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** Added that Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong has no relation to the '''former''' crown colony of Hong Kong, which means it takes place well after 1997.
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* LudicrousSpeed: The bikes in the metaverse definitely count
to:
* LudicrousSpeed: The bikes in the metaverse definitely countcount. There's no air resistance to worry about, engines can be as powerful as the programmer makes them, tyres have mathematically perfect grip, and running headlong into an obstacle just brings you to a stop with no harm done - unless doing so causes you to lose sight of the BigBad, of course...
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* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: when the black policeman emphasizes the Y in Y.T. ("whitey"), which is not how she pronounces it. Even after being corrected, he doesn't see the difference.
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* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: when When the black policeman emphasizes the Y in Y.T. ("whitey"), which is not how she pronounces it. Even after being corrected, he doesn't see the difference.
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* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: the Fedland programming department tracks everything you do at work, including the keystrokes you type and the errors you make, and even performs some curious behavioural analysis on all of that.
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* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: the The Fedland programming department tracks everything you do at work, including the keystrokes you type and the errors you make, and even performs some curious behavioural analysis on all of that.
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* NerdActionHero: Hiro Protagonist is a programmer who in real life is pretty close to broke (after having failed his pizza delivery job) and lives in a self storage facility, although he also own a pretty large chunk of prime real-estate in cyberspace (think IP address block) on account of having been one of the guys who created it. As it happens, he is also the greatest swordfighter in the world (though he mostly gets to demonstrate it in cyberspace), and turn out to be good at other acts of action-heroism as well.
to:
* NerdActionHero: Hiro Protagonist is a programmer who in real life is pretty close to broke (after having failed his pizza delivery job) and lives in a self storage facility, although he also own owns a pretty large chunk of prime real-estate in cyberspace (think IP address block) on account of having been one of the guys who created it. As it happens, he is also the greatest swordfighter in the world (though he mostly gets to demonstrate it in cyberspace), and turn turns out to be good at other acts of action-heroism as well.
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* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude. ->“It’s, like, one of them drug dealer boats,” Vic says, looking through his magic sight. “Five guys on it. Headed our way.” He fires another round. “Correction. Four guys on it.” Boom. “Correction, they’re not headed our way anymore.” Boom. A fireball erupts from the ocean two hundred feet away. “Correction. No boat.”
to:
* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude. ->“It’s,
--->“It’s, like, one of them drug dealer boats,” Vic says, looking through his magic sight. “Five guys on it. Headed our way.” He fires another round. “Correction. Four guys on it.” Boom. “Correction, they’re not headed our way anymore.” Boom. A fireball erupts from the ocean two hundred feet away. “Correction. No boat.”
--->“It’s, like, one of them drug dealer boats,” Vic says, looking through his magic sight. “Five guys on it. Headed our way.” He fires another round. “Correction. Four guys on it.” Boom. “Correction, they’re not headed our way anymore.” Boom. A fireball erupts from the ocean two hundred feet away. “Correction. No boat.”
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* BadAss: Between Hiro, Raven, Y.T., Uncle Enzo, and the cybernetic rat/dog thing, the book has more badassness than most books should be allowed to have.
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* BadAss: Between Hiro, Raven, Y.T., Fisheye, Uncle Enzo, and the cybernetic rat/dog thing, the book has more badassness than most books should be allowed to have.
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* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude.
to:
* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude. ->“It’s, like, one of them drug dealer boats,” Vic says, looking through his magic sight. “Five guys on it. Headed our way.” He fires another round. “Correction. Four guys on it.” Boom. “Correction, they’re not headed our way anymore.” Boom. A fireball erupts from the ocean two hundred feet away. “Correction. No boat.”
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* ScrewTheRulesIHaveANuke: Raven.
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\"Wildly inaccurate\" is a claim requiring validation. You can\'t just say it and expect us to believe you.
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* DanBrowned: While the book never actually claims to be a work of non-fiction, it intersperses all the cyberpunkery and action scenes with lengthy [[{{Infodump}} infodumps]] and [[AuthorFilibuster author filibusters]] on three principal subjects: linguistics, religious history, and computer science. The principles presented in all these cases are presented by the author as factual, but tend to be wildly inaccurate ''on all three subjects.''
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* DanBrowned: While the book never actually claims to be a work of non-fiction, it intersperses all the cyberpunkery and action scenes with lengthy [[{{Infodump}} infodumps]] and [[AuthorFilibuster author filibusters]] on three principal subjects: linguistics, religious history, and computer science. The principles presented in all these cases are presented by the author as factual, but tend to be wildly inaccurate ''on all three subjects.''
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--> '''Hiro''': " I just threw away a brand-new top-of-the-line motorcycle in the middle of the street because I didn't feel like pushing it half a block to the garage. I am on an expense account that would blow your mind."
to:
--> '''Hiro''': " I just threw away a brand-new top-of-the-line motorcycle in the middle of the street because I didn't feel like pushing it half a block to the garage. I am on an expense account that would blow your mind."
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* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration.
to:
* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar.metal detectors. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration.
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Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood extreme skateboarder]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
to:
Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood [[CoolBoard extreme skateboarder]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
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Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood extreme rollerblader]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
to:
Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood extreme rollerblader]] skateboarder]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
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* AwesomeMcCoolname: Yours Truly (Y.T.), Da5id, and ''Hiro Protagonist''. All of these, however, are handles.
** Da5id and Hiro Protagonist actually changed his name.
** Da5id and Hiro Protagonist actually changed his name.
to:
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Yours Truly (Y.T.), Da5id, and ''Hiro Protagonist''. All of these, however, are handles.
** Da5id and Hiro Protagonist actually changed his name.self-applied.
** Da5id and Hiro Protagonist actually changed his name.
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** Da5id and Hiro Protagonist actually changed his name.
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\"basically\" is Word Cruft
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Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood extreme rollerblader]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
to:
Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with an [[RollerBladeGood extreme rollerblader]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
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* EmbarrassingTattoo: Since there's basically no judicial system anymore and the places that aren't lawless are Burbclaves, punishments tend to be strict and easy to execute. For dangerous criminals, a warning to others is tattooed on their forehead.
to:
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Since there's basically no formal judicial system anymore and the places that aren't lawless are Burbclaves, punishments tend to be strict and easy to execute. For dangerous criminals, a warning to others is tattooed on their forehead.
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed / TakeThat: L. Bob Rife is basically a composite caricature of L. Ron Hubbard and Ted Turner, and it's most certainly ''not'' an AffectionateParody.
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* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed / TakeThat: L. Bob Rife is basically a composite caricature of L. Ron Hubbard and Ted Turner, and it's most certainly ''not'' an AffectionateParody.
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Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
to:
Possibly the best-known book by Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier an [[RollerBladeGood extreme rollerblader]] in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
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* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Late in the novel it's revealed that Raven's and Hiro's dads were both [=POWs=] in Japan during World War II, and were attempting to escape together when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (Raven's dad was looking right at it and went blind, Hiro's swords were taken as trophies from the Japanese officer his dad killed while escaping).
to:
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Late in the novel it's revealed that Raven's [[spoiler:Raven's and Hiro's dads were both [=POWs=] in Japan during World War II, and were attempting to escape together when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Nagasaki. (Raven's dad was looking right at it and went blind, Hiro's swords were taken as trophies from the Japanese officer his dad killed while escaping).escaping.)]]
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present tense, please
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* {{Expositron9000}}: Librarian conveniently gave Hiro an interactive way to puzzle through disparate plot points and large amounts of historical research to come up with his unifying theory of [[spoiler:how all the different virus modes were enabling L. Bob Rife to try to take over the world ]].
to:
* {{Expositron9000}}: {{Expositron 9000}}: Librarian conveniently gave gives Hiro an interactive way to puzzle through disparate plot points and large amounts of historical research to come up with his unifying theory of [[spoiler:how all the different virus modes were are enabling L. Bob Rife to try to take over the world ]].
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Add Expositron 9000 to list of tropes covered
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* {{Expositron9000}}: Librarian conveniently gave Hiro an interactive way to puzzle through disparate plot points and large amounts of historical research to come up with his unifying theory of [[spoiler:how all the different virus modes were enabling L. Bob Rife to try to take over the world ]].
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Removing wick to Did Not Do The Research per rename at TRS.
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* DidNotDoTheResearch: Although Stephenson obviously did [[DidDoTheResearch a ridiculous amount of research]] on things like Sumerian mythology, and is by no means computer illiterate, he does incorrectly say that BIOS stands for '''B'''uilt-'''I'''n '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem, when in fact it is '''B'''asic '''I'''nput/'''O'''utput '''S'''ystem. He notes that many people pointed this out after the fact in the acknowledgments, but claims "[[ArtisticLicense I am entitled to trample all other considerations into the dirt in my pursuit of a satisfying pun, so this part of the book is unchanged.]]"
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** The Mafia lieutenant with the glass eye is never given a name. About halfway through the book he's at least given a nickname: "Fisheye."
*** He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself... ''"You can think of me as that one guy.''"
*** He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself... ''"You can think of me as that one guy.''"
to:
** The Mafia lieutenant with the glass eye is never given a name. About halfway through the book he's at least given a nickname: "Fisheye."
***He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself... ''"You can think of me as that one guy.''"''" He isn't even given his nickname, "Fisheye," until halfway through the book.
***
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** [[spoiler:Y.T.'s [[VaginaDentata dentata]], mentioned several times before Raven]] falls victim. ]]
to:
** [[spoiler:Y.T.'s [[VaginaDentata dentata]], mentioned several times before Raven]] Raven falls victim. victim.]]
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** ''SecondLife'' is quite similar to the concept of the Metaverse. Seeing as it was inspired by the book.
*** A group of fans puts on a performance of the book in SecondLife once a year.
*** A group of fans puts on a performance of the book in SecondLife once a year.
to:
** ''SecondLife'' is quite similar to the concept of the Metaverse. Seeing as Metaverse, unsurprising when you know that it was inspired by the book.
***book. A group of fans puts on a performance of the book in SecondLife ''SecondLife'' once a year.
***
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* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration. And don't forget about the…
to:
* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration. And don't forget about the…
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* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration.
to:
* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration. And don't forget about the…
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*** A group of fans puts on a performance of the book in SecondLife once a year.
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*** He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself...
-> "You can think of me as that one guy."
-> "You can think of me as that one guy."
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*** He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself...
-> "Youhimself... ''"You can think of me as that one guy."''"
-> "You
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*** He even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] it himself...
-> "You can think of me as that one guy."
-> "You can think of me as that one guy."
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namespace
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Possibly the best-known book by NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
to:
Possibly the best-known book by NealStephenson, Creator/NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
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moved to namespace
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[[quoteright:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snow-crash_x270_8000.jpg]]
->''Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world... Hiro used to feel this way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this was liberating. He no longer has to worry about being the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is taken.''
Possibly the best-known book by NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
Apart from its frenetic action sequences and overt use of the RuleOfCool, the book is surprisingly deep, with a substantial portion of the plot given over to exploring metaphysical interpretations of the Tower of Babel myth. Typical for a Stephenson novel, the plot juxtaposes action sequences, lengthy humorous digressions, and extremely detailed {{Infodump}}s seemingly at random. The book is also notable for its uncanny prediction of future internet trends. While holographic web terminals have not yet come to pass, we do have heavily populated 3D virtual worlds, satellite photograph software, and [[{{Wikipedia}} a massive user-created online library]], and certain real world equivalents (Second Life, Google Earth) having been inspired by the book itself.
----
!!This book is the TropeNamer of:
* DigitalAvatar: While the word 'avatar' dates back to Hindu mythology and had been used to describe an online representation of a person in the online RPG ''Habitat'', ''Snow Crash'' made the term popular.
* TheMetaverse
!!This book also provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySharpBlade:
** Averted by Hiro's katanas. He reminds himself that they can't slice easily through bone, like in the movies.
** Raven's glass knives are SharpenedToASingleAtom, having a cutting edge a molecule wide, and pass through body armor like [[ArmorIsUseless tissue paper]][[hottip:*: Derived from RealLife - bullet resistant materials like Kevlar do not offer much protection against bladed weapons, although current designs often try to compensate for this.]].
* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: when the black policeman emphasizes the Y in Y.T. ("whitey"), which is not how she pronounces it. Even after being corrected, he doesn't see the difference.
* AnachronicOrder: The early chapters alternate between Hiro's disastrous pizza-delivery errand and his visit to Da5id's club some time later.
* AnimeHair: The Japanese rapper Sushi K has a large, orange afro. That's ''without'' the special effects.
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Hiro after he's hired by Mr. Lee and the Mafia:
--> '''Hiro''': " I just threw away a brand-new top-of-the-line motorcycle in the middle of the street because I didn't feel like pushing it half a block to the garage. I am on an expense account that would blow your mind."
* AugmentedReality: The gargoyles do this by wearing all their computer equipment in clunky suits on their body. They're normally regarded as socially-awkward weirdos.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Uncle Enzo. See RetiredBadass below.
* AssimilationPlot: [[spoiler:Rife's goal is to use ancient Sumerian programming to remove free will. By the time the story starts, he already has a sizable army of mindless slaves.]]
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Yours Truly (Y.T.), Da5id, and ''Hiro Protagonist''. All of these, however, are handles.
* BadAss: Between Hiro, Raven, Y.T., Uncle Enzo, and the cybernetic rat/dog thing, the book has more badassness than most books should be allowed to have.
* BadassBiker: How badass? No other biker drives around with a [[CrazyPrepared nuclear bomb]] [[DeadManSwitch wired to explode if they die]]. Hiro also turns himself to one after purchasing a badass bike and some kevlar motorcycle leathers.
* BadassBookworm: Hiro can be writing computer code one second, and kicking ass the next.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: the Fedland programming department tracks everything you do at work, including the keystrokes you type and the errors you make, and even performs some curious behavioural analysis on all of that.
* {{Brainwashing}}: Used on Y.T. after being captured by Rife's goons, and generally one of the effects of being infected by Snow Crash.
* {{BFG}}: "I told you they'd listen to [[GatlingGood Reason]]"
* TheCavalry: Done in a particularly awesome fashion with [[spoiler:''twenty-five hundred Kouriers.'']]
* CardboardPrison: YT escapes The Clink in 35 minutes, most of which is spent waiting for Hiro to show up as getaway driver. Justified, since The Clink is cheap even among privatized jails, and Kouriers are CrazyPrepared.
* ChekhovsGun: Several:
** [[spoiler:Uncle Enzo having the skateboard, which has a glass-shattering charge, right before being attacked by Raven.]]
** [[spoiler:Hiro's sword-fighting software in the Metaverse, which comes in handy for defeating Raven]].
** [[spoiler:Y.T.'s [[VaginaDentata dentata]], mentioned several times before Raven]] falls victim. ]]
** [[spoiler:[=SnowScan=] might also count, if it weren't such an obvious setup.]]
** Subverted ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: L Bob Rife is not impressed by Uncle Enzo's dogtags. However, they are used later to show that Enzo does, in fact, care about YT; he gave her his actual tags.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Fido, a dog once kept by Y.T. and now a cybernetic Rat-Thing, ends up saving the day at the end.]]
* ChurchOfHappyology: L. Bob Rife's organization, Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates franchise, fits this to an extent. Worshippers pay for religious doctrine and services. However, the franchise itself is not the means of control/coercion.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Slightly subverted. As mentioned below, Hiro wrote the code for virtual sword fights, and as a result he just happens to be the best sword fighter in the whole virtual universe. Of course, he's also very good with them in real life.
* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude.
* CoolBoat: A raft shanty town the size of a large city, built around the aircraft carrier that used to be the USS ''Enterprise''.
* CoolCar: "The Deliverator" is far, far cooler than any pizza delivery car ever deserves to be. Also, Ng's "wheelchair", which is an airport fire engine with a lot of [[WeaponizedCar modifications.]]
* CoolOldGuy: Uncle Enzo. He's amiable enough that even Y.T. is nice to him.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: L. Bob Rife. Uncle Enzo probably counts, too, but he ends up working with the heroes.
* CorruptPolitician: Everyone's corrupt. Everything's corrupt.
* {{Courier}}: Y.T.
* CrapsackWorld: The USA. The nation has broken into corporate-run city-states, which causes quite a few problems. Even the job of pizza delivery requires a trusty weapon and can carry a death sentence for failure.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The Metaverse.
* DeadManSwitch: Raven's nuke, which is set to go off when he dies.
* {{Deconstruction}}: ''Snow Crash'' does this in regards to the {{Cyberpunk}} genre.
* {{Determinator}}: The Deliverator, the greatest pizza delivery boy of all time. Nothing will stop him from delivering your pizza on time, because a mafioso will put a bullet in the back of his head if he doesn't.
* {{Defictionalised}}:
** For a brief period, FourChan had a problem where people would be instructed to save an image, change the extension, and run it for their "free sample of Snow Crash". Fortunately all it did was use your computer to post more such images back to 4chan instead of frying your brain, considering the apparently sizable number of people ''stupid enough to do it''.
** ''SecondLife'' is quite similar to the concept of the Metaverse. Seeing as it was inspired by the book.
** AugmentedReality is now available through various smartphone applications.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: Although Stephenson obviously did [[DidDoTheResearch a ridiculous amount of research]] on things like Sumerian mythology, and is by no means computer illiterate, he does incorrectly say that BIOS stands for '''B'''uilt-'''I'''n '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem, when in fact it is '''B'''asic '''I'''nput/'''O'''utput '''S'''ystem. He notes that many people pointed this out after the fact in the acknowledgments, but claims "[[ArtisticLicense I am entitled to trample all other considerations into the dirt in my pursuit of a satisfying pun, so this part of the book is unchanged.]]"
* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The US government now consists of just the FBI and the Post Office. The rest of the country is now a patchwork of autonomous corporate franchises and "Burbclaves."
* TheDon: Uncle Enzo.
* TheDragon: Raven.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Since there's basically no judicial system anymore and the places that aren't lawless are Burbclaves, punishments tend to be strict and easy to execute. For dangerous criminals, a warning to others is tattooed on their forehead.
* {{Engrish}}: Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong uses Engrish as part of its marketing campaign to make its founder Mr. Lee seem cute. In reality, he speaks perfect English and is all business.
--> It is my pleasure to welcome all quality folks to visiting of Hong Kong. Whether seriously in business or on a fun-loving hijink, make yourself totally homely in this meager environment. If any aspect is not utterly harmonious, gratefully bring it to my notice and I shall strive to earn your satisfaction.
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Late in the novel it's revealed that Raven's and Hiro's dads were both [=POWs=] in Japan during World War II, and were attempting to escape together when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (Raven's dad was looking right at it and went blind, Hiro's swords were taken as trophies from the Japanese officer his dad killed while escaping).
* GatlingGood: The ultimate {{BFG}} of the book is "Reason," a nuclear powered rotary rail gun that shoots needles of depleted uranium and can carry close to half-a-ton of ammo.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The FBI spends most of its effort writing software, as bureaucratically as possible.
* HandicappedBadass: Ng, a quadruple amputee who drives around in a gigantic van that can shoot missiles and deploy robots that can break the speed of sound. He also builds Reason, which gets used to [[GatlingGood rip ships in half]].
* HollywoodCyborg: Thoroughly averted with Ng, the creator of the Rat Things. Having lost most of his mobility in a helicopter attack, he tried prosthetics and use of a powerchair. He ultimately adopted his upgraded van and lives as a torso suspended in an elaborate harness.
* ICallItVera: "Reason."
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Several people who find themselves on the receiving end of Raven.
* InfoDump: Many of them, as is usual for Stephenson. Quite justified too, given how much of the book is spent in a digital library complete with dumb AI librarian.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Said by President Chuck Rightson.
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: Not quite, but it's a major player in a world where no one government seems to have gotten the upper hand.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Hiro fights with katanas, and even went so far as to hard-code a katana simulator into the virtual universe he helped write. However, Hiro takes a moment to acknowledge that katanas are not supernaturally sharp, as movies would have you believe. He even remonstrates with himself when he [[spoiler: decapitates a racist thug in one stroke]] that he forgot his training and acted as if the blade would pass cleanly through his target; sure, in this instance it ''did'', but that was just luck.
* LawEnforcementInc: Franchises that don't handle their own security will generally subcontract it out to one of these.
* LemonyNarrator: And how!
* LivingLegend: Raven, a one man nuclear power with an AbsurdlySharpBlade who wants to blow up America. Hiro counts in cyberspace, where he's a MemeticBadass.
* LudicrousSpeed: The bikes in the metaverse definitely count
* TheMafia: Now trading freely and making the best pizzas in America.
* ManInTheMachine: Ng.
* MeaningfulName: Hiroaki [[HeroProtagonist "Hiro" Protagonist]]. Hiro chose his own nickname and then changed his last name to Protagonist, just to drive the point home.
--->'''Y.T.:''' Stupid name.\\
'''Hiro:''' But you'll never forget it.
* MindVirus: The virus that makes people unable to speak. Also implied to be [[spoiler:the original reason different languages evolved in the first place; a mind virus in historical times made everyone unintelligible to each other, inspiring the Tower Of Babel myth.]]
* MoreDakka: "Reason"
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Raven.
* NerdActionHero: Hiro Protagonist is a programmer who in real life is pretty close to broke (after having failed his pizza delivery job) and lives in a self storage facility, although he also own a pretty large chunk of prime real-estate in cyberspace (think IP address block) on account of having been one of the guys who created it. As it happens, he is also the greatest swordfighter in the world (though he mostly gets to demonstrate it in cyberspace), and turn out to be good at other acts of action-heroism as well.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed / TakeThat: L. Bob Rife is basically a composite caricature of L. Ron Hubbard and Ted Turner, and it's most certainly ''not'' an AffectionateParody.
* NoNameGiven:
** We never learn Y.T.'s real name. At one point it's avoided by simply indicating that her mother "said her name."
** Y.T.'s mother is never referred to as anything but "Y.T.'s mother."
** The Mafia lieutenant with the glass eye is never given a name. About halfway through the book he's at least given a nickname: "Fisheye."
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The FBI even goes so far as to send out 10-page memos about toilet paper use, one of which is printed in full in the book.
* OnlyKnownByInitials: Y.T., although she does give the expansion ("Yours Truly") at one point after a character hears it as "Whitey" and considers taking offence.
* PluckyGirl: Y.T., a 15-year-old skateboarding courier that doesn't take an ounce of crap from anyone and is loaded with enough self-defense gear to break out of an FBI building. [[spoiler:This is not hyperbole; she actually does that.]]
* {{Portmanteau}}: "Burbclave" is a contraction of "suburban enclave."
* PostCyberpunk
* PretentiousLatinMotto: Reason. Named for, and marked with, what Louis XIV put on his cannons: ''Ultima Ratio Regum'', "The last argument of kings."
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: As an example, the CIA has converted into the publicly traded CIC.
* PsychoForHire: Raven.
* RetiredBadass: Uncle Enzo, who served in Vietnam and [[spoiler:is able to fight Raven to a standstill with just a straight razor, his wits, and a skateboard that conveniently disables all his cute glass knives.]]
* RidiculousFutureInflation: It's cheaper to use [[ZillionDollarBill billion dollar bills]] as toilet paper than just go out and buy some. Justified in that the US economy actually DID collapse. Most people use other, more stable forms of currency if they can. Played for laughs the first time it comes up, as Y.T. offers to bribe some cops with $500 billion. It seems like she's just being snarky, but the cops respond that that kind of pocket change wouldn't be worth it. They eventually settle on $750 billion. And then she swipes her card through an [[CorruptCop in-car credit card reader]]...
* RuleOfCool: It might not make sense for there to be a biker with a nuclear bomb in his [[CoolSidecar sidecar]], or cyborg dogs that can run faster than the speed of sound, or couriers who skateboard down highways at 100 mph, but damned if it's not cool!
* SalvagePirates: When Hiro and the Mafia [[{{Mooks}} goons]] get a boat shot out from under them, they drift for a while in the North Pacific in a life raft, fighting off the occasional gang of pirates who want to kidnap them and [[strike:sell them into slavery]] sodomize them all (most likely before killing them) rather than rescue the castaways.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveANuke: Raven.
* SeriousBusiness: Pizza delivery, to the extent of there being a university devoted to the study of the pizza business. If a pizza from [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily Costa Nostra]] isn't delivered within half an hour, the head of the mafia himself will come to your house to apologize. And the delivery boy will probably be wearing CementShoes.
* SharpenedToASingleAtom: Raven's glass knives are chipped down to a monomolecular edge.
* ShownTheirWork: As usual, Stephenson really wants to tell you all about his latest obsession. This time it's Sumerian mythology.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some printings give Hiro's full first name as Hiroaki, while others say Hirohito. The latter doubles as a MeaningfulName, considering his dad's past as a [=WWI=]I vet and POW.
* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:Raven, briefly, to Y.T. near the end. He's not all that persistent, but the creepiness does take its toll when you remember that she's half his age, and he's ''Raven''. She even thinks of him as a psychopath, though she's still attracted to him, and him to her, even after she accidentally knocks him out during sex.]]
* StealthPun: Fisheye says of the pirates, "I'm sure they'll listen to Reason." Later, we learn that he has a gigantic gatling gun code-named "Reason."
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: It's awfully convenient how easily Hiroaki/Hirohito condenses to Hiro. Ditto Ravinoff > Raven. Of course, both Hiro and Raven chose those nicknames for themselves, so it's hardly unexpected.
* StylisticSuck: Behold, the lyrical genius of Sushi K:
--> I like to rap about sweetened romance/[[IntercourseWithYou My fond ambition is of your pants]]/So here is of special remarkable way/Of this fellow raps named Sushi K
* SuperSpeed: The Rat Things can run at seven hundred miles an hour on a straightaway. Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong has had them programmed to avoid breaking the sound barrier, as part of a Good Neighbor Policy, but when Y.T. finds herself in trouble, one of them decides to screw that and bring the noise...
* SuperWheelchair: The biggest and largest ever: Ng drives a huge converted airport firetruck attached to his life-support system.
* TattooedCrook: Raven, though not by choice. He has an EmbarrassingTattoo on his forehead that reads "Poor Impulse Control," given as a punishment for a crime.
* ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree: SeriousBusiness when your pizza company is owned by the Mafia, and they ''really'' don't like breaking their word. Delivery boys who break the curfew aren't long for this world.
* TowerOfBabel: The Babel myth plays a key role in the story.
* TruceZone: Weapons are not allowed in Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, and they have enough weapons of their own to make sure the rule is followed. Hiro goes here to avoid people who are chasing him, but is able to keep his swords, as he's a citizen.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: If you factor the chronology of it out, Hiro was born in the 1970's and is about 30 years old, so the story takes place around 2005. The book was written around 1992.
* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration.
* VaginaDentata: There is an anti-rape device Y.T. has, called, unsurprisingly, a Dentata. [[spoiler:Too bad she forgot to take it out before ''consensual'' sex with Raven. There's even a point during the act where she thinks there's something she forgot, but is ''promptly'' distracted.]]
* VestigialEmpire: Every single nation-state, including the U.S. government. There are no countries anymore, only corporations.
* TheVirus: Snow Crash itself, an STD that makes you BrainwashedAndCrazy. "Is Snow Crash a virus, a religion, or a drug?" "What's the difference?"
* WorldOfBadass: Even characters who only appear for a couple of scenes are totally awesome.
----
->''Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world... Hiro used to feel this way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this was liberating. He no longer has to worry about being the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is taken.''
Possibly the best-known book by NealStephenson, ''Snow Crash'' is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass Kourier in a PostCyberPunk [[DividedStatesOfAmerica disincorporated USA]] to fight "[[TheVirus Snow Crash]]" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
Apart from its frenetic action sequences and overt use of the RuleOfCool, the book is surprisingly deep, with a substantial portion of the plot given over to exploring metaphysical interpretations of the Tower of Babel myth. Typical for a Stephenson novel, the plot juxtaposes action sequences, lengthy humorous digressions, and extremely detailed {{Infodump}}s seemingly at random. The book is also notable for its uncanny prediction of future internet trends. While holographic web terminals have not yet come to pass, we do have heavily populated 3D virtual worlds, satellite photograph software, and [[{{Wikipedia}} a massive user-created online library]], and certain real world equivalents (Second Life, Google Earth) having been inspired by the book itself.
----
!!This book is the TropeNamer of:
* DigitalAvatar: While the word 'avatar' dates back to Hindu mythology and had been used to describe an online representation of a person in the online RPG ''Habitat'', ''Snow Crash'' made the term popular.
* TheMetaverse
!!This book also provides examples of:
* AbsurdlySharpBlade:
** Averted by Hiro's katanas. He reminds himself that they can't slice easily through bone, like in the movies.
** Raven's glass knives are SharpenedToASingleAtom, having a cutting edge a molecule wide, and pass through body armor like [[ArmorIsUseless tissue paper]][[hottip:*: Derived from RealLife - bullet resistant materials like Kevlar do not offer much protection against bladed weapons, although current designs often try to compensate for this.]].
* AccentUponTheWrongSyllable: when the black policeman emphasizes the Y in Y.T. ("whitey"), which is not how she pronounces it. Even after being corrected, he doesn't see the difference.
* AnachronicOrder: The early chapters alternate between Hiro's disastrous pizza-delivery errand and his visit to Da5id's club some time later.
* AnimeHair: The Japanese rapper Sushi K has a large, orange afro. That's ''without'' the special effects.
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: Hiro after he's hired by Mr. Lee and the Mafia:
--> '''Hiro''': " I just threw away a brand-new top-of-the-line motorcycle in the middle of the street because I didn't feel like pushing it half a block to the garage. I am on an expense account that would blow your mind."
* AugmentedReality: The gargoyles do this by wearing all their computer equipment in clunky suits on their body. They're normally regarded as socially-awkward weirdos.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Uncle Enzo. See RetiredBadass below.
* AssimilationPlot: [[spoiler:Rife's goal is to use ancient Sumerian programming to remove free will. By the time the story starts, he already has a sizable army of mindless slaves.]]
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Yours Truly (Y.T.), Da5id, and ''Hiro Protagonist''. All of these, however, are handles.
* BadAss: Between Hiro, Raven, Y.T., Uncle Enzo, and the cybernetic rat/dog thing, the book has more badassness than most books should be allowed to have.
* BadassBiker: How badass? No other biker drives around with a [[CrazyPrepared nuclear bomb]] [[DeadManSwitch wired to explode if they die]]. Hiro also turns himself to one after purchasing a badass bike and some kevlar motorcycle leathers.
* BadassBookworm: Hiro can be writing computer code one second, and kicking ass the next.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: the Fedland programming department tracks everything you do at work, including the keystrokes you type and the errors you make, and even performs some curious behavioural analysis on all of that.
* {{Brainwashing}}: Used on Y.T. after being captured by Rife's goons, and generally one of the effects of being infected by Snow Crash.
* {{BFG}}: "I told you they'd listen to [[GatlingGood Reason]]"
* TheCavalry: Done in a particularly awesome fashion with [[spoiler:''twenty-five hundred Kouriers.'']]
* CardboardPrison: YT escapes The Clink in 35 minutes, most of which is spent waiting for Hiro to show up as getaway driver. Justified, since The Clink is cheap even among privatized jails, and Kouriers are CrazyPrepared.
* ChekhovsGun: Several:
** [[spoiler:Uncle Enzo having the skateboard, which has a glass-shattering charge, right before being attacked by Raven.]]
** [[spoiler:Hiro's sword-fighting software in the Metaverse, which comes in handy for defeating Raven]].
** [[spoiler:Y.T.'s [[VaginaDentata dentata]], mentioned several times before Raven]] falls victim. ]]
** [[spoiler:[=SnowScan=] might also count, if it weren't such an obvious setup.]]
** Subverted ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: L Bob Rife is not impressed by Uncle Enzo's dogtags. However, they are used later to show that Enzo does, in fact, care about YT; he gave her his actual tags.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Fido, a dog once kept by Y.T. and now a cybernetic Rat-Thing, ends up saving the day at the end.]]
* ChurchOfHappyology: L. Bob Rife's organization, Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates franchise, fits this to an extent. Worshippers pay for religious doctrine and services. However, the franchise itself is not the means of control/coercion.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Slightly subverted. As mentioned below, Hiro wrote the code for virtual sword fights, and as a result he just happens to be the best sword fighter in the whole virtual universe. Of course, he's also very good with them in real life.
* ColdSniper: Vic, who has a fittingly nonchalant attitude.
* CoolBoat: A raft shanty town the size of a large city, built around the aircraft carrier that used to be the USS ''Enterprise''.
* CoolCar: "The Deliverator" is far, far cooler than any pizza delivery car ever deserves to be. Also, Ng's "wheelchair", which is an airport fire engine with a lot of [[WeaponizedCar modifications.]]
* CoolOldGuy: Uncle Enzo. He's amiable enough that even Y.T. is nice to him.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: L. Bob Rife. Uncle Enzo probably counts, too, but he ends up working with the heroes.
* CorruptPolitician: Everyone's corrupt. Everything's corrupt.
* {{Courier}}: Y.T.
* CrapsackWorld: The USA. The nation has broken into corporate-run city-states, which causes quite a few problems. Even the job of pizza delivery requires a trusty weapon and can carry a death sentence for failure.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The Metaverse.
* DeadManSwitch: Raven's nuke, which is set to go off when he dies.
* {{Deconstruction}}: ''Snow Crash'' does this in regards to the {{Cyberpunk}} genre.
* {{Determinator}}: The Deliverator, the greatest pizza delivery boy of all time. Nothing will stop him from delivering your pizza on time, because a mafioso will put a bullet in the back of his head if he doesn't.
* {{Defictionalised}}:
** For a brief period, FourChan had a problem where people would be instructed to save an image, change the extension, and run it for their "free sample of Snow Crash". Fortunately all it did was use your computer to post more such images back to 4chan instead of frying your brain, considering the apparently sizable number of people ''stupid enough to do it''.
** ''SecondLife'' is quite similar to the concept of the Metaverse. Seeing as it was inspired by the book.
** AugmentedReality is now available through various smartphone applications.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: Although Stephenson obviously did [[DidDoTheResearch a ridiculous amount of research]] on things like Sumerian mythology, and is by no means computer illiterate, he does incorrectly say that BIOS stands for '''B'''uilt-'''I'''n '''O'''perating '''S'''ystem, when in fact it is '''B'''asic '''I'''nput/'''O'''utput '''S'''ystem. He notes that many people pointed this out after the fact in the acknowledgments, but claims "[[ArtisticLicense I am entitled to trample all other considerations into the dirt in my pursuit of a satisfying pun, so this part of the book is unchanged.]]"
* DividedStatesOfAmerica: The US government now consists of just the FBI and the Post Office. The rest of the country is now a patchwork of autonomous corporate franchises and "Burbclaves."
* TheDon: Uncle Enzo.
* TheDragon: Raven.
* EmbarrassingTattoo: Since there's basically no judicial system anymore and the places that aren't lawless are Burbclaves, punishments tend to be strict and easy to execute. For dangerous criminals, a warning to others is tattooed on their forehead.
* {{Engrish}}: Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong uses Engrish as part of its marketing campaign to make its founder Mr. Lee seem cute. In reality, he speaks perfect English and is all business.
--> It is my pleasure to welcome all quality folks to visiting of Hong Kong. Whether seriously in business or on a fun-loving hijink, make yourself totally homely in this meager environment. If any aspect is not utterly harmonious, gratefully bring it to my notice and I shall strive to earn your satisfaction.
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Late in the novel it's revealed that Raven's and Hiro's dads were both [=POWs=] in Japan during World War II, and were attempting to escape together when the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki (Raven's dad was looking right at it and went blind, Hiro's swords were taken as trophies from the Japanese officer his dad killed while escaping).
* GatlingGood: The ultimate {{BFG}} of the book is "Reason," a nuclear powered rotary rail gun that shoots needles of depleted uranium and can carry close to half-a-ton of ammo.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The FBI spends most of its effort writing software, as bureaucratically as possible.
* HandicappedBadass: Ng, a quadruple amputee who drives around in a gigantic van that can shoot missiles and deploy robots that can break the speed of sound. He also builds Reason, which gets used to [[GatlingGood rip ships in half]].
* HollywoodCyborg: Thoroughly averted with Ng, the creator of the Rat Things. Having lost most of his mobility in a helicopter attack, he tried prosthetics and use of a powerchair. He ultimately adopted his upgraded van and lives as a torso suspended in an elaborate harness.
* ICallItVera: "Reason."
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Several people who find themselves on the receiving end of Raven.
* InfoDump: Many of them, as is usual for Stephenson. Quite justified too, given how much of the book is spent in a digital library complete with dumb AI librarian.
* INeedAFreakingDrink: Said by President Chuck Rightson.
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: Not quite, but it's a major player in a world where no one government seems to have gotten the upper hand.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Hiro fights with katanas, and even went so far as to hard-code a katana simulator into the virtual universe he helped write. However, Hiro takes a moment to acknowledge that katanas are not supernaturally sharp, as movies would have you believe. He even remonstrates with himself when he [[spoiler: decapitates a racist thug in one stroke]] that he forgot his training and acted as if the blade would pass cleanly through his target; sure, in this instance it ''did'', but that was just luck.
* LawEnforcementInc: Franchises that don't handle their own security will generally subcontract it out to one of these.
* LemonyNarrator: And how!
* LivingLegend: Raven, a one man nuclear power with an AbsurdlySharpBlade who wants to blow up America. Hiro counts in cyberspace, where he's a MemeticBadass.
* LudicrousSpeed: The bikes in the metaverse definitely count
* TheMafia: Now trading freely and making the best pizzas in America.
* ManInTheMachine: Ng.
* MeaningfulName: Hiroaki [[HeroProtagonist "Hiro" Protagonist]]. Hiro chose his own nickname and then changed his last name to Protagonist, just to drive the point home.
--->'''Y.T.:''' Stupid name.\\
'''Hiro:''' But you'll never forget it.
* MindVirus: The virus that makes people unable to speak. Also implied to be [[spoiler:the original reason different languages evolved in the first place; a mind virus in historical times made everyone unintelligible to each other, inspiring the Tower Of Babel myth.]]
* MoreDakka: "Reason"
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Raven.
* NerdActionHero: Hiro Protagonist is a programmer who in real life is pretty close to broke (after having failed his pizza delivery job) and lives in a self storage facility, although he also own a pretty large chunk of prime real-estate in cyberspace (think IP address block) on account of having been one of the guys who created it. As it happens, he is also the greatest swordfighter in the world (though he mostly gets to demonstrate it in cyberspace), and turn out to be good at other acts of action-heroism as well.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed / TakeThat: L. Bob Rife is basically a composite caricature of L. Ron Hubbard and Ted Turner, and it's most certainly ''not'' an AffectionateParody.
* NoNameGiven:
** We never learn Y.T.'s real name. At one point it's avoided by simply indicating that her mother "said her name."
** Y.T.'s mother is never referred to as anything but "Y.T.'s mother."
** The Mafia lieutenant with the glass eye is never given a name. About halfway through the book he's at least given a nickname: "Fisheye."
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The FBI even goes so far as to send out 10-page memos about toilet paper use, one of which is printed in full in the book.
* OnlyKnownByInitials: Y.T., although she does give the expansion ("Yours Truly") at one point after a character hears it as "Whitey" and considers taking offence.
* PluckyGirl: Y.T., a 15-year-old skateboarding courier that doesn't take an ounce of crap from anyone and is loaded with enough self-defense gear to break out of an FBI building. [[spoiler:This is not hyperbole; she actually does that.]]
* {{Portmanteau}}: "Burbclave" is a contraction of "suburban enclave."
* PostCyberpunk
* PretentiousLatinMotto: Reason. Named for, and marked with, what Louis XIV put on his cannons: ''Ultima Ratio Regum'', "The last argument of kings."
* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: As an example, the CIA has converted into the publicly traded CIC.
* PsychoForHire: Raven.
* RetiredBadass: Uncle Enzo, who served in Vietnam and [[spoiler:is able to fight Raven to a standstill with just a straight razor, his wits, and a skateboard that conveniently disables all his cute glass knives.]]
* RidiculousFutureInflation: It's cheaper to use [[ZillionDollarBill billion dollar bills]] as toilet paper than just go out and buy some. Justified in that the US economy actually DID collapse. Most people use other, more stable forms of currency if they can. Played for laughs the first time it comes up, as Y.T. offers to bribe some cops with $500 billion. It seems like she's just being snarky, but the cops respond that that kind of pocket change wouldn't be worth it. They eventually settle on $750 billion. And then she swipes her card through an [[CorruptCop in-car credit card reader]]...
* RuleOfCool: It might not make sense for there to be a biker with a nuclear bomb in his [[CoolSidecar sidecar]], or cyborg dogs that can run faster than the speed of sound, or couriers who skateboard down highways at 100 mph, but damned if it's not cool!
* SalvagePirates: When Hiro and the Mafia [[{{Mooks}} goons]] get a boat shot out from under them, they drift for a while in the North Pacific in a life raft, fighting off the occasional gang of pirates who want to kidnap them and [[strike:sell them into slavery]] sodomize them all (most likely before killing them) rather than rescue the castaways.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveANuke: Raven.
* SeriousBusiness: Pizza delivery, to the extent of there being a university devoted to the study of the pizza business. If a pizza from [[TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily Costa Nostra]] isn't delivered within half an hour, the head of the mafia himself will come to your house to apologize. And the delivery boy will probably be wearing CementShoes.
* SharpenedToASingleAtom: Raven's glass knives are chipped down to a monomolecular edge.
* ShownTheirWork: As usual, Stephenson really wants to tell you all about his latest obsession. This time it's Sumerian mythology.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some printings give Hiro's full first name as Hiroaki, while others say Hirohito. The latter doubles as a MeaningfulName, considering his dad's past as a [=WWI=]I vet and POW.
* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler:Raven, briefly, to Y.T. near the end. He's not all that persistent, but the creepiness does take its toll when you remember that she's half his age, and he's ''Raven''. She even thinks of him as a psychopath, though she's still attracted to him, and him to her, even after she accidentally knocks him out during sex.]]
* StealthPun: Fisheye says of the pirates, "I'm sure they'll listen to Reason." Later, we learn that he has a gigantic gatling gun code-named "Reason."
* StevenUlyssesPerhero: It's awfully convenient how easily Hiroaki/Hirohito condenses to Hiro. Ditto Ravinoff > Raven. Of course, both Hiro and Raven chose those nicknames for themselves, so it's hardly unexpected.
* StylisticSuck: Behold, the lyrical genius of Sushi K:
--> I like to rap about sweetened romance/[[IntercourseWithYou My fond ambition is of your pants]]/So here is of special remarkable way/Of this fellow raps named Sushi K
* SuperSpeed: The Rat Things can run at seven hundred miles an hour on a straightaway. Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong has had them programmed to avoid breaking the sound barrier, as part of a Good Neighbor Policy, but when Y.T. finds herself in trouble, one of them decides to screw that and bring the noise...
* SuperWheelchair: The biggest and largest ever: Ng drives a huge converted airport firetruck attached to his life-support system.
* TattooedCrook: Raven, though not by choice. He has an EmbarrassingTattoo on his forehead that reads "Poor Impulse Control," given as a punishment for a crime.
* ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree: SeriousBusiness when your pizza company is owned by the Mafia, and they ''really'' don't like breaking their word. Delivery boys who break the curfew aren't long for this world.
* TowerOfBabel: The Babel myth plays a key role in the story.
* TruceZone: Weapons are not allowed in Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, and they have enough weapons of their own to make sure the rule is followed. Hiro goes here to avoid people who are chasing him, but is able to keep his swords, as he's a citizen.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: If you factor the chronology of it out, Hiro was born in the 1970's and is about 30 years old, so the story takes place around 2005. The book was written around 1992.
* WalkingArmory: Raven is completely loaded up on razor-sharp glass knives that are invisible to radar. Y.T. has a nonlethal variant; she's got her suit set up with multiple tasers, she's got a can of "Liquid Knuckles" which is apparently worse than mace, and even her skateboard has a huge glass-shattering explosive charge in it for emergency defenestration.
* VaginaDentata: There is an anti-rape device Y.T. has, called, unsurprisingly, a Dentata. [[spoiler:Too bad she forgot to take it out before ''consensual'' sex with Raven. There's even a point during the act where she thinks there's something she forgot, but is ''promptly'' distracted.]]
* VestigialEmpire: Every single nation-state, including the U.S. government. There are no countries anymore, only corporations.
* TheVirus: Snow Crash itself, an STD that makes you BrainwashedAndCrazy. "Is Snow Crash a virus, a religion, or a drug?" "What's the difference?"
* WorldOfBadass: Even characters who only appear for a couple of scenes are totally awesome.
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