Date:  Wed, 11 Oct 1995 21:50:53 -0400

From:  Seth Sklarey <crissiet[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IPOF.FLA.NET>

Subject: Re: zapping, zappers & binger-bongers



>I'm back from a long trip to France where I was not on-line (probably

>nobody noticed).

>

>I have a question about "le zapping" that y'all can help me with.

>

>The term is very general now in France with the specific meaning of

>using a remote control to change TV channels. I'm trying to determine

>if it is a pseudo-Anglicism forged by the French. While we can all

>"zap" a commercial, I know of no term for this practice as "zapping".

>The mystery is that the OED (2nd ed) lists it as an Americanism, but

>quotes only two British newspapers as authorities and furnishes no

>other attestations of it. Nor is it to be found with this sense in

>any of the many dictionaries of slang and new words that I have

>consulted.

>

>So, does anyone out there know anything about where "zapping" might be

>lurking in North America? What terms do you use for this practice, if any?

>Channel surfing? Others?

>

>Thanks!

>

>Mike Picone

>University of Alabama

>MPICONE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UA1VM.UA.EDU

>

I would guess an origin in a comic book such as Batman but I don't really

know. However, my ex-wife is the only one I ever heard who called the

zapping device a binger-bonger, which I prefer over channel changer, clicker,

or anything else.  What say you all?



Seth Sklarey

Wittgenstein School of the Unwritten Word

Coconut Grove, FL