- Elbow Bump
The elbow bump is an informal greeting where two people touch, or tap, elbows. It has gained in universal popularity because it respects the privacy customs of nearly all cultures, and has excellent hygienic qualities.
Performance
The elbow bump is performed when two people mirror each other in the following mannner:
#Contract the bicep to fold the arm in half.
#Stick the elbow out "chicken wing" style, exposing the armpit.
#Rotate the body towards the opposite person (e.g., counter-clockwise if using the right elbow).
#Tap elbows with your "partner".
#Retract extended "chicken wing" from direction it came from (e.g., clockwise if using the right elbow).Some care has to be taken in the performance of the elbow bump or else bruising may occur on the elbow, due to lack of muscle or fat padding on the
elbow .Aliases
The elbow bump is also known as:
*the elbow tap
*the connector
*roughing it (due to the rubbing of rough skin)
*hands free five
*the bump
*the spike, among others.Origins
There is a debate amongst scholars as to the origins of the elbow bump, though it is generally agreed that the "elbow bump" was created as a greeting to minimize contamination.
The Church
The earliest popularization of the elbow bump may have been outside the Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement in 1969, when the quarantine policy was lifted. The residents of the Kalaupapa leper colony were mostly devout Christians. When the former residents began attending church services the members of the congregation were apprehensive to make physical contact with them. Priests, too, were suspect of making physical contact with these people, but as a sign of good faith they would touch elbows. This elbow bump became popular among church goers of
Hawaii in the early 1970's. Becauseleprosy is transmitted primarily through mucous, there is some evidence that the elbow bump constrained infections.The Urban Youth
The average laymen attributes the creation of the elbow bump to being a derivative greeting of the more well known
fist bump around the late 1980's. The earliest written record of the elbow bump by David Grimes [David Grimes, "Goodbye, comrade; yo, dude" "The Globe and Mail", September 20, 1991.] supports this hypothesis. Shaquille O'Neal demonstrated the power of the derivative nature of the elbow bump in relation to the fist bump in 2004, when he dismissed Kobe Bryant's greeting with a halfhearted elbow bump [Charles Elmore, [http://www.wordspy.com/words/elbowbump.asp "After big buildup, ABC delivers winning show,"] "The Palm Beach Post", December 26, 2004] .In recent times the elbow bump has been more prevalent among middle class suburban teenagers and college students, and its use is by means of an ironic alternative to the fist bump.
The World Health Organization
The most recent advocate of the fist bump is the
World Health Organization . In 2006, due to fears of a possible bird flu pandemic, theWorld Health Organization proposed using the the elbow bump as a means of "keeping other people's cooties at arms length."Donald G. McNeil Jr., [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/12/news/pandemic.php "Elbows to the ready if outbreak emerges: Bird flu would rule out handshakes"] "International Herald Tribune: The Global Edition of the New York Times", February 12, 2006] . Dr. Michael Bell has been the principle advocate for using the elbow bump, noting that it can also help constrain the spread of diseases such as Ebola, by modeling social behavior that abstains from physical contact [ Donald G. McNeil Jr., [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/weekinreview/12mcne.html "Greetings Kill: Primer for a Pandemic"] , "The New York Times", February 12, 2006] .Fun Facts
The word "elbow bump" was considered for "Word of the Year" by the New Oxford American Dictionary [Jennifer Bogo, [http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/science_news/4204006.html 'Carbon Neutral' edges 'Elbow Bump for Word of the Year] , "Popular Mechanics", December 5, 2007] .
External Links
* [http://www.who.int/en/ World Health Organization]
References
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