Let’s Get High

Cultural etiquette can be a tricky thing.   Gestural greetings are no exception and can differ greatly from culture to culture.  People in Thailand greet with the Wai, placing palms together, fingers pointing up, with the head slightly bowed.  The Chinese use a slight nod and bow of the head while Egyptians greet with a handshake followed by a touch on the elbow.  Botching any one of these can be embarrassing and even inadvertently insulting.  Which is why I always try to offer patience and assistance to those with a desire to adapt to the social norms of my culture.  Sometimes barriers of communication can be as simple as technique.  This leads me to the topic for todays post – my favorite platonic physical communication: the high five.

    

While personal style is a key element of an impressive mitt-hit, all too often is the attempt made to do the strut before the crawl.  Such a mistake can often sacrifice valuable thenar (palm muscle) contact, which is no good for anyone.   

So at this point you may be wondering, “How DO I deliver a righteous fiver every time?”   

The answer is simple really. Scope the ‘bow.  That’s right.  For consistent sonic booms that will make you wish you had a reason to keep on walking, keep your eye on the approaching elbow.  Never again will you suffer from disappointing babypats when you’re 178 gigaton up-highs are leaving cool-dust debris on the palms of their beneficiaries.  And when you’ve got enough cool that it exfoliates, you’re cryogenic.  So practice a few times on you’re little brother and when I see you, you know what I want.  Let’s do ‘dis like Brutus.   

On a related note, look out for Gimme Five: History of a Handshake, “an independently produced video documentary examining the history and origin of the handshake a.k.a. daps, pounds, grips and soul shakes.”

Categorised in: Random Posts

This post was written by Michael