[or-roots] snap your Sprocket

[Kith-n-Kin]

And, don't forget a sprocket wrench, which as I recall had to do with bicycles.  Oh, here, I looked it up.

"Sprocket - a toothed wheel that engages a chain. Freewheels consist of one or more sprockets. A 15-speed
bike will have three sprockets on the chainwheel, and six sprockets on the freewheel. Synonym: cog.  Some
people will also call sprockets "gears."

"Sprocket wrench - a tool to remove sprockets from a freewheel.  There are several forms of sprocket
wrenches.  Some are a bar with a length of bicycle chain attached.  Others are hooks that engage one or
more sprocket teeth."

So, my take was that "snap your sprocket" had to do with what happens when you use a sprocket wrench
without care <G>.  Don't know about the thump on the head, though.

Otherwise, to me sprockets are the projections on little guide wheels on a movie projector -- what goes in
the "sprocket holes".  Again -- where is the thump on the head.

So, I agree with Les - knock your block off one way or t'other.

Pat (in Tucson)

-----Original Message-----
From: or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us 
[mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us] On Behalf Of 
Leslie Chapman
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 18:05
To: or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
Subject: [or-roots] snap your Sprocket


Laura;

That expression is a new to me, and my father was 46 when i was 
born and I know the meaning of most of the slang he used as 
well as a good portion of the slang from the last fifty years. 
I tried the expression online and came up void. Sprocked itself 
so far has turned up an Aussie expression directly related to 
bicycling, thousands of hits associated with bike/motorcycle 
parts, one phallic reference; pocket sprocket which "might" be 
associated with what you father was trying to say as I can 
think of any number of expressions that could be implied with 
the words "snap your sprocket", there is also a slang term 
"popped a sprocket" but it is related to computer hardware, 
specifically lanport problems, so unless you are about minus 
twenty years old it probably isn't relevant to your question.

Here is a defintion of sprocket that might be meaningful;

sprocket - 1536, originally a carpenters' word for a piece of 
timber used in framing, of unknown origin. The meaning 
"projection from the rim of a wheel that engages the links of a 
chain" is first recorded 1750.

Now since they don't go into any detail in defining; "piece of 
timber used in framing" let us just suppose it is specifically 
a short piece such as a fire break which is the cross piece you 
see nailed between two studs in a wall, or  the even shorter 
pieces that are nailed in between window and door headers; in 
another words "a block" hence "snap your sprocket" would be 
another way of saying "knock your block off" which from what 
you have described, which I believe I have heard elsewhere 
referred to as a "brain duster," sounds very much like the same thing.

Sprocket Opera is apparently a slang term for a film festival, 
given the other definitions I have found for sprocket I don't 
even want to think about that one.

I am of course not an etymologyst, but I really think knock 
your block off is what he was implying.

Les Chapman

-----Original Message-----
From: or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
[mailto:or-roots-admin at sosinet.sos.state.or.us]On Behalf Of LMA 
Project_Managers
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:12 AM
To: or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us
Subject: Re: [or-roots] Humour in the 1840-50's


Have any of you out there ever heard the term "Snap your 
Sprocket?" My dad, who was 47 when I was born, had a lot of 
these sayings and because he was an older father I didn't hear 
the sayings from any other fathers. So I never knew if he made 
them up or if it was an old timey slang.

Anyway, if we were misbehaving as children or bothering my dad 
in some way- he'd say "I'm going to Snap your Sprocket." Then 
he'd thump us on the head by flicking his middle finger away 
from his thumb. It HURT too. You had to learn to get moving if 
he said that before he could actually make good on his threat.  Thanks.

I can't ask him this now because he passed away two years ago at 90.

Thanks,
Laura
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