in an academic setting (conferences etc) - I guess this is similar. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/9 "2014-06-15T19:39:41Z")
Not an official source/cite, but my friends do this (the snapping) at parties instead of raucous applause/cheering when the police have been called on us already because of noise complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/10 "2014-06-15T20:00:37Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Well, those are mainly to express DISapproval. 😉 I was thinking of the Occupy… practice. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/11 "2014-06-16T02:44:47Z")
I saw a comedy skit on one of the many variety shows back in the early 1960s that included a scene with an audience in a jazz club snapping instead of clapping for a poet. It was intended to make fun of beatniks with their cooler than thou attitude. 🆒 Looks like the new hipster generation can’t separate satire from reality. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/12 "2014-06-16T18:35:15Z")
Here’s an instance from 1984 where [the audience does the finger-snapping thing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXvAaNcXNzI#t=990) at the end of the performance in David Bowie’s “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” video/short film. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snapping-fingers-instead-of-clapping/690816/13 "2014-06-17T02:36:56Z")
I was at a college board meeting a few weeks ago where the students present snapped their fingers in approval. I assumed it had been decided that this was below a threshold of disruptiveness that would have caused the chair to clear them from the room.