Snap

Snap, crackle and pop are the apparent sounds of Rice Crispies breakfast cereal. There are little characters with those names depicted on the box and in cartoon ads. So ‘snap’ is this character and is also the name of the sound that the character makes. The snap sound is that of a dry twig breaking or the end of a whip curling back upon itself with some force. Snap is a sharp sound, narrower than a tick or a tock

Snap means fast. If I tell you it will be done in a snap, you can expect almost instant results. So snap means fast. If I say that to do it will be a snap, I mean it will be easy. A snap in a snap is easy and fast. Not many things can claim that combination. To snap at you is to react with a quick impatient tone. When I am particularly grouchy I might be snapping every time I speak. Being snappy is rarely welcomed

But then you might be a snappy dresser. Oh, don’t you look snappy, which is a close cousin to looking spiffy, so pretty sharp. Kinda at the noticing edge, couldn’t walk into a room without people nodding yes and checking you out. In this case, snappy is good. To be snappy is to be noticed. When I snap my fingers, center finger pulled hard so it slips off my thumb onto my palm, it is to get attention or keep a beat

A drink can may have a snap top, so it opens with the sound of a snap, whether via a pull tab or an entire lid snapping open There is a company called Snap On Tools. They make mechanic’s tools where we can make the end different sizes to fit different nuts without having to change the entire tool, just the bit on the end, which, yes, snaps on and off as you choose. So the name of the company only tells half the story

Snap is mostly a happy sound, except when a rung of the ladder we are standing on snaps. Ouch. Snappy dressers walk with a snap in their step and snap their fingers. They learn dance steps in a snap and make them look like a snap to do. Snappy rhymes with happy and the expression of it is almost always that way. An elastic snaps back to its original shape when we release it. I can snap back from a perceived insult, when I release it