Quiz on the History of Hand Gestures with Flashcards

Study Notes

Hand gestures are often culturally bound and can vary from group to group, but some are very common around the world.
Four significant gestures to focus on are the salute, the thumbs up, the high five, and the handshake.

The salute may have originated in the 18th century.
The Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments of the British Army, used helmets with chinstraps, making it difficult to raise the helmet when greeting someone.
Soldiers instead touched their head with one short movement of the hand before putting it back down again at their side.

The thumbs-up gesture is believed to have originated in Roman times.
Gladiators' fates were decided by the audience, who showed approval with a thumbs-up gesture.
The emperor would confirm the decision, sparing the gladiator's life.
However, there are no reliable historical references to thumbs going up or down in the Colosseum.

The high-five hand gesture is almost universally used as a greeting or celebration.
Many attribute its origins to baseball, with two US teams claiming to have invented it in the late 1970s.
The gesture may have a much earlier origin, similar to the 1920s Jazz Age gesture known as the "low five" or "giving skin".
The low five involved people slapping each other's lower hands in celebration.

The handshake dates back as a greeting at least as far as Ancient Greece.
The Acropolis Museum in Athens features a column base showing goddess Hera shaking hands with Athena, the goddess of wisdom and courage.
Shaking hands showed both parties as equals, rather than bowing or curtseying.
The handshake has evolved to have multiple uses, including meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement.
In sports, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship, conveying trust, respect, and equality.