high five

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sat, 9 Oct 2004, James A. Landau wrote:

> As to the name "high five" and why Merrian-Webster cannot locate it before
> 1981:  here is another of my theories.  As discussed on this list, there have

I haven't been following this thread, so maybe someone else has already
said this, but the OED has an Oct. 1980 citation.  Here's slightly
earlier:

1980 _N.Y. Times_ 1 Sept. (Nexis)  Derek Smith, the leading rebounding on
last season's University of Louisville basketball team . . . claims
to be the originator of the ''high five'' - the latest fad in saluting a
teammate for a good play or celebrating a victory. After an evolution that
included merely shaking hands, hugging, patting a rear and the more
sensational ''gimme five,'' complete with the hip bump, Smith introduced
his finishing touch last winter. He popularized it when he and two fellow
Georgian teammates - Wiley Brown and Daryl Cleveland - did well in the
college playoffs. Smith recalls that during last year's preseason drills
''we decided to be a little odd.'' When Louisville began appearing more and
more on television during the playoffs, other athletes began taking notice.
This summer, the ''high five,'' as Smith named it, has become popular in
baseball and football, and may be sweeping the country in the next
basketball season.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------