Snapping (or clicking) one's fingers is the act of creating a snapping or clicking sound with one's fingers. Primarily, this is done by building tension between the thumb and another (middle, index, or ring) finger and then moving the other finger forcefully downward, so it hits the palm of the same hand at a high speed.
A Georgia Institute of Technology study in 2021 analyzed finger snapping, and found that a given audible snap sound occurs in just seven milliseconds. For reference, the blink of an eye takes place in 150 milliseconds. [1] [2]
In Ancient Greece, snapping of fingers was used by musicians and dancers as a way to keep the rhythm [3] and it was known with the words "ἀποληκέω" (apolekeo), [4] "ἀποκρότημα" (apokrotema) [5] (from the verb "ἀποκροτέω" - apokroteo, "to snap the fingers") [6] and "ἐπίπταισμα" (epiptaisma). [7] Finger snapping is still common in modern Greece.
Finger snapping may be used as a substitute for hand clapping. A possible reason is that snapping is "less disruptive than clapping during speeches and announcements." [8] The practice of finger snapping is also popular within the poetry slam community, used by the audience as a spontaneous in-the-moment show of support or agreement with what is being shared by the poet. The practice has also infiltrated some conferences. [9]
Finger snapping played a prominent part in a series of charity appeal adverts for Make Poverty History in 2005. Many famous faces including Bono, Bob Geldof and Kate Moss took part in the appeals. They wore a white top and Make Poverty History charity wristband and these appeals were filmed in grayscale on a white background, and they would click their fingers in the appeal to represent a child dying from poverty every three seconds in Africa. [10] During the opening of the Philadelphia Live 8 concert, rapper and actor Will Smith led the combined audiences of London, Philadelphia, Berlin, Rome, Paris and Barrie in a synchronised finger snap. [11] [12]
Finger snapping at someone has long been used as a sassy diva gesture, done to express a taunting satisfaction following what one has considered to be an impressive insult or diss. [13] Sometimes finger-snapping is done in rapid succession for emphasis and combined with other types of sassy diva mannerisms, such as swivel-hipping and head-gyrating. It is largely associated with gay men and women, particularly gay black American men and black American women. It was derived in the 1980s and 90s from Black American gay male subcultures. [14] [15]
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe live-action film Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Thanos snaps his fingers causing the Blip. [16] In the live-action film, Avengers: Endgame (2019), Bruce Banner and Tony Stark snap their fingers, reversing the Blip and defeating an alternate Thanos, who also snapped his fingers to no effect.
In the manga and anime "Full Metal Alchemist" Colonel Roy Mustang activates his Alchemy by snapping his fingers.
In many cultures, finger snapping is a form of body percussion.
Sounds of a fingersnap also are sampled and used in many disparate genres of music, used mostly as percussion; the works of Angelo Badalamenti exhibit this in the soundtracks to, e.g., Twin Peaks , Lost Highway , as does the theme song from the television series The Addams Family . Furthermore, a subgenre of hip hop known as snap music formed in the early 2000s in the southern United States.
Beshkan (Persian: بشكن), also known as the "Persian snap", is a traditional Iranian finger snap requiring both hands. The snapper creates a clicking noise similar in mechanism to the normal snap but louder in practice.
There are two variations of the Persian snap. The most common of the two for a right-handed individual is as follows: [17]
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
In Western culture, "the finger", or the middle finger is an obscene hand gesture. The gesture communicates moderate to extreme contempt, and is roughly equivalent in meaning to "fuck you", "fuck me", "shove it up your ass/arse", "up yours", or "go fuck yourself". It is performed by showing the back of a hand that has only the middle finger extended upwards, though in some locales, the thumb is extended. Extending the finger is considered a symbol of contempt in several cultures, especially in the Western world. Many cultures use similar gestures to display their disrespect, although others use it to express pointing without intentional disrespect. The gesture is usually used to express contempt but can also be used humorously or playfully.
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.
Petroselinum is a genus of two parsley species of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to western and southern Europe and northern Africa.
A Greek–English Lexicon, often referred to as Liddell & Scott or Liddell–Scott–Jones (LSJ), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie and published in 1843 by the Oxford University Press.
A span is the distance measured by a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger. In ancient times, a span was considered to be half a cubit. Sometimes the distinction is made between the great span or full span and little span or short span.
Theobroma is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae, that is sometimes classified as a member of Sterculiaceae. It contains roughly 20 species of small understory trees native to the tropical forests of Central and South America.
Achlys, in the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles, is one of the figures depicted on Heracles' shield, perhaps representing the personification of sorrow. In Homer, achlys is the mist which fogs or blinds mortal eyes. Her Roman counterpart Caligo was said to have been the mother of Chaos. In Nonnus's Dionysiaca, she seems to be a witch.
In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator is a specific depiction of Christ. Pantocrator or Pantokrator, literally ruler of all, but usually translated as "Almighty" or "all-powerful", is derived from one of many names of God in Judaism.
Paronychia is an inflammation of the skin around the nail, which can occur suddenly, when it is usually due to the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, or gradually when it is commonly caused by the fungus Candida albicans. The term is from Greek: παρωνυχία from para 'around', onyx 'nail', and the abstract noun suffix -ia.
Ancient Greek units of measurement varied according to location and epoch. Systems of ancient weights and measures evolved as needs changed; Solon and other lawgivers also reformed them en bloc. Some units of measurement were found to be convenient for trade within the Mediterranean region and these units became increasingly common to different city states. The calibration and use of measuring devices became more sophisticated. By about 500 BC, Athens had a central depository of official weights and measures, the Tholos, where merchants were required to test their measuring devices against official standards.
Halteres were a type of dumbbells used in Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greek sports, halteres were used as lifting weights, and also as weights in their version of the long jump. Halteres were held in both hands to allow an athlete to jump a greater distance; they may have been dropped after the first or second jump.
Harpastum, also known as harpustum, was a form of ball game played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball and was stuffed with feathers. The word harpastum is the latinisation of the Greek ἁρπαστόν, the neuter of ἁρπαστός, "carried away", from the verb ἁρπάζω, "to seize, to snatch".
Trigon was a form of ball game played by the ancient Romans. The name derives from the Greek τρίγωνος, and may have been a romanized version of a Greek game called τρίγων. It was a type of juggling game, probably involved three players standing in a triangle and passing a hard ball back and forth, catching with the left and throwing with the right hand. Besides the three players, called trigonali, there were also assistants called pilecripi, who kept score and retrieved runaway balls.
Ancient Greek boxing dates back to at least the 8th century BC, and was practiced in a variety of social contexts in different Greek city-states. Most extant sources about ancient Greek boxing are fragmentary or legendary, making it difficult to reconstruct the rules, customs and history surrounding this activity in great detail. Still, it is clear that gloved boxing bouts were a significant part of ancient Greek athletic culture throughout the early classical period.
Alcyone, in Greek mythology, was the name of one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione or, more rarely, Aethra. She attracted the attention of the god Poseidon and bore him several children, variously named in the sources: Hyrieus, Hyperenor, and Aethusa; Hyperes and Anthas; and Epopeus. By a mortal, Anthedon, Alcyone became the mother of the fisherman Glaucus, who was later transformed into a marine god.
Fear of fish or ichthyophobia ranges from cultural phenomena such as fear of eating fish, fear of touching raw fish, or fear of dead fish, up to irrational fear. Selachophobia, or galeophobia, is the specific fear of sharks.
The Infinity Stones are fictional items in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Infinity Gems of the Marvel Comics. As expounded across several interwoven MCU multimedia titles, the six Infinity Stones are reputed to embody and control essential aspects of existence—Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Time and Soul—thereby making them critical artifacts in the MCU and, together, the MacGuffin of the dedicated Infinity Saga.
Thanos is a fictional character portrayed primarily by Josh Brolin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics supervillain of the same name. He is depicted as an alien warlord from the doomed planet Titan with a universe-spanning agenda to wipe out half of all life to stabilize overpopulation and prevent what he views as life's inevitable extinction. To do this, he sets out to obtain the six Infinity Stones, cosmic gems with the power to achieve his goal. With the help of his adopted children, Thanos fights against the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and their allies, in the Infinity War, succeeds in assembling the Stones, and disintegrates half of all life in the universe in an event that is known as the Blip. After escaping to the Garden and destroying the Stones, he is eventually killed by Thor. Five years later, an alternate version of Thanos from 2014 time travels to 2023 to battle the Avengers once again, but is killed by Tony Stark.
The Blip is a major fictional event and period of time depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Blip began in 2018 when Thanos, wielding all six Infinity Stones in the Infinity Gauntlet, exterminated half of all living things in the universe, chosen at random, with the snap of his fingers. The Blip ended five years later, in 2023, when the Avengers utilized time travel to collect the Infinity Stones from prior points in the timeline and, with a second snap by Avengers member Bruce Banner, restored all those previously killed by Thanos.
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