Snap: A Popular Yorkshire Word That Feeds Happy Folk

From Barnsley to Berlin, a one-syllable reminder of where I’m from

Welcome to the first edition of Field Notes for Modern Life for 2026. I’ve lived in a few places that don’t naturally belong in the same sentence. Barnsley. West Berlin. London. Different streets, different skylines, different versions of me.

But the strange thing about roots is how quietly they travel. You don’t notice them until a smell, a phrase, a habit, or a single word taps you on the shoulder and says, remember.

For me, one of those words is 'snap'.

Not the camera kind. The other kind. The Yorkshire kind.

Origins of the word Snap

Back in the day, miners would take their sandwiches in a tin to stop vermin from eating them. When the tin closed it made a 'snap' noise.

Barnsley, still in my bones

Barnsley was built on graft. Coal, sweat, and the sort of humour that doesn’t waste syllables. It’s a town that gets under your skin because it teaches you how to be useful. Show up. Crack on. Keep your word.

Plenty of people have carried Barnsley out into the wider world. Geoff Boycott. Michael Parkinson. (Sir) David Hirst. John Stones. Brian Glover. Darren Gough. Mick McCarthy. Shaun Dooley. Different paths, same stamp. Some went on to knighthoods, some to sport, some to the stage.

Me, I took the Army route. Not glamorous, but honest. Barnsley has always been good at producing people who can handle the cold and keep moving.

These days it’s branded “a Place of Possibilities”, which is fair enough. But if you ask me what Barnsley should really be famous for, I’ll give you a more practical answer.

A proper pork pie.

Percy Turner’s. Rob Royd. Cannon Hall. The sort of pies that make you question why anyone ever bothered arguing about Melton Mowbray in the first place.

And in that same practical spirit, there’s the word I can’t shake.

Snap, defined properly

In Barnsley, snap isn’t a photo. It’s food. It’s your packed lunch. It’s what you grab before a shift, before school, before you head out for the day.

Snap is not “lunch”. Lunch sounds like you chose it.

Snap is what you eat because life is moving and you’re moving with it.

A flask of tea. A sandwich that’s been sat in a bag since the morning. Maybe something sweet if you’re lucky. It’s ordinary. It’s efficient. It’s comfort without the performance.

And the word itself is the same. One syllable. No fuss. It tells you everything you need to know.

Why a Yorkshire word became a print

Recently I launched Editions Photography, which is my small shop for prints and pieces that turn everyday life into something worth keeping. A lot of my work comes from noticing what people walk past. Light on wet pavement. A quiet street. A moment of colour in a grey week.

But identity matters too. Not as nostalgia. More as ballast.

“Snap” carries a whole childhood in four letters. It carries work, matchdays, school days, kitchen tables, and the unspoken Yorkshire rule that you don’t overcomplicate things.

So I turned it into a clean typographic print. Bold. Simple. The word, given some wall space, like it deserves.

The Yorkshire Collection

This print sits inside a growing set I’m calling The Yorkshire Collection. Northern words. sayings. small truths. The sort of things that make you grin if you know, and make you curious if you don’t.

Think of it as home, translated into something you can hang up.

Where to buy “Snap”

The Snap print is live in the shop now as part of the Yorkshire Collection.

Use it in the kitchen. Stick it above your desk. Gift it to someone who’s moved away but still says “tea” like they mean it.

Buy the print here (family and friends receive a discount).