We have a new chief counsel in our 50+ atty government office.
Tho I have succeeded in keeping a low profile as of yet, I have not been able to avoid her e-mails. She has repeatedly referred to “snaps” in what appear to be compliments. As far as I can gather, if we wish to inform her of something significant someone did, that goes “into her snap cup.” And when she publicly compliments someone, she tells them “Snaps up!”
In one of her early e-mails, she vaguely attributed this terminology to the brilliant work - Legally Blonde II - but alas, I have not yet managed to view that masterpiece which now - apparently - is relevant to my 17-year legal career.
Would any of you be so kind as to fill me in on what the fuck my boss’ boss is talking about when she says “Snaps up”?
Please tell me that this does not harken back to the fellas on Living Color (“2 snaps up!”) That would be TOO funny!
In Living Color is the only place I can go with it!
Sorta puts your boss’s social IQ down in the double digit range, though … since it’s both out of date and an interesting social reference to adopt for a position of some seriousness!
Study the woman, study her carefully, Something in how she ticks allowed her to become chief council … and since it doesn’t seem to be wit or social IQ … maybe its something anybody could copy, then YOU could set up an office where everyone who wasn’t up to snuff actually had to WEAR the asshat for the day! And excellent thinkers were all refered to as Dopers!!!
A second possibility, which is admittedly not as attractive as the In Living Color one: the fabled coffee-house poetry-nite custom of snapping the fingers in lieu of applause. (I say fabled because I’ve actually never been to a coffee house poetry reading.) To give someone snaps is to applaud them, as used by Alicia Silverstone’s character in Cluless: “I must give them snaps for their fashion sense.”
In Legally Blonde 2, Elle makes some enemies at her new workplace in
Washington, DC where she goes to campaign against cosmetics being tested on animals
by introducing something she did in her sorority, involving a “Snap Cup.” You write a compliment for a person, put it in the cup, and then everyone does the same thing. The compliments are read out loud and after each one everyone says “Snaps for X!” and snaps their fingers.
Sorry folks, it’s a current phrase. In the movie Legally Blonde II the main character introduces the staff of a US congressman to a practice used by her sorority–the Snap Cup. When tempers are fraying, and teamwork is getting difficult, you take a moment to have everyone write one nice thing about someone in the group, and then put it into the Snap Cup. Each one–called a Snap–is then read aloud. So when the boss says “snaps up” she’s using shorthand to say good job.
I rest my case, even with after retracting the “out of date” part!
Running an attorneys office based on a practice lifted from the law practice of “Legally Blonde”???
Well, I was glad to get home last night and have my 12-year old daughter fill me in on what I apparently need to know to succeed in my allegedly professional career. Four of us 40-ish white males were unable to figure it out ourselves yesterday.
The worst thing is, I actually won a kind of significant case the other day. Normally I would write it up for my chief counsel. But I have decided that my new career goal is to NEVER receive a “snap” for anything I did.
Lest you not believe me, the following is from an e-mail sent to the entire office yesterday captioned Snap Cup Submission.
Snaps up for A__!
Oh - further insight, Wyatt. She transferred to the Chicago area. How do you think she chose what suburb to move to?
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wait for it
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It was recommended by Oprah! (I’m assuming on the show or O Magazine, instead of a personal relationship!)
Something tells me that this does not bode well for a corporate culture in which I will flourish.
OTOH, they are posting a position for her Deputy. Maybe I should get a subscription and set my VCR…
Snaps to everyone who answered! (I’m assuming you have to appear perky when saying that?)
Ok, Ok, so you’re starting to catch on to her process, Dins!
She’s a stickler for Research! That’s the Ticket!
Set that VCR! Get chur DVD rentals up!
Do your movie search for “legal themes” or “Oprah suggests…”
And You’re THERE, Dude!!!
Maybe her reference is Legally Blonde II, but I can guarantee you that “snaps” to mean something like “props” or “kudos” has been around since at least the early 90s. We used it in high school (I graduated in '93), but never with the “up” appended. The phrase was usually: “Awwwwww…snaps!”