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    In The World of Global Gestures, The Fist Bump Stands Alone: Goats and Soda: NPR

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    The fist bump originated from the high-five in sports and became a way for friends to greet each other equally. It stands out from other gestures because both participants' knuckles meet at the same level, making it non-hierarchical unlike a handshake. The fist bump has spread around the world because it signals approval and triumph in a simple way compared to more complex gestures that differ by gender or culture.

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    In The World of Global Gestures, The Fist Bump Stands Alone: Goats and Soda: NPR

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    mistermoose
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    The fist bump originated from the high-five in sports and became a way for friends to greet each other equally. It stands out from other gestures because both participants' knuckles meet at the same level, making it non-hierarchical unlike a handshake. The fist bump has spread around the world because it signals approval and triumph in a simple way compared to more complex gestures that differ by gender or culture.

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    In the World of Global Gestures, The Fist Bump Stands Alone : Goats and Soda : NPR

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    The fist bump originated from the high-five in sports and became a way for friends to greet each other equally. It stands out from other gestures because both participants' knuckles meet at the same level, making it non-hierarchical unlike a handshake. The fist bump has spread around the world because it signals approval and triumph in a simple way compared to more complex gestures that differ by gender or culture.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    42 views3 pages

    In The World of Global Gestures, The Fist Bump Stands Alone: Goats and Soda: NPR

    Uploaded by

    mistermoose
    The fist bump originated from the high-five in sports and became a way for friends to greet each other equally. It stands out from other gestures because both participants' knuckles meet at the same level, making it non-hierarchical unlike a handshake. The fist bump has spread around the world because it signals approval and triumph in a simple way compared to more complex gestures that differ by gender or culture.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    In The World Of Global Gestures, The Fist Bump Stands Alone

    One set of knuckles meets another. Both are equal in this greeting that expresses
    approval and triumph.
    Meredith Rizzo/NPR
    Back in the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama launched a media
    storm when he nonchalantly fist bumped his wife Michelle. "Obama's Fist-bump Rocks
    The Nation!: The Huffington Post exclaimed. "Is the fist bump the new high-five?" NPR's
    Laura Silverman asked.
    Obama has done it again.

    i
    President Barack Obama fist bumps a Franklin Barbecue
    employee in Austin, Texas.
    Kevin Lamarque/Reuters/Landov

    Earlier this month he cemented the gesture as part of his presidential persona when he
    fist bumped an employee at an Austin barbecue restaurant. Before taking Obama's order,
    Daniel Rugg said, "Equal rights for gay people," the Austin Chronicle reported. Then the
    presidential bump followed.
    All this fist-to-fist action got us thinking: Where did the fist bump come from? Why is it so
    appealing that the president uses it? And do other cultures have similar nonverbal
    gestures?
    The modern fist bump most likely evolved from the high-five in the sports world, says
    David Givens, an anthropologist with the Center for Nonverbal Studies in Spokane,
    Washington. The 1970s Baltimore Bullets guard Fred Carter was an early bumper, Time
    reported back in 2008. Eventually the fist bump became a way for friends to greet each
    other.
    Givens believes that the fist bump stands out in the world of nonverbal gestures. "The fist
    bump is one of the few gestures that is equal," he tells Goats and Sodas. "You could do it
    with President Obama, and you'd both be equals at that time."
    That's because the knuckles are meeting at the same level neither bumper has the
    upper hand, so to speak.
    By contrast, a handshake can turn into a contest: Who's got the stronger grip?
    The Japanese bow can be equally unequal.

    "The bow is a form of respect," David Matsumoto, a psychologist at San Francisco State
    University, wrote in an email. "But the varying degrees of angle of the bow, when bows are
    performed, and to whom, all show something about hierarchy."
    The fist bump is, in fact, spreading around the world, Givens says. And he thinks that's
    because it's not only a greeting it signals triumph and approval.
    Other nonverbal gestures may have multiple meanings but are a bit more complicated to
    carry out and may be reserved for members of the same gender.
    Ethiopian men greet each other by touching shoulders.
    Ghanaians click their fingers after a handshake while saying "chale," which can mean
    everything from "hello" to "watch out" to "you can't be serious," according to NPR's West
    Africa correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. (So technically that greeting is not completely
    nonverbal.)
    In the Democratic Republic of the Congo men perform a head knock in which they touch
    alternating sides of the forehead, like the European kiss on one cheek, then the other.
    (Clearly, that takes a lot more coordination than a fist bump.)
    The fist bump does have a close cousin, Givens says: the hug.
    Hugs as a socially acceptable greeting between two men became a thing in Eastern
    Europe and Russia in the 1800s, he says. And later the gesture spread to the West. The
    hearty greeting shows compassion and closeness. Today athletes around the world, both
    men and women, use hugs to celebrate victories.
    But a quick fist bump might be easier to pull off than a hug. Plus, a knuckle collision just
    seems way cooler as long as it doesn't turn into a knuckle sandwich.
    If you know of any gestures from around the world that could outbump the fist bump,
    please share with us in the comments!

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