FW: Dap (Dignity And Pride?); Fist Bump; Pound or Fist Pound

Sun Jul 6 12:50:07 UTC 2008

Safire's column today covers "fist bump" and "dap":

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/magazine/06wwln-safire-t.html

"Prof. James Peterson of Bucknell, a hip-hop historian, says he thinks
it is rooted in dapper, 'neat, fashionably smart.'"

Any evidence for this?

--Ben Zimmer

On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 3:51 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
>
> Barry Popik sent the message below to a few ads-l members, and with his permission I now forward it to the entire list.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> [From Barry Popik, Sun 6/8/2008]:
> Ever since Obama "fist bumped" his wife on Tuesday, the terms "fist
> bump," "pound," and "dap" have been in the news. There are some quite
> funny YouTube videos, including a beer commercial. Perhaps Double
> Tongued can research this.
> ...
> "Dap" is in HDAS from 1972, but it's at least from 1971 (see the
> excellent Stars & Stripes article from April 21, 1971). The word is
> probably Vietnamese for "beautiful" and not from "dignity and pride,"
> as Wikipedia would have you believe.
> ...
> OED has "pound" from 1992.
> ...
> My theory is that it all probably started (or was popularized) from
> boxing. The boxers historically "touch gloves" and come out fighting.
> ...
> ...
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fist_pound
> A fist pound, (also fist bump and other names) is a type of friendly
> gesture similar to a hand shake or a high five. It is performed by two
> people tapping their fists lightly.
>
> A pound also can be known as a symbol of giving of respect. Fist
> pounds can also be followed by various other hand and body gestures,
> but are part of a dap greeting.
> ...
> ...
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dap_greeting
> Dap is a form of handshake that became popularized in the white
> mainstream society in the 1960s originating among African Americans.
> The term dap may have originated as an acronym for Dignity and Pride,
> (or may have been backronymed) and was popularly used by African
> American soldiers during the Vietnam War even though as a tradition it
> has existed in the African-American community for centuries. Though it
> can refer to many kinds of greeting involving hand contact, dap is
> best known as a complicated routine of shakes, slaps, snaps, and other
> contact that must be known completely by both parties involved,
> otherwise, an awkward but friendly improvisation occurs as the
> participants essentially mirror the jazz culture with creative forms
> of ordering the various moves of the hands with snaps, slaps, mutual
> knuckle bumps and finger waves (jazz hands). Some forms or other names
> for these greetings include "slapping five," "Black Power Handshake,"
> "high five," "Five on the Black Hand Side," and "the pound". It is
> often confused with the word "tap". The dap may be derived from West
> African non-verbal traditions brought over with the enslaved Africans
> to the Americas starting in the 1600s. It is a ritualized but common
> form of agreement between two or more people who offer this casual
> physical contact as an affirmation, congratulations or other type of
> agreement with an action, clever phrase, sports event or when admiring
> an attractive female or male.
> ...
> ...
> (OED)
> pound
> U.S. slang (chiefly in the language of hip-hop): a modified handshake
> in which two people touch their fists together as a gesture of
> greeting or approbation.
> 1992 'KRS-1' Love is gonna Getcha (song) in Washington Post 25 Oct.
> C2/2, I give him a pound, oh I mean I shake his hand, he's the
> neighborhood drug dealer, my man. 1997 N.Y. Mag. 16 June 28, I walked
> up to him to give him the pound..and he just jumped in the air. 2004
> T. FERGUSON Swingers 17 If it wasn't for sparing Rena's feelings, I
> would've reached over and gave him a pound and said, 'Right on my
> brotha!'
> ...
> ...
> Pacific Stars And Stripes
> dap dapt n stylish impeccably at- give me some skin a greeting
> requesting a handshake in which the palm is held flat while the
> greeter slides his hand along the open palm to the end of the fingers
> going for n pseudo relationship in which two persons agree to present
> themselves and act toward each other in this relationship Going for
> brothers is a special friendship between two men Going for cousins may
> be a relationship in which the ties disclaim a romantic or sexual con-
> tent i
> Sunday, November 01, 1970 Tokyo, Japan
> ...
> ...
> European Stars And Stripes
> dap each other Variations are many Photo Veteran Surge Calling it
> Quits By QUIRK Staff Writer ASCHAFFENBURG many The 3rd Inf Div's
> ranking non-com is ing after 31 years of service spending more than 20
> of those years outside the U.S Sgt Maj Eugene F Britti of 3rd Brigade
> Hq here tually planned his retirement two years ago but requested a
> final tour with the Marne Div This is the second time I have served
> with this Britti explained It is a fine outfit and I think a of it
> That's why
> Wednesday, April 21, 1971 Darmstadt, Hesse
> ...
> ...
> Daily Review, The (Newspaper) - April 25, 1971, Hayward, California
> Subscription - Daily Review, The - NewspaperArchie - Apr 25, 1971
> The dap, the black power hand- shake, is de rigeur when brothers meet.
> ... The blacks arrived in hooch doing the dap from the Vietnamese word
> for beautiful ...
> ...
> ...
> Post Crescent, The (Newspaper) - May 25, 1971, Appleton, Wisconsin
> Subscription - Post Crescent, The - NewspaperArchie - May 25, 1971
> ... the Black Power salute under the flagpole and greeting each other
> with "the dap." the mystical and in- creasingly ornate soul brother
> handshake. ...
> ...
> ...
> Black Power Group in Vietnam Fights Heroin Addiction, the Enemy Within
> $3.95 - New York Times - Aug 12, 1971
> Dap (Vietnamese for beautiful) began as a slapping handshake. once,
> and then turn him in. 'If he says to me, why shouldn't ihe do it, the
> whites are pushing ...
> ...
> ...
> European Stars And Stripes
> dap and in all different ways From the beginning I had the
> understanding that the dap had a meaningful and proud con- notation
> among brothers here in a foreign land to show a form of unity to all
> that witnessed it and among themselves I can't help but feel this
> meaning of unity isn't even in the minds of some of the brothers 1 see
> doing it It has gone from a simple handshake to Unique personality We
> are not born black white brown red yellow but we are born a by-product
> o
> Saturday, September 08, 1973 Darmstadt, Hesse
> ...
> ...
> Pacific Stars And Stripes
> handshake Others treat it as nothing more than a greeting The real
> secret lies in what each individual may feel When I dapp with a
> brother we are meeting one another on an equal basis Pvt Murphy Dugas
> explained Coming from the heart Pvt Franklin Elmore replied I simply
> dapp because Im black and I recognize my brothers and sisters The dapp
> is probably the same sort of handshake used bv black soldiers 10 years
> ago The only difference is the number of blacks soldiers dapping
> Sunday, February 17, 1974 Tokyo, Japan
> ...
> ...
> 'Big Bus' Is Inexhaustible Film Comedy
> $3.95 - New York Times - Jun 24, 1976
> Then comes the fist bump. The scientist (Harold Gould) lies there
> attended by a maniacally incompetent doctor. His daughter (Stockard
> Channing) runs up. ...
> ...
> ...
> NOTICED; A Bump and No Shake
> nytimes.com - Nov 25, 2001
> Now, in a tougher, more guarded world, the fist bump is beginning to
> supplant it. ... The Hanna-Barbera cartoon ''The Superfriends,'' which
> was first ...
> ...
> ...
> A Brief History of the Fist Bump
> TIME - Jun 5, 2008
> Others claim the fist bump emerged off the court, citing the Wonder
> Twins, minor characters in the 1970s Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoon
> The Superfriends, ...
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org