Yale and Brown students prefer finger-snapping over applause | Daily Mail Online

A form of showing appreciation or approval that is generally reserved for poetry readings and jazz clubs may be coming to a college campus near you - if it's not there already. 

As was evident in a video of Yale students confronting a university official about his stance on offensive Halloween costumes, some students would rather snap their fingers than clap their hands.

The practice of 'snapplause' - defined by Urban Dictionary as 'when an audience snaps rather than claps to applaud a performance or person' - is not new, but it might be becoming more prevalent. 

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As was seen in a video of Yale students confronting a university official (in blue) about his stance on offensive Halloween costumes, some students would rather snap their fingers (circled) than clap their hands

Snapping is preferred by some because regular clapping can be 'triggering', FOX News reported. 

Amherst College Professor Ilan Stavans began studying the trend after he noticed groups of high-school and college students engaging in finger-snapping.

In a piece for the Chronicle of Higher Education, he wrote: 'I’ve made an effort to study the finger-snapping behavior, and I’ve reached an early conclusion:

'Finger-snapping is done delicately, respectfully, democratically, always in the middle of an event, whereas hand-clapping, which is by definition louder and more disruptive, is invariably reserved for the end. 

Snapping could be coming to campus near you

'Also, finger-snapping, when done this way, always lasts, in totto, only a few seconds and is generally repeated three times in a row.'

Professor Stavans noted that similar forms of alternative communication were used by the Occupy Wall Street movement, after the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France and in Tahrir Square in Egypt.

In a 2013 piece called 'Snap out of it' that she wrote for the Brown Daily Herald, Brown student Cara Dorris described her feelings after hearing snapping in discussion-based classes at the university.

She wrote: 'It turns discussions into performances and discussants into competitors, with each person not trying to contribute to the conversation but trying to rouse the most snaps. 

'Discussion then becomes not a dialogue that builds off itself but a series of monologues, each one trying to outshine the next.

'Snapping encourages us to say things that please others, not to say things that are innovative or unique, not to say things that push the boundaries or even make sense.'

The issue even had some Reddit users saying 'Oh snap' when the topic was brought up in a forum.

While it was first posed that the Yale students in the video were snapping because 'clapping is offensive to people with one hand', many respondents disagreed with that explanation. 

One Reddit user wrote: 'A lot of times it's used to agree with a point or remark someone just said (or a line in a performance) without actually causing that person to stop and wait for the applause to be over. 

'It's quieter. Some sororities and frats do it, too.' 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3323166/Some-college-students-Yale-Brown-prefer-finger-snapping-applause.html