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

Sun Jul 6 20:59:08 UTC 2008

"Dap" as a term for "well-dressed, sharply-dressed," an obvious clip
of "dapper," has been around since God only knows (cf. HDAS). "Jump
sharp, jump dap" = "get dressed up for an evening out," are likewise
two days older than water.

OTOH, the "dap" which is a "fist bump" is derived from a clip of
"bappin' 'n' dappin'," a term for the multitudinous manual moves and
gestures, among which was the "dap" or fist bump, that had replaced
the simple giving of skin by ca.1967, and which probably originated
among black GI's in Viet-Nam, it being the case that black 'Nam vets
were the first dudes that I personally saw bap and dap, as part of the
show put on at the First Watts Festival.

-Wilson

On Sun, Jul 6, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: FW: Dap (Dignity And Pride?); Fist Bump; Pound or Fist Pound
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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, ...
>>
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