zapping
que es zapping''
16 Answers
Quentin said:
Why would you assume that? She's Mexican. It's natural that she asked the question in Spanish. Usually when a Spanish person asks what a word that looks like American slang means they are asking about it's English meaning. I would assume that she knows what the word is if it is a Spanish word. However, in this case, you may be entirely correct and we don't have any context to know one way or the other..
All quite true but does that not mean that, until she provides some context, we are free to "play" with the question'
Quentin said:
If we can get past all the nostalgia: zapping computer files can mean to delete them
Last bit of nostalgia, I promise (in this thread). Modern usage of zapping (in a computer context and, especially when said of files) is , indeed, "to delete". Back in the '70s, however, there was a program named "Zap" that was used to directly modify the executable version of a program (on a mainframe, since there were no PC's). That is to say, it was possible to stop the execution of a running program (in memory), apply a patch to the program, and then resume its execution. It was a procedure that was fraught with danger and I've only done it a handful of times (mostly successfully).
Why would you assume that? She's Mexican. It's natural that she asked the question in Spanish. Usually when a Spanish person asks what a word that looks like American slang means they are asking about it's English meaning. I would assume that she knows what the word is if it is a Spanish word. However, in this case, you may be entirely correct and we don't have any context to know one way or the other..
But Quentin, I'm pretty sure that Mercedes was asking for the meaning of the word in Spanish, which Lazarus has already told us is related to TV.
If she wants the meaning of zap in English, then the list is much longer than the two examples you gave.
But then, who knows with these people who ask questions with no context, and then disappear into the ether'
Mercedes,
If we can get past all the nostalgia:
zapping computer files can mean to delete them.
zapping bad guys in a computer game can mean to destroy (kill) them.
Samdie, back in the early Sixties we only had four channels, so there wasn't much zapping or anything else going on with the channels. And I was used as a human remote by my parents. "James, change it to channel 3. Now see what's on 10." And on nights with bad reception, I had to stand by the TV set and hold the rabbit ears, thereby becoming a human antenna. And, of course, there was no VCR, etc., so if you missed a show, you missed it.
Man, kids today have it so easy...
For TV I'd say it was "zapping" in the 50s and into the 60s; "flipping" mid 60s to about mid 80s; "surfing" mid 80s to present. It seems to me that channel-surfing is more used than "surfing the channels". Further, I think "zapping" stopped being used about the time electronic tuning became widely available (at least in the U.S.). The old mechanical channel selectors made a substantial "clunking" sound when you changed channels.
Of course, "to zap" is also widely used to mean "to kill"; be it those outdoor things that are supposed to kill bugs in the summer time or what one does to the "bad guys" in those "action" video games.
Eddy: thanks for the correct spelling. I'll remember not to use that word. 
Lazarus: this whole discussion reminds me of "hacer footing" . . .
GREAT CARTOON!
Natasha said:
If you look up zap, you'll see some possibilities. (Click on "Dictionary / Diccionario".)
In English, it's basically an onamopoetic word. Oops. How do you spell that? onomatopoetic. In other words, it sounds like what it means.
Please supply context when posting a question on the forum. (Por favor, danos mas contexto.)
Nearly right Natasha. It is onomatopoeic (adj). What a word !!!!!
James Santiago said:
I'm with Natasha. I wouldn't have understood "zapping channels" at all. How is it used in Spanish? Hacer zapping? "Hacía zapping anoche cuando vi el discurso de McCain"?
¡Exacto! (más probable: "estaba haciendo..."). Algunos, curiosamente, están empezando a decir: "Vamos a zapear un poco, a ver qué hay por ahí.".
Mira esto: Zapeando basura.
James Santiago said:
I'm with Natasha. I wouldn't have understood "zapping channels" at all. How is it used in Spanish? Hacer zapping? "Hacía zapping anoche cuando vi el discurso de McCain"?
¡Exacto! (más probable: "estaba haciendo..."). Algunos, curiosamente, están empezando a decir: "Vamos a zapear un poco, a ver qué hay por ahí.".
Mira esto: Zapeando basura.
I'm with Natasha. I wouldn't have understood "zapping channels" at all. How is it used in Spanish? Hacer zapping? "Hacía zapping anoche cuando vi el discurso de McCain"?
Although we do indeed use "flip" to mean "to change channels rapidly in succession," probably the more common word today is surf, as in "I was surfing the channels last night and came to an old episode of Gomer Pyle."
Natasha said:
Is that what they say in Britain? We flip through channels here. (I suppose you could say zap, but it doesn't sound familiar.)
It must be British then, I guess:
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/zap (2nd meaning)
In Spain everybody uses that word.
Natasha said:
Is that what they say in Britain? We flip through channels here. (I suppose you could say zap, but it doesn't sound familiar.)
lazarus1907 said:
"Zapping" in Spanish means only to change from one channel to another with the remote control hoping to find something interesting. It is borrowed from English, and although some people want to change it to "zapeo", the original English form is the most popular one (in Spain, at least). The DRAE only accepts "zapeo".
Well I don't know where Lazarus is living but here in the south east, we "flick" or "flip", we never "zap".
Is that what they say in Britain? We flip through channels here. (I suppose you could say zap, but it doesn't sound familiar.)
lazarus1907 said:
"Zapping" in Spanish means only to change from one channel to another with the remote control hoping to find something interesting. It is borrowed from English, and although some people want to change it to "zapeo", the original English form is the most popular one (in Spain, at least). The DRAE only accepts "zapeo".
>
"Zapping" in Spanish means only to change from one channel to another with the remote control hoping to find something interesting. It is borrowed from English, and although some people want to change it to "zapeo", the original English form is the most popular one (in Spain, at least). The DRAE only accepts "zapeo".
