I went to a community parade today and was reminded again of that stupid way they teach the parade participants, particularly the queen candidates, to wave to the crowd. This is the one where they cup their hand, hold their forearm vertically and then rotate it slowly from the elbow. It reminds me of a scanning radar antenna.
It looks completely unnatural. No one would wave to someone like this unless she were taught to do so. What is the reason for doing it this way?
I just tried that and by mistake my fingers were splayed out and crooked, each at a different angle. Perhaps this was the original pose, intended for zombie queens?
Because its possible to keep it up for hours in a parade without causing yourself repetitive stress injury.
Little known fact–the parade wave was invented by none other than that lover of great parades (especially of the military variety):
H.L. Mencken. Who were YOU thinking about, you Nazi bastard?
Probably more of an interesting GD debate than a Pit thread, but what the hell. My WAG? Humans have always been fascinated by large, synchronized movements. Line dances go back thousands of years (there is evidence/theories that the Nazca lines, for instance, were large ceremonial line dances). Why? Beats me…people seem to just like being part of a greater whole, and to do things in concert with large numbers of other people. WAG again…it makes them feel connected to a greater community than just their own selves or immediate family.
-XT
I dunno, but now I understand why my radar detector goes off every 4th of July.
[super perky homecoming queen voice]Elbow Elbow wrist, wrist WRIST! [/SPHQV]
It probably allows for better photos too. The slooooow wave prevents a hand blur maybe? (I’m not a photog.)
If you look closely at their hands, you can see instructions written on them. “Turn Left!”, “Turn Right!”, each turn would hide one instruction and reveal the other.
My wife tells me that the Royal Family refers to this move as “screwing in the lightbulb”. How she knows that, I don’t know. But I’ve seen Queen Elizabeth doing this (in person, no less), and that is indeed what it looks like.
And I think the reason cited above is correct – it’s relatively less fatiguing.
Of course you know there’d have to be someone with anecdotal and contrary evidence…
For whatever reason, this is how I waved to people as a child, despite everyone doing more normal waves to me. My mom and extended family found my “royal wave” hilarious, often embarrassing the hell out of me; they tell me I began doing it as a baby when interacting with people. Even now, it feels more natural to wave this way.
I was thinking you were going to say Sousa, but I knew it wasn’t true because I’ve read three or four biographies of Sousa, including his autobiography. Mencken, huh?
Actually, I thought it was:
Hitler. 
You seem to be thinking of “The Wave” as performed at sporting events, not the handwave described in the OP.
:smack: Oh. Well, never mind then.
This is your mind…this is your mind on alcohol…any questions?
-XT
Thanks Biff, I could not for the life of me figure out what xt was talking about. “This is your mind on sleep deprivation”… 'night, all!
All hand waves are unnatural movements that are taught. The only difference is that you’re acclimated to regular waves of greeting.
Otherwise, there’s no particular reason not to do the parade wave. You’re doing something to make it known that you recognize and are greeting all of the people who are viewing you. That’s what the people want, and that’s the current way of accomplishing it. No other alternative would be any more or less artificial.
I seem to remember Nancy Kerrigan getting in trouble for being caught dissing the parade wave.
I’ve known it as “Screw in the light bulb, touch the pearls.”
I think the radar dish motions are made with the hope of summing Predator Drones for sweat sweat release from being the type of person who ends up on parade floats.
Hey, I know!
You are a reincarnation of some dead royal.
That MUST be the reason!!!11!!