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

[Grant Barrett]

> [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.

I'm not sure I'm the guy to do this. As Michael Eric Dyson has pointed
out--often, lately, in direct reference to Obama, such as here <http://tinyurl.com/682oyr
 >--there is an awful lot of delicate signifying going on by Black
public figures. It's a form of "dog whistle politics": things are said
or done that will often go right over the heads of non-Black
Americans, but which are understood by Black Americans to mean "yes,
I'm talking to you."

Though the fist bump is not so delicately coded, which is why it's no
wonder people are discussing it.

A friend who works in television had an occasion to have a good chat
with Quincy Jones. At the end of it Quincy put up his fist for a fist
bump. Not knowing any better, Friend, who is short and white and not
very soulful, grabbed the fist from the front, like you would grab the
rung on a ladder, and shook it.

I'm only a little less white than that.

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org

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