Body Language of Fist Bumping
Cue: Fist Bumping
Synonym(s): N/A
Description: A greeting gesture where people close their fist and bump up against each other’s knuckles.
In One Sentence: The fist bump is an informal greeting gesture.
How To Use it: Use the fist bump to demonstrate your camaraderie in an informal way. This can apply to friends and sometimes even close business associates. The fist bump is a way you can demonstrate a less formal relationship. This will help break down barriers and form stronger bonds which are useful in business and in life in general. Use the greeting when you want to appear more friendly than formal.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “Hey man, we can be cooler than the older folks and just smash our knuckles together like real men.”
Variant: See Country Handshake (The), Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake, Double Gripper Politician Handshake or Double Hander (The), Short Grabber/Finger Grabber Handshake, Oddball Handshake, Palm Up, Palm Down and Palm Even Handshakes, Stiff Arm And Thrust Forward Handshake, Death Grip Handshake, Wrench Forward Handshake, Undershaker Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake and Upper Arm Grip Handshake, Limp Fish Handshake, Teacup Handshake, Arm Twister Handshake (The), Firm handshake, Fist Bumping.
Cue In Action: The boys would always fist bump when they called on each other for skateboarding.
Meaning and/or Motivation: It is a signal of cohesion showing solidarity and affection without a great deal of intimacy. It is not designed to be personal or proper like the more traditional handshake so comes across as less mature.
It is usually reserved as a gesture between macho men and is not a submissive gesture, but it is not dominant either. The fist bump has been made much more popular recently as a way to reduce the spread of germs since the knuckles are usually much drier making them less prone to bacterial growth.
Cue Cluster: N/A
Body Language Category: Greeting gesture.
Resources:
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Sanda Dolcos; Keen Sung; Jennifer J. Argo; Sophie Flor-Henry and Florin Dolcos. The Power of a Handshake: Neural Correlates of Evaluative Judgments in Observed Social Interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 24; 12: 2292–2305.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/handshake-open-body-language-powerful-nonverbal-effect-brain/
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PT in Motion. Fist bump: a hygienic alternative to handshaking.(Professional Pulse: HEALTH CARE HEADLINES). 2014. 6(11): 44(1).
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/makes-fist-bump-gesture-unique/