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A fist bump, also known as a bro fist, power five, a spud, or also commonly known as a safe is a
gesture A gesture is a form of nonverbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or othe ...
similar in meaning to a
handshake A handshake is a globally widespread, brief greeting or parting tradition in which two people grasp one of each other's hands, and in most cases, it is accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands. Customs surrounding hands ...
or
high five The high five is a hand gesture whereby two people simultaneously raise one hand and slap the flat of their palm against the other. The gesture is often preceded verbally by a phrase like "Give me five", "High five", or "Up top". Its meaning var ...
. A fist bump can also be a symbol of giving respect or approval, as well as companionship between two people. It can be followed by various other hand and body gestures (such as immediately opening the palm and spreading the fingers for "knucks with explosions") and may be part of a
dap greeting Giving dap is a friendly gesture of greeting, agreement, or solidarity between two people that has become popular in Western culture, Western cultures, particularly since the 1970s, stemming from African American soldiers during the Vietnam War. ...
. It is commonly used in sports as a form of celebration with teammates and with opposition players at the beginning or end of a game. Fist bumps are often given as a form of friendly congratulation.


Definition

A fist bump is a gesture in which two people bump their
fist A fist is the shape of a hand when the fingers are bent inward against the palm and held there tightly. To make or clench a fist is to fold the fingers tightly into the center of the palm and then to clamp the thumb over the middle phalanges; i ...
s together (as in greeting or celebration). The gesture is performed when two participants each form a closed fist with one hand and then lightly tap the front of their fists together. A participant's fists may be either vertically oriented (perpendicular to the ground) or horizontally oriented. Unlike the standard handshake, which is typically performed only with each participant's right hand, a fist bump may be performed with participants using either hand.


History

The "fist bump" or "pound" in European history can be traced to boxers instructed to touch gloves at the start of a contest. Likewise, dart players bump fists that are clutching pointed mini-arrows. The modern gesture may have arisen spontaneously on city basketball courts, and was popularized by basketball player
Fred Carter Fredrick James Carter (born February 14, 1945), nicknamed "Mad Dog" or "Doggy", is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight seasons (1969– 77) for the Balti ...
in the 1970s. Others trace the gesture to the
Wonder Twins The Wonder Twins (Zan and Jayna) are a fictional extraterrestrial twin brother and sister superhero duo who first appeared in Hanna-Barbera's American animated television series '' The All-New Super Friends Hour''. The pair can activate their ...
, minor characters in the 1970s
Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...
superhero cartoon ''
Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of Am ...
'', who touched knuckles and cried "Wonder Twin powers, activate!" Baseball Hall of Famer
Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consistent ...
used the fist bump during the 1950–60s as an alternative to shaking hands. Musial was convinced that he was catching too many colds by picking up germs while shaking thousands of hands each year, so he adopted the fist bump as a friendly alternative. Smithsonian researcher LaMont Hamilton suggests that the dap originated during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
as a modified form of the
Black Power salute The raised fist, or the clenched fist, is a long-standing image of mixed meaning, often a symbol of solidarity, especially with a political movement. It is a common symbol representing a wide range of political ideologies, most notably socialism, ...
, which was prohibited by the
US military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...
. The fist bump was seen in Australia in September 1990 at the Wetherill Park Indoor Cricket Centre between two opening batsmen, Mick Tyler and Bob Minney. At the completion of the first successful batting over for the pair, they met mid-pitch and fist bumped with their batting gloves. They continued to fist bump for the remainder of the game and it continued into the future. Now this act can be seen on various sporting fields/arenas around Australia, and it is now commonly practiced at an international level; many international cricketers fist bump in between overs or as congratulations after a six has been hit. In light of the
2009 H1N1 pandemic The 2009 swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1/swine flu/influenza virus and declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) from June 2009 to August 2010, was the third recent flu pandemic involving the H1N1 virus (the first being the 1918â ...
, the Dean of Medicine at the
University of Calgary {{Infobox university , name = University of Calgary , image = University of Calgary coat of arms without motto scroll.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms , former ...
, Tom Feasby, suggested that the fist bump may be a "nice replacement of the handshake" in an effort to prevent transmission of the virus. Similarly, a medical study has found that fist bumps and
high five The high five is a hand gesture whereby two people simultaneously raise one hand and slap the flat of their palm against the other. The gesture is often preceded verbally by a phrase like "Give me five", "High five", or "Up top". Its meaning var ...
s spread fewer germs than
handshake A handshake is a globally widespread, brief greeting or parting tradition in which two people grasp one of each other's hands, and in most cases, it is accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands. Customs surrounding hands ...
s. Fist bumping behavior has also been observed in
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...
s, according to a book written by Margaret Power in 1991. The
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
has made the fist bump a common greeting, as shaking hands was discouraged to slow the spread of the virus. File: Tingler Benavides fist bumps.jpg,
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
manager
Jayce Tingler Jayce Michael Tingler (born November 28, 1980) is an American professional baseball coach and manager. He is the bench coach for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously served as manager of MLB's San Diego Padres from 2 ...
and
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...
bench coach Freddie Benavides greet umpires with fist bumps prior to a game in 2021. File:IskoMorenoLeniRobredo2022Debate.jpg, Filipino politicians
Isko Moreno Francisco "Isko" Moreno Domagoso (; born October 24, 1974) is a Filipino politician, actor, host and entrepreneur who is the mayor-elect of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, having been 2025 Manila local elections, elected in 202 ...
and
Leni Robredo Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona Robredo (; Gerona; born April 23, 1965) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 14th vice president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. She is the mayor-elect of Naga, Camarines Sur, having won the ...
bump fists before participating in one of the
2022 Philippine presidential debates Numerous organizations have held debates for the 2022 Philippine presidential election, 2022 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections. The Commission on Elections (Philippines), Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will organize five d ...
.


Hygiene

A 2014 article in the American Journal of Infection Control documented that the fist bump and
high five The high five is a hand gesture whereby two people simultaneously raise one hand and slap the flat of their palm against the other. The gesture is often preceded verbally by a phrase like "Give me five", "High five", or "Up top". Its meaning var ...
reduced the transfer of bacteria compared to the
handshake A handshake is a globally widespread, brief greeting or parting tradition in which two people grasp one of each other's hands, and in most cases, it is accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands. Customs surrounding hands ...
. The study found that the size of the area of contact correlated with how much bacteria was transferred. High fives transferred around 50% as much as handshakes, and fist bumps significantly less.


References


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fist Bump Greetings Hand gestures Nonverbal communication