A salute is a gesture or other action used to display respect. Salutes are primarily associated with armed forces, but other organisations and civilians also use salutes.
In military traditions of various times and places, there have been numerous methods of performing salutes, using hand gestures, cannon or rifle shots, hoisting of flags, removal of headgear, or other means of showing respect or deference. In the Commonwealth of Nations, only commissioned officers are saluted, and the salute is to the commission they carry from their respective commanders-in-chief representing the Monarch, not the officers themselves.
The French salute is almost identical to the British Army's. The customary salute in the Polish Armed Forces is the two-fingers salute, a variation of the British military salute with only two fingers extended. In the Russian military, the right hand, palm down, is brought to the right temple, almost, but not quite, touching; the head has to be covered. In the Swedish armed forces, the salute is identical to that of the U.S. armed forces and the Royal Navy. In the Hellenic Army salute the palm is facing down and the fingers point to the coat of arms.
A salute state was a princely state under the British Raj during the time of British rule which had been granted a gun salute by the British Crown (as paramount ruler); i.e., the protocolary privilege for its ruler to be greeted—originally by Royal Navy ships, later also on land—with a number of cannon shots, in graduations of two salutes from three to 21, as recognition of the state's relative status. The gun-salute system of recognition was first instituted during the time of the East India Company in the late 18th century, and was continued under direct Crown rule from 1858.
As with the other princely states, the salute states varied greatly in size and importance. The states of Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir, both with a 21-gun salute, were each over 200,000 km2 in size, or slightly larger than the whole of Great Britain; in 1941, Hyderabad had a population of over 16,000,000, comparable to the population of Romania at the time, while Jammu and Kashmir had a population of slightly over 4 million, comparable to that of Switzerland. At the other end of the scale, Janjira and Sachin (11 and 9 guns, respectively, and both ruled by branches of the same dynasty) were respectively 137 km2 and 127 km2 in size, or slightly larger than the island of Jersey; in 1941, Janjira had a population of nearly 14,000, the smallest of the salute states.
A 21-gun salute is the most commonly recognized of the customary gun salutes that are performed by the firing of cannons or artillery as a military honor.
The custom stems from naval tradition, where a warship would fire its cannons harmlessly out to sea, until all ammunition was spent, to show that it was disarmed, signifying the lack of hostile intent. As naval customs evolved, 21 guns came to be fired for heads of state, or in exceptional circumstances for head of government, with the number decreasing with the rank of the recipient of the honor.
While the 21-gun salute is the most commonly recognized, the number of rounds fired in any given salute will vary depending on the conditions. Circumstances affecting these variations include the particular occasion and, in the case of military and state funerals, the branch of service, and rank (or office) of the person to whom honors are being rendered.
The tradition of saluting can be traced to the Late Middle Ages practice of placing oneself in an unarmed position and, therefore, in the power of those being honored. This may be noted in the dropping of the point of the sword, presenting arms, discharging cannon and small arms by firing them, lowering sails, manning the yards, removing the headdress or laying on oars.
* Beavis and Butthead sample *
[Butthead] Whoa! Uh-heheh-heheh, uh-heheh
That kicked ASS!
[Beavis] Yeah yeah heh yeah
That was fly
* DJ Pam the Funkstress starts cuttin up ";That was fly"; *
Chorus: Boots (repeat 2X)
20,000 gun salute, get rowdy like you got a substitute
This slug's for Newt - shut your mouth, don't pollute
Army of down motherfuckers, shit we tryin to recruit!
[Boots]
See now we're talkin systematic, mack mechanics, decomposin
Chosen, representatives, from the ho's been known to act wit
pimp theatrics, a tactic necessary
In fact they wanna have us buyin from the commissary
This commentary's for my folks under involuntary servitude
Cause bosses don't be servin you your monetary
Pervin you like rum'n'dairy pulsin through your capillaries
Some inherit green, the rest just get our folks to bury
I'm abolitionary, wishin the judiciary
say this year for merry merry, free the penitentiary!
Peoples gon' rumble as long as stomachs grumble
and crack pipes tumble over asphault that's crumbled
Hundreds come in bundles and, hop is mixed with funnels
Cause babies wit shoes too small gon' stumble
This composition is sedition, opposition to the rulin class
Wishin they could detonate us hooked to the ignition
Keep my slacks creased to punch the clock for the beast
As my rent don't cease, his pockets get obese
Can't have inner peace without havin a piece
When the stepped on step up, we let the dragon release
Chorus
[Boots]
Disaster! The filthy rich bastards wanna milk yo' ass
faster, ask fuh, no salvation comin from the damn pastor
Old ladies play canasta, under roofs of cracker plaster
Little kids dive in the trash for discarded Dutchmasters
Dead potnahs on mural walls
Homeless kids takin baths up in gas station urinals
Shit the system can't cure it all
If everybody had a job then stock value's sure to fall
Hundred million neck slashes, so these facists
can make sho' that they check cashes, let's get massive
Wage struggle as direct classes, on just how we gonna
overthrow they bitch asses, give whiplashes
from the force as we make it tight, and ignite
the flames of takin over daily life, make it a right
to have food, threads and homestead
and Pac Bell won't ever cut your phone dead -- we own it!
But these business that love payin minimum wage
ain't gon' let you take they shit unless you showin the gauge
And if you do it by yourself they gon' put you in a cage
If you in a rage, please meet me on the same page, with a
Chorus