Writing Prompt: Snap
Write a new post in response to today’s one-word prompt.
Oh snap, how cool is this!? It’s a writing prompt that takes me back to my junior high and high school days when saying, “Oh snap!” was the thing. It was equivalent to saying, “For real!” or “Damn!” or even “Oh wow!” I’ve even used it to express how cool something was. Like, “Oh snap, that dress is the bomb!” Oh snap could be used as a response to several strange, crazy, wild, unreal, cool experiences or observations. Many times it would be accompanied by a balled fist touching the mouth, with a slight lean backwards and to one side, eyebrows raised with an expression of surprise or amazement.
Ah, the long ago school years. The 70s and 80s were a hell of a time. Teenagers during the 70s and 80s were on the cusp of change. For example, while I didn’t much see exclusively black and white television that I could recall, there were still shows that ran black and white interspersed with full color television shows before I had reached high school age. The country was advancing toward an increase in computer use as the average American began to discover home personal computers at an accelerated rate. We were the transitional children, seeing the world continually transition from the old to the new technologically.
“Oh snap! They got a video game called Space Invaders?”
I remember watching many reruns of The Honeymooners, which aired in black & white and ran its final episode in the fall of 1956. Thirty minutes later I would find myself watching the Odd Couple which ran in full color. Nowadays, reruns of old black and white television programs are reserved for certain cable channels. But during those days when black & white and color programs were interspersed, the Oh snap factor was still present and profound. “Oh snap, Thriller is coming on! Grab the blankets and turn out the lights!” Everything was new and exciting and color television was grounds alone to say, Oh snap!
“Oh snap! The Twilight Zone is coming on! Get some Jiffy Pop!” The Twilight Zone was where I learned myriad life lessons given that it was brimming with episode after episode of moral dilemmas either resolved or unresolved. It ran all the way into 1964, all black & white up to that point before they revived it in color with original and rebooted episodes. So as transitional youth, we saw many changes in cinema and television. The changes were amazing and wondrous and transformed our view of the world. Every moment was an Oh Snap moment for us during the 70s and 80s.
I still find myself using Oh Snap from time to time.
Oh Snap!! You took me for a ride on the Wayback Machine!! LOL!! Love the post! For a longgggg time all my parents had was a RCA Magnavox Black & White TV. Yes it actually had that big black vacuum tube sticking out the back! 1960s technology!
They did get a Floor Model Color TV but that was in 1977/78 when I was grown adult in the Army!! So all the TV shows were B&W for me unless I went to a friends house who may have had a color TV. I still remember my Mom listening to a transistor radio while she did housework. My Dad used to tell me about the radio shows he listened to back in the 30s & 40s. Fibber McGee & Molly, Burns & Allen and what seemed to be his favorite The Shadow!
“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow Knows!!” Bah! Ha! Ha! My Dad was very dramatic! 🙂 😀
Love it!! I remember The Shadow. I had a very brief brush with it. LOL!! And I remember Burns & Allen as well. So many great times back then! Fun fun!