What is that gesture called?

[Mullins, Bill]

The earliest hard date I could put on it would be 1990, when the move "Home
Alone" came out.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Lighter [mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM]
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: What is that gesture called?
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: What is that gesture called?
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>
> Am not aware it has a name.  I'd call it something like,
> "that gesture of intense glee where you go [visual
> demonstration] 'YESS.' "
>
> If I've seen it called anything at all (not sure if I have),
> I suspect it was "a victory gesture" of some kind.
>
> It was popularized in sports in the late '80s or early '90s:
> very vague on dates here, but I know I never knew about it
> before then, at the earliest.
>
> JL