[Ads-l] Pswaydo-BE

James A. Landau JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM
Wed Oct 4 18:48:56 UTC 2017


On  Tue, 3 Oct 2017 11:20:29 Zone + 0000 Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

>My research does include rock 'n' roll but not cakewalk.  My early 
>research focused primarily on occurrences of black words and phrases in 
>the print media.  Now my focus is on electronic media, particularly
>cable news and commercials.  <snip> 
>There are also non-verbal communication terms that have crossed over:  
>fist bump, chest bump, high-five.

I have a question about not the name but the high-five _gesture_.
I have heard that shaking hands originated as a way to say "I greet you as a friend, and I am showing it by placing my weapon-less dominant hand in your hand".
Is this correct?
If you think about it, the high-five appears to serve the same purpose: "I greet you as a friend, and I am showing it by placing my weapon-less dominant hand against your hand."
Anyone agree?

Does anyone know the origin of the _name_ "high-five"?  "High" is obvioius, "five" is less obvious (because all five fingers are involved?)

Then there was the manager who was lecturing his employees on the company's sexual-harassment policy and summed it up in one sentence: "High fives are OK, but low fives are not."

- Jim Landau


_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list