What is the Obama Pound?
The Obama pound, exchanged between Michelle and Barack on Tuesday night, marked a historic
moment. Yeah, there's that whole first black nominee for president thing. But more
significant, is the fact that the greeting which has been described by confused white
journalists as a "fist bump," "closed-fist high-five," "a frat-tastic fist bump" and a
"'Hezbollah' style fist-jabbing" is finally being introduced to mainstream culture.
The introduction of "The Pound" into our national vocabulary will have ripple effects. It
already has. People previously unfamiliar "the pound" are seeing the world in a whole new
way. For instance, they should now realize that when the New York Times' Ashley Parker wrote
about Reggie Love "offering closed-fist high-fives to members of the news media…." she was
not describing a painful caveman greeting, but said pound. (I think the Times owes Reggie a
correction.) I can't find an official history or definition of the pound, but here is what I
found on Ubrandictionary.com
pound: a greeting between two mutual friends. In reality, a fist from one person is
"pounded" against the fist of the other person, accompanied by both persons saying "pound."
Pound: The knocking of fists as a form of greeting, departure, or respect see daps
Dap: The knocking of fists together as a greeting, or form of respect. He gave me a dap when
we greeted.
dap: a fist-on-fist greeting, front-to-front as if each person is punching each other on the
hand. He gave me a dap when we greeted
dap: The Dap includes simple to very intricate series of rhythmic hand slaps, clasps, hand
and arm gestures exchanged between two persons as a sign of personal greeting, respect and
group solidarity. Has origin in greetings developed and practiced by members of Black Power
organizations founded in southern California in the early 1970s and then became common place
and outlawed practice among African-American draftees and soldiers stateside and abroad
during the latter years of the Vietnam War. Was soon adopted by huge duck bill cap,
suspender and knicker attired African-American street and club dancers who originated the
dance known as "Lockstepping." Best known Lock Stepper is Fred Barry aka Rerun from the hit
1970s black TV sitcom, "What's Happenin'?" simplest of Daps is to tap closed fists together
one time horizontally or vertically.
Emergency update! The Right Wing pundit who creatively described the pound between Michelle
and Barack as "'Hezbollah' style fist-jabbing" must have read my post. His blog post no
longer contains the following sentence:
"Michelle is not as "refined" as Obama at hiding her TRUE feelings about America—etc. Her
"Hezbollah" style fist-jabbing—mouth-twisted anti-American speeches is STRAIGHT from ISLAM!"
Thank you for admitting you were wrong. I interpret your delete as an apology and I accept
it.