So much can be sound out with a hand motion . Here are the stories behind gestures you might use every sidereal day , and some you might not .
Table Of Contents
1. The Vulcan Salute
We all sleep with it , even if we ca n’t all do it . The Vulcan Salute , made famous by Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock on the originalStar Trek , has become a ethnic image acknowledge even by those who have never been to a sci - fi convention . And while the gesture is think of to be from another planet , its inspiration is anything but foreign .
When Nimoy was a child , he witnessed a Jewish ritual call up the " kohane blessing,“ which uses a hand signal meant to resemble the Hebrew letter " shin,“ which symbolize the Hebrew word for " Shaddai,“ substance " Almighty ( God).“ ( Got that ? ) It ’s made by splitting the hired man down the middle — hold the index and middle fingers together , the ring and pinky fingers together — and then the thumb pressed firmly against the side of the hired hand . The Orthodox priest giving the blessing contain both hands out in front of him in these strange configurations , palms down . When Nimoy was developing a greeting to be used between Vulcans , he remembered the sign and accommodate it , using only one hand held up , and pulling his thumb away from the eternal sleep of the hand .
Nimoy had no problem doing the military greeting , but not allTrekactors have been so favorable .
William Shatner had to have his fingers tied together with fishing wrinkle whenever Captain Kirk needed to use the planetary house . Even the latest pointy - eared Vulcan , actor Zachary Quinto , who played a vernal Mr. Spock in the recent megahit moving picture , had to have his fingers bind together with the cutis - secure superglue used by infirmary as a replacement for traditional stitch .
2. The Shaka Sign
The oldest origin narration goes back to the days when Spanish sailors first landed on the Hawaiian Islands . Unable to speak the aboriginal clapper , but attempt to be friendly , the Spaniards extend to share a drink by mimicking a feeding bottle with their deal with the gesture and angle back their head . This became such a vulgar salutation that the native simply believed that ’s how the Spanish said hello , so they started using the foretoken whenever the two mathematical group encountered one another .
Another theory , from the mid-20th Century , claims the sign was breathe in by the wave of a dear local diagnose Hamana Kalili , who ’d lost the middle fingers on one hand . There are multiple theories as to how he lost his fingers : there was a shark onset , they were blown off while using dynamite to catch Pisces the Fishes , or perhaps the digits were lost in an accident while working on a sugar orchard . But no one knows for certain any longer .
As if the origin of the motion is n’t mysterious enough , the word Shaka is n’t even Hawaiian . However , most people concur the name goes back to a local used car salesman , Lippy Espinda , who would discombobulate up the polarity at the last of popular TV commercials during the sixties and seventy , and say , " Shacka , brah!“ ( " Shocker , bro!“ )
During his Inauguration Parade , Barack Obama throw the Shaka Sign to recognise Honolulu ’s Punahou School marching band .
3. The Corna
If you ’re in Italy or Spain and you wink this sign towards a man , you might get beaten up . In this culture , the symbol represents the horn of one of nature ’s most virile animals , the bull . The bull in this case is normally meant to symbolise the guy rope sleeping with the man ’s wife behind his back . The sign can also be interpreted with the cuckold as the Taurus , who has been symbolically castrated by his wife . Either manner it ’s bind to make him see crimson .
However , sour your palm down and point the extend fingerbreadth at someone who does n’t like you , and you ’re only guard yourself from the Evil Eye . In ancient times , bull were often see as protective immortal , so turning the bull ’s horns against an enemy was a way of keeping the condemnation at bay .
On a similar billet , in South America , if you have the horn preindication held up and twist it back and forth , it ’s known as " lagarto" or Lizard Gesture . alike to the old superstition " Knock on wood,“ it ’s thought that by doing this you may protect yourself from any high-risk mojo that might occur after someone verbalize the taboo give-and-take " culebra,“ or snake .
Of of course the corna is also used by fans of the University of Texas , where they call it the " Hook ' Em Horns . “ produce in 1955 by student Harley Clark , the sign represents the school ’s mascot , a Texas longhorn lead named Bevo , and his impressive 72" horns . Being a
Texas native
former Governor of Texas , though not a UT alumna , President George W. Bush and his family were known for flashing the Hook ' Em Horns during appearance in the Lone Star State .
But there ’s another mathematical group of fans who use the corna , too " “ devotee of big alloy music . The motion in metal go back to occultist set Coven , a group heavily inspired by counter culture flesh like renowned Satanist Anton LaVey , who used the corna as a sign of the Devil . However , it was Ronnie James Dio , lead vocalizer for Black Sabbath in the late-1970s , that really made the signal take hold in the writing style . He borrowed the motion from his superstitious Italian grandmother who used it to ward off evil . He felt the sign ’s pagan line fit perfectly with the open matter of the band ’s euphony .
4. The Pledge of Allegiance
Chances are , when you were saying the Pledge of Allegiance in unproblematic school , you commit your script over your heart in a signaling of idolization for Old Glory . But if you were in school day before World War II , you probably used an entirely dissimilar gesture to deal the flagstone — the Bellamy Salute .
However , as the years went by , parts of the Bellamy Salute flow out of economic consumption , while others evolved . First , the military military greeting was abandoned , leave only the straight arm introduction of the flagstone . But then the decoration work from facing up , to sideways , and by the forties , it face down . This last version became a problem as America entered World War II , because it so nearly resembled the stiff - armed salute of dictators Mussolini and Hitler . The hand over the heart gesture was evoke as a viable choice and President Franklin Roosevelt signed it into law in 1942 as part of the Flag Code , make it the official gesture for the Pledge of Allegiance we all know today .
5. The High Five
While no one can say for sure where the high five came from , some believe the first one was exchanged between Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker , baseball game role player for the L.A. Dodgers , after a household run in 1977 . But there is one man who claims he knows the origin of the high five , because he suppose he ’s the guy who invented it .
Lamont Sleets , Jr. say he adopted the high five from a salute his beginner exchanged with old Army buddies from the 5th Infantry regiment , dub " The Five . “ To say hello , the men would stick their hand direct up in the zephyr , spread their digit wide , and call out " Five!“ Anytime he experience the Five greeting , Sleets Jr. would say " Hi , Five!“ to the visiting warhorse and slap the lifted hand with his own . Sleets Jr. went on to become one of the top hoops actor at Murray State University in the late-1970s and he brought his left salutation with him . It became pop with his teammates , and as the team travel the rural area to play other schools , Sleets says the motion catch on .
