# What does "Oh snap!" mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203 "2011-08-26T18:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/21 "2011-08-26T19:46:05Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > When I was a cashier years ago, I was mystified when a customer asked me some questions about a product, and after answering them I asked her “Would you like to pick it up?” she looked at me with the world’s blankest expression and repeated “pick that up?” I couldn’t be sure if she seriously did now know what the phrase meant or if she was just trying to be incredibly obnoxious so I said “would you like to…purchase the _item_?” in a cornball voice. I would have given you a blank look too. I’ve never heard that phrase mean to buy something rather than to go somewhere else to retrieve it. So people where you live would have generally understood your question? As for the OP “Oh snap” means different things. If it’s in response to someone else’s statement, it means “you wound me with your wit” but it’s generally disingenuous. If someone says it out of the blue, it means the same thing as “oh shit!/fuck!” and is generally an indicator that the speaker has just been reminded of something they should have recalled and acted upon earlier. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/22 "2011-08-26T19:50:43Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > It was a grocery store though, so i can’t imagine what the ambiguity was, since she had brought the item to the checkout stand and was asking me questions to try to help her decide whether to buy it. I do believe the woman was just trying to make fun of the way I talk. I would have been puzzled too. To me, to “pick up” a piece of merchandise refers to the entire process of leaving wherever I am, going to a store, grabbing the merchandise, taking it to the cashier and paying for it. (As in, I’m going to go pick up a quart of milk at the 7-Eleven.") If I’ve already done steps 1-4, step 5 is not “picking it up”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/23 "2011-08-26T19:51:15Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > If it’s in response to someone else’s statement, it means “you wound me with your wit” **but it’s generally disingenuous**. Not in my experience. It’s an acknowledgment that a burn has been delivered, that the person the speaker was addressing did, indeed, get told. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/24 "2011-08-26T19:58:59Z")
So much for my assumption that it just took the place of an actual finger snap… ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/25 "2011-08-26T20:24:54Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > This is correct.Not only did it not originate with him, it wasn’t popularized by him either. All the kids I knew in my brief 2-year stint in New York used to say this, and that was 40 years ago. > > We would never have used it this way, but I guess, like most slang, its use may have evolved somewhat. > > Actually, it is an approving, somewhat incredulous response to a witty, clever, and unexpected insult. Were those kids gay? That’s where I thought it first became popular (accompanied by a snap of the fingers). Or maybe I’m confusing it with the zigzag three snaps thing. And isn’t this comment usually by a third party? A: Says something maybe a little dumb B: Makes zinger as a comeback C (third person in the group): Oh snap! Roddy ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/26 "2011-08-26T20:31:19Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I have never heard it used this way. Try watching Disney’s “Chicken Little”! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/27 "2011-08-26T20:32:05Z")
I’d never heard “Oh, snap” until the white-trashy Joy Hickey uttered it (often) in _My Name is Earl_, which premiered in 2005. She used it as a substitute for “Oh, shit,” i.e. an expression of mild disgust or surprise. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/28 "2011-08-26T20:34:33Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I would have been puzzled too. To me, to “pick up” a piece of merchandise refers to the entire process of leaving wherever I am, going to a store, grabbing the merchandise, taking it to the cashier and paying for it. (As in, I’m going to go pick up a quart of milk at the 7-Eleven.") If I’ve already done steps 1-4, step 5 is not “picking it up”. I will ask a co-worker next to me right now, and we’re not in a retail environment: “What would you think it meant if I was a cashier at the grocery checkout counter said “So, do you want to pick it up?” if you were asking me questions about an item?” Answer: “Do I want to purchase it?” Possibly the phrasing is more common in WA state and less common in others than I realized, but I am having a hard time understanding the ambiguity when I am already scanning your stuff and you’re asking me a last minute question when you already are leaning towards the purchase, what it could possibly mean? It’s not a loading depot, it’s a grocery checkout line. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/29 "2011-08-26T20:49:41Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > Suranyi and Candyman74, just curious but if you are Americans, how old are you? I am American, and 49 years old. I haven’t watched SNL in many years, if that’s one possible source. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/30 "2011-08-26T20:56:59Z")
I don’t claim to be a particularly hep cat or anything, but I’m 49, haven’t watched SNL since the Eddie Murphy days, and I knew what it meant. P.S. I would have been puzzled by the “pick it up” question, too. To me that either means going to another location to get the item, or hoisting it up off the counter. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/31 "2011-08-26T20:58:05Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > BTW No intention to be snarky. It just always makes me curious what kind of background someone could have to not have heard of/have understanding of, words and phrases that I take for granted everyone will know. From what I see, it seems to have been popularized by (take your pick) SNL, Comedy Central, or hip hop. I don’t watch SNL, Comedy Central, or listen to hip hop. Nor do I sociialize with anybody who does, nowadays. So that’s why I haven’t heard the phrase outside of this message board. It’s really more than that. I don’t watch TV at all nowadays because my wife and son monopolize it. My wife watches the Food Network and my son watches NickJr. No other channels, ever. Neither of them have ever used this phrase, that I have noticed. I’m always way behind on pop culture knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/32 "2011-08-26T21:08:16Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > A: Says something maybe a little dumb > B: Makes zinger as a comeback > C (third person in the group): Oh snap! > Roddy This is my understanding of the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/33 "2011-08-26T21:14:12Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > So much for my assumption that it just took the place of an actual finger snap… This. The first time I heard it, many years ago, it was accompanied by a finger snap in the face. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/34 "2011-08-26T21:16:43Z")
“Oh snap!” is like “Ooooh, burn!” It’s an expression of appreciation for a good comeback or putdown. > [@rogerbox](#): > > It was a grocery store though, so i can’t imagine what the ambiguity was, since she had brought the item to the checkout stand and was asking me questions to try to help her decide whether to buy it. I do believe the woman was just trying to make fun of the way I talk. > [@KneadToKnow](#): > > To “pick it up” in any context in which an item is sitting right in front of me would, for me, mean only one thing: reaching over and lifting it up in the air. I have never heard that phrase used to mean merely “pay for it.” > [@cjepson](#): > > I would have been puzzled too. To me, to “pick up” a piece of merchandise refers to the entire process of leaving wherever I am, going to a store, grabbing the merchandise, taking it to the cashier and paying for it. (As in, I’m going to go pick up a quart of milk at the 7-Eleven.") If I’ve already done steps 1-4, step 5 is not “picking it up”. I agree with KneadToKnow and Cjepson. I have never heard “Would you like to pick it up?” used to mean “Would you like to purchase this item that’s right in front of you?” I’d think you were asking me to grasp it my hand and lift it up from the surface it was resting on. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/35 "2011-08-26T21:22:50Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Were those kids gay? That’s where I thought it first became popular (accompanied by a snap of the fingers). Or maybe I’m confusing it with the zigzag three snaps thing. Heh, no, the kids weren’t gay (and by gay I mean effeminate). Yes, you’re confusing the three snaps thing. There was no finger snapping involved. > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > And isn’t this comment usually by a third party? > > A: Says something maybe a little dumb > B: Makes zinger as a comeback > C (third person in the group): Oh snap! > Roddy Yes. There also used to be a game guys used to play in the neighborhood called snaps, which was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/36 "2011-08-26T21:24:12Z")
TY, OP - I’ve wondered now and then too. It’s been a little unclear because I’ve heard it in conflicting contexts. I guess the non-euphemism meaning is something like ‘buuurn!’ > [@rogerbox](#): > > I will ask a co-worker next to me right now, and we’re not in a retail environment: > > “What would you think it meant if I was a cashier at the grocery checkout counter said “So, do you want to pick it up?” if you were asking me questions about an item?” > > Answer: “Do I want to purchase it?” > > Possibly the phrasing is more common in WA state and less common in others than I realized, but I am having a hard time understanding the ambiguity when I am already scanning your stuff and you’re asking me a last minute question when you already are leaning towards the purchase, what it could possibly mean? It’s not a loading depot, it’s a grocery checkout line. If you’d said ‘would you like to …’ and the rest was drowned out by coughing, then I might guess you were asking if wanted to buy it, in context. But you used a phrase that I know as having several different meanings, none of them being the one you meant. Phrasal verbs (verb plus preposition, like turn down, come on, etc) often have multiple confusing meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/37 "2011-08-26T22:04:36Z")
In the context of being at the store with the item right in front of me and being asked if I wanted to pick it up, my first reaction would be “does the cashier want me to lift that object off the counter?” But how about if we were discussing the stock market and I said “After the news about Steve Jobs was released, you could pick up shares of Apple for a song”? I think most people would assume I meant “buy.” How about “Since I last saw Bob, he had picked up a new habit”? I think most people would assume I meant “acquired.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/38 "2011-08-26T22:11:21Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > It’s a latter-day equivalent or “darn” or “fudge” or “shoot.” That is, it’s a clean expletive that people sometimes use instead of saying one of George Carlin’s “7 words you can’t say on TV.” That’s how I’ve read it, on the couple of occasions I’ve come across it (never heard it spoken) and it seemed to make sense. But from the other responses it seems that’s wrong. I’m British, BTW, and it’s not used over here, but just the sound of it makes me think it _should_ be an expletive substitute. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/39 "2011-08-26T22:18:57Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Oh snap!” is like “Ooooh, burn!” It’s an expression of appreciation for a good comeback or putdown. Can’t say as I’ve heard “Ooooh, burn!” either. I’ve always said that - despite on appearance that we share a common language - I have a much harder time communicating in the US than I do in, say, Italy where people speak an _actual_ different language. There are so many colloquialisms, ways of phrasing things, little different choices of words, plus variants in manner and accent between the US and the UK that often it may as well be a different language. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve looked blankly at waiter or airport staff member there having not comprehended a word. When you throw in a local term, phrase something in a different order to how you’re used to, add an accent, and top it off with American terms for things which are called something different at home… each individual thing is trivial, but all combined can lead to utter incomprehension! In, say, Italy, though, when both parties already understand there’s a language difference, there’s deliberate avoidance of anything but clear simple English - and so communication is, paradoxically, much easier! ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203/40 "2011-08-26T22:24:55Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > And isn’t this comment usually by a third party? > > A: Says something maybe a little dumb > B: Makes zinger as a comeback > C (third person in the group): Oh snap! > [@Hermitian](#): > > This is my understanding of the phrase. > [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Yes. Count me in as another one that agrees with Roderick Femm. When I hear “Oh snap” it’s usually in this context. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-oh-snap-mean/594203.md?page=3)