Kirsty Coleman, Apr 4, 2014
Ohhhh sassy!
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - March 17, 2024
This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series about the children's taunting rhyme "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation".
This post showcases one YouTube example of "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" and presents my editorial notes about the word structure and meaning of that children's recreational rhyme.
This post also includes my speculation about the origin of this children's rhyme with a video of the in Living Color "Men On Books" segment that probably was the inspiration for someone outside of that television series creating the first "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" rhyme.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/four-youtube-video-examples-of-dont.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents five YouTube video examples of that rhyme along with the words to those versions of that rhyme. Selected comments from the only video whose discussion thread is activated are also included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/examples-of-childrens-rhyme-dont-make.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents some word only examples of the taunting rhyme "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" .
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, linguistic, and recreational purposes
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the producers and publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
TWO VERSIONS OF "DON'T MAKE ME SNAP MY FINGERS IN A Z FORMATION"
There are many different versions of "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation"
Here's a short version of that rhyme:
"Don't make me snap my fingers in a Z formation, hip rotation, elbows elbows, wrists wrists, ooh girl you just got dissed"
by Anonymous, 2010, https://www.amirite.com/187781
Here's a long version of that rhyme:
"Brick wall, waterfall, girl you think you know it all, you don’t, I do, so psssh with your attitude. Loser, whatever, fly away forever, get the picture, DUH! Wait, come back, I think you need a tic tac not one, not two but the whole six pack.
Don’t make me snap my fingers in a Z formation,
that booty rotation,
Talk to the hand, talk to the fist,
Girl you know you just got dissed."
-from new orleans
-Anonymous,October,31,2023,https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/09/examples-of-childrens-dissin-chant-dont.html
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT "DON'T MAKE ME SNAP MY FINGERS IN A Z FORMATION" RHYMES
After the "Don't make me snap my fingers in a z formation" line which I use as the title of these rhymes, most examples include several lines that end with the letters "a" "c" "t" "i' "o" "n" such as "rotation", "sensation", and "circulation".
Most versions of "Don't Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" include a verse that begins with the words "elbow elbow wrist, wrist". That line is followed by another line or a series of lines with the last ending word being the word "dissed". "Dissed" is a past tense form of the African American Vernacular English word "diss" that means "insulted".
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The words for "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" are chanted with corresponding mimicking motions. For example, the motion "snapping fingers in a z formation" is done by dramatically snapping your fingers three times while you draw the letter "z" in the air. The chanter makes these snaps in front of her body, but the unspoken assumption is that they are made in front of the adversary who the chanter is facing as she says the words to this rhyme.
The mimicking motions for other words beside "z formation" that end with the "ation" are usually consistently performed by chanters in the YouTube videos that I've watched i.e. "hip rotation" means whining your hips and "hair sensation" means flipping back your hair".
Online videos of this rhyme show lots of different motions for the words "elbow elbow wrist wrist". A number of YouTube videos of "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" show chanters bumping the bottom of both of their elbows together, or dramatically showing their elbows and then showing their wrists.
Here's an example of the bumping elbows motion for "elbows elbows wrist wrist" words in this rhyme:
Don't make me snap my fingers in a z formation
doug keus, July 21, 2014
Although that bumping elbows together motion seems to be the most common motion that I've seen in YouTube videos which accompanies those words, I've been told (by at two contributors of examples of versions of this rhyme to my no longer active cocojams.com website) that elbow, elbow wrist wrist" refers to how beauty pageant contestants and actually or pretend princesses are supposed to wave. This explanation is supported by a number of YouTube videos on those waves that mention the instructions "elbow elbow wrist wrist". Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELOs9HNjlaM "Learn how to do the princess wave?" Also click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWZKOlWFZc "SMA Pageant Wave Video" and for another video which demonstrates how to do the beauty pageant wave.
According to these informants, in accordance with its beauty pageant "origins", the "elbow elbow wrist wrist" words in that rhyme are supposed to be followed by the words "blow a kiss". (Notice that the word "kiss" rhymes with the word "diss"). The video given immediately above includes the word kiss, accompanied by the children blowing a kiss.
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People doing this are supposed to have a stern facial expression or their face is expressionless. Their voice is neither quiet nor loud. Their voice isn't raised because to do so would mean that they have let the person/s they are addressing get next to them (get them angry). Because the way they speak is supposed to match what they are saying, when people say these taunts they aren't supposed to sound cheerful, or whining, or angry. The "performance goal" is to show that you are cool, confident, and completely unruffled by the person or persons who you are addressing. All of this points out how important dramatization is to the performance of playground taunts and other playground cheers. It's just an act, but it's supposed to done in a way that accurately reflects real life.
In videos that I've seen of this taunt the chanters do the "talk to the hand" gesture by holding their right hand in front of them a little bit below their chest, just like the "stop" gesture is made. However, African Americans who I've seen do this gesture turn their head to the left away from the person they are speaking to, and at the same time, hold their right hand palm up near their face. This gesture means "Talk to my hand because the face ain't listening."
It should go without saying that in real life people shouldn't snap their fingers in a z formation (or in any other way) in front of someone.Doing so is likely to be interpreted as being disrespectful (since in the United States if not elsewhere) snapping your fingers is supposed to be only done to get the attention of a pet dog. Also, facing someone and chanting these words means that you are encroaching into their personal space. And that's a big no no.
Click https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAmerican/comments/5kg3c8/why_is_snapping_finger_at_somebody_to_draw_their/ r/AskAnAmerican "Why Is Snapping Finger At Someone To Draw Their Attention Not Done In the United States (discussion began in 2016)
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WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE RHYME "DON'T MAKE ME SNAP MY FINGER IN A Z FORMATION"?
Z Formation
LiBeRaTeDTiNa, Oct 21, 2013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_on%E2%80%A6
" "Men on ..." (colloquially known as "Men on Film") is the umbrella title for a series of comedy sketches that appeared in episodes of the Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color. The sketch featured two gay cultural critics, Blaine Edwards (Damon Wayans) and Antoine Merriweather (David Alan Grier), commenting on aspects of popular culture, including movies, art and television.
"Men on ..." first appeared on the premiere episode of In Living Color and continued throughout Wayans's tenure on the series. The sketch was revived on the late-night comedy series Saturday Night Live when Wayans hosted.
"Men on ..." engendered controversy
for its portrayal of black gay men.[1] Both Blaine and Antoine were portrayed
as extremely effeminate. Some LGBT people and organizations felt this portrayal
was insulting to gay men, although response within the community was split"...
-end of quote-
In Living Color's "Men On _"segments included such titles as "Men On Films", "Men On Books", "Men on Art", Men On Football". These segments spoof the popular Siskel and Ebert series in which the two critics rated the movies that they were reviewing by giving them a thumbs up (if they approved of the movie) or a thumbs down (if they disapproved of the movie). Instead of thumbs up and thumbs down, the fictitious critics Blaine Edwards and Antoine Merriweather gave a particular "snap" (such as the z formation, two snaps up, two snaps and a twist. or two snaps in a circle). All of these forms of snaps meant that these critics highly approved of that book, or film, or work of art etc.
In contrast, the z snap in the children's rhyme "Don't Make Me Snap My Fingers In A Z Formation" is a hand gesture that warns that a fight is imminent. Any element of approval has been removed from that gesture's meaning.
One thing that commenters agree on when discussing or alluding to the origin of "Don't Make Me Snap My Finger In A Z Formation" is that this rhyme came from African Americans. This origin is reflected by the "flavor" of the rhyme as well as its use of African American Vernacular English terms such as "diss", "booty", "talk to the hand", and "boom with that attitude".
Here are some comments about the origin of this rhyme from a 2018 "Ask Reddit" discussion thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/bd49ev/what_is_the_origin_of_the_expression_dont_make_me/?rdt=51867
r/AskReddit
1. Allweneedisthis, 2018
“What is the origin of the expression “Don’t make me snap my
fingers in a z formation”?
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Reply
2. Ejsandstrom, 2018
"I remember it from”In Living Color” But it May have originated somewhere else.”
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Reply
3. [deleted],2018
"Sassy black ladies...
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Reply
4. EmmalouEsq,2018
"Blaine Edwards and Antoine Merriweather"
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5. Garnetglitter, 2018
“It was from a sketch on In Living Color.”
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Living_Color for more information about that ground breaking African American television series.
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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
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