ZAP

intransitive or transitive verb (Lifestyle and Leisure) In media slang, to move quickly through the commercial break on a recorded videotape, either by using the fast-forward facility or by switching through live channels. Also, to avoid the commercials in live television by using the remote control device to switch through other channels until they are over. Etymology: Zap began as an onomatopoeic word in comic strips for the sound of a ray gun, bullet, laser, etc.; as a verb it has meant either 'to kill' or 'to move quickly and vigorously' since the sixties. The sense defined here is essentially a specialized application of the second of these two branches of meaning, but when applied to live television it is influenced by the first branch--the remote control device is used like a ray gun, and the effectiveness of the advertisements is destroyed if people zap through other channels while they are on. History and Usage: This sense of zap arose in the mid eighties, when many television sets became available with remote control (in other words, they became zappable) and there were the first signs of a boom in domestic video. The action noun zapping arose at about the same time; at first, a zapper was a person who did this, but by the end of the decade it had also become a standard name for the remote control device itself. For the ITV companies there is the additional problem of 'zapping' to contend with--the habitual use of the fast-forward button to bypass the commercial breaks in recorded material. Listener 9 Feb. 1984, p. 14 The television remote controller or 'thingy' which Christopher Croft (letter, 18 January) is at a loss to name, is the enabling device for the practice of 'zapping', whereby Channel 4 News and Wogan can be viewed simultaneously. In our household the thingy is called 'Frank', after the eponymous rock star, Frank Zappa. Independent 19 Jan. 1989, p. 27 The decade was also marked by gizmos that accelerated our daily lives: food was nukable; TVs, zappable; mail, faxable. Life Fall 1989, p. 13 The remote control is small and handy...It's almost identical to Tatung's Astra-box zapper. What Satellite July 1990, p. 120