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

Sun Jun 8 19:51:41 UTC 2008

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.
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"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.
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OED has "pound" from 1992.
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My theory is that it all probably started (or was popularized) from
boxing. The boxers historically "touch gloves" and come out fighting.
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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.
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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.
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(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!'
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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
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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
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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
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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
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'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. ...
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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 ...
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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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