Fist bump

A fist bump

In this diagram, fist a and fist b come together and "bump".

A fist bump (also called power five,^[1] dap, fist pound, touch, or brofist) is a gesture similar in meaning to a handshake or high five. A fist bump can also be a symbol of giving respect. It can be followed by various other hand and body gestures and may be part of a dap greeting. It is commonly used in baseball and hockey as a form of celebration with teammates, and with opposition players at the end of a game. In cricket it is a common celebratory gesture between batting partners.

Definition

Merriam Webster Dictionary: a gesture in which two people bump their fists together (as in greeting or celebration)^[2]

The gesture is performed when two participants each form a closed fist with one hand and then lightly tap the front of their fists together. The participant's fists may be either vertically oriented (perpendicular to the ground) or horizontally oriented. Unlike the standard handshake, which is typically performed only with each participants' right hand, a fist bump may be performed with participants using either hand.

The fist bump symbol is informally written in electronic text by using the Japanese katakana alphabet YO, the equals sign and the English capital "E": =ƎE=.

History

According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz, the recent recurrence of the fist bump was brought about by baseball player Stan Musial in the 1950s, who adopted it as a way to avoid picking up germs.^[3] Time magazine wonders if it evolved from the handshake and the high-five. They cite knuckle bumping in the 1970s with basketball player Baltimore Bullets guard Fred Carter. Others claim the Wonder Twins, minor characters in the 1970s Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoon Super Friends, who touched knuckles and cried "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" were the originators.^[1] However, the "fist bump" or "pound" can easily be traced as far back as the late 1800s and early 1900s to the boxer's handshake as a way to greet when hands are gloved. In fact, the fist bump's origins may well lie in the animal kingdom as the gesture is natural behaviour observed in primates, according to a book published by Margaret Power in 1991.^[4]

In early June of 2008, the Fox News Channel ran a news piece about a fist bump of Barack Obama and his wife at the end of one of Obama's meetings in his presidential running. In it, hard news anchor E. D. Hill said the gesture may be a "terrorist fist jab" (implanting an association of Barack Obama with terrorism).^[5] Fox later apologized for the term.^[6]

In light of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the Dean of Medicine at the University of Calgary, Tom Feasby, suggested that the fist bump may be a "nice replacement of the handshake" in an effort to prevent transmission of the virus.^[7] Similarly, a medical study has found that fist bumps and high fives spread fewer germs than handshakes.^[8][9]

Other instances

• The 1936 film Tarzan Escapes appears to be the earliest to depict a fist bump.^[10]
• Myron Lowery, acting as mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, fist bumped the Dalai Lama during the latter's visit to Memphis.^[11]
• U.S. President Barack Obama has been reported to be a common user of the fist bump when greeting others.^[12]
• The crew of STS-135, the last Space Shuttle flight, did a round of fist bumps on the flight deck shortly before launch.
• Howie Mandel often uses the fist bump, especially due to suffering from mysophobia.^[13][14]
• Dion gave Paul Simon a fist bump on stage during the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary concert.
• PewDiePie, the most subscribed user on YouTube, uses a "brofist" as the official greeting to all of his subscribers and can be seen brofisting the camera at the end of each video.
• Ali G is regularly seen giving the greeting, which is popular amongst UK lovers of hip-hop culture, where it is also nicknamed "nudging" and "spudding".
• In the 2006 film The Sentinel, star Michael Douglas fist bumps fellow Secret Service agent Eva Longoria toward the end of the movie, wishing her good luck in her S.S. career.
• In the manga and anime series Naruto, the character of Killer B uses fist bumps with people close to him, such as Naruto Uzumaki, as a means of showing companionship, communicating, and choreography during his rap.
• In the DreamWorks Animation movie Mr. Peabody & Sherman the title character Mr. Peabody claims to have invented the fist bump.
• The Shield, a professional wrestling stable composed of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns displays a triple fist bump as their signature pose.
• In the Disney Animated movie Big Hero 6, the protagonist, Hiro Hamada introduces his healthcare robot companion Baymax to the fist bump to which Baymax responds with his trademark catchphrase "Ba-da-la-la-la-la-la", in which, the gesture had a twist in the end, where after the fists got bumped, there was an imitation of "explosion", as to where the catchphrase came from.
• "Ailen Nation" TV series and movies 1988 to 1997. The Newcomers would touch knuckles in respect.

References

1. Stephey, M.J. (June 5, 2008). "A Brief History of the Fist Bump". Time magazine. Retrieved June 8, 2008.
2. "fist bump | a gesture in which two people bump their fists together (as in greeting or celebration)". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2015-04-29.
3. Lee Enterprises. "90 things to love about The Man". stltoday.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-09. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
4. Power, Margaret (1991). The Egalitarians – Human and Chimpanzee: An Anthropological View of Social Organization. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-40016-3.
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQfbbSQ5FXY
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8oIy6Crrs
7. Fist bump can pound out flu transmission
8. Los Angeles Times (July 28, 2014). "Fist bumps, high-fives spread fewer germs than handshakes, study says". latimes.com. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
9. ABC News. "Health News & Articles - Healthy Living - ABC News". ABC News. Retrieved June 7, 2015.
10. Dr. X's Free Associations, "Photo of the Day: First Documented Knuckle-tap (Dap) Greeting", March 4, 2008
11. "Dalai Lama starts US tour with fist-bump". ABC News (Australia). September 23, 2009. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
12. "The Fist Bumper in Chief". Politico. August 23, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
13. "Betty White Learns From Howie Mandel: Fist Bump Lessons On 'Off Their Rockers'". Huffington Post. February 2, 2013. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
14. "Germs: 'No Deal' for Host Howie Mandel". ABC News. November 24, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2015.

Further reading

• Safire, William (July 6, 2008). "Fist Bump". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved July 15, 2008.

External links