What does it mean when people snap their fingers after a poem is read?

Question

at poetry readings sometimes I see people snapping their fingers after a poem, what does it mean? My guess is that its a polite or light clap but I'm not sure

Answer 1

like dig, they are trying to be real boss beatniks like maynard j krebs. it's like a real gas man....

Answer 2

It is a hip slick and cool way of clapping invented by beatniks in coffee houses in the fifties.A definite show of appreciation without causing loud distraction to the poets. The beatniks wore black,usually turtle neck shirts and pencil pants, dark glasses and berets on their heads.Actually when goth was popular in the eighties the style seemed to be a slight copy of beatnik. Beatniks drank turkish coffee, smoked weed and had poetry readings in the coffee houses. The hippies came later in the sixties.The birth place of Beatniks in the USA was in Greenwich Village in New York. Ordinary people found them to be a toursit attraction. And they were fairly news worthy back then as oddities.They defied the establishment with their cultural differences like opposite genders

living together without marriage and openly smoking marijuana on their turf.

Answer 3

In the late 50s and early 60s some of the readings were done fairly late and often done in hole-in-wall coffee houses in residential neighborhoods in the tightly packed Village. Attendees were asked to not applaud because it disturbed the neighbors. So they snapped to show approval.

Answer 4

Maynard J Krebs

Answer 5

The old beatniks would snap their fingers even more if you threw in a bongo drum playing.

Answer 6

A reference to the Beat poets/scene. Could be done mockingly.