# Is the "high five" really as new as Wikipedia says? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123 "2018-05-30T11:35:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/21 "2018-05-30T17:28:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > When I was in college in the early 1970s we used to do “gimme five.” And as a joke, we used to do variants, like “gimme five high,” and “gimme five low,” and “gimme ten” with both hands. (Also, “gimme five the hard way” with four fingers on one hand and one on the other.) But “gimmie five high” was with your hand flat at shoulder level, not raised high as in a high-five. My grandson and I always try to come up with new ones. Reverse five, backwards five, upside down five, inside out ten. Gives him the giggles. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/22 "2018-05-30T17:42:10Z")
Dusty Baker is often credited with being one of the co-creators of the high five. The Washington Nationals used that fact in some TV ads when Dusty was manager here. IIRC, give me five started out in the black community and then found it’s way on to TV like **Acsenray** said, in addition to those shows, I think I remember Lamont giving five a lot on Sanford and Son. I remember variations like “give me a hundred” where the other person had to slap both your palms ten times. It was a simpler time. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/23 "2018-05-30T17:46:57Z")
I’m not black but I remember “Give me five on the black hand side” from early 70s. You turned your hand palm down. Also TV shows had skits where there would be vast elaborate greeting rituals between two black men involving slapping, bumping, elbows, even butts for the punchline. But in the early or mid 70s it’s notable that these skits had no high five. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/24 "2018-05-30T17:58:16Z")
Interesting connection, the claim is that the High Five was invented by Glenn Burke, to celebrate when Dusty Baker hit a home run. About Glenn Burke - “Burke was the first and only MLB player to come out as gay to teammates and team owners during his professional career and the first to publicly acknowledge it, stating, “They can’t ever say now that a gay man can’t play in the majors, because I’m a gay man and I made it.” He died from AIDS-related causes in 1995.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/25 "2018-05-30T20:42:10Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I’m not black but I remember “Give me five on the black hand side” from early 70s. You turned your hand palm down. > > Also TV shows had skits where there would be vast elaborate greeting rituals between two black men involving slapping, bumping, elbows, even butts for the punchline. But in the early or mid 70s it’s notable that these skits had no high five. I distinctly remember in the '70s, the 3-Part Soul Shake: 1. Grasp hands at a 45 degree angle with interlocking thumbs. 2. From the above, slide into a conventional handshake 3. Then pull your hands apart, except pause to grip fingertips, bent at the first knuckle. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/26 "2018-05-30T21:05:10Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I distinctly remember in the '70s, the 3-Part Soul Shake: > > 1. Grasp hands at a 45 degree angle with interlocking thumbs. > 2. From the above, slide into a conventional handshake > 3. Then pull your hands apart, except pause to grip fingertips, bent at the first knuckle. Yeah, I never mastered it and it did keep me out of 3 colleges. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/27 "2018-05-30T21:14:26Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I’m not black but I remember “Give me five on the black hand side” from early 70s. You turned your hand palm down. As shown at the 2:22 mark of [this trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poR6QiGPmaA) for the 1973 film of the same name. (There’s also a “gimme ten” at 2:08.) ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/28 "2018-05-30T21:31:14Z")
It seems to me that the high five has been totally replaced by the fist bump. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/29 "2018-05-30T21:34:00Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I distinctly remember in the '70s, the 3-Part Soul Shake: > > 1. Grasp hands at a 45 degree angle with interlocking thumbs. > 2. From the above, slide into a conventional handshake > 3. Then pull your hands apart, except pause to grip fingertips, bent at the first knuckle. Now, see, I remember the sequence as beginning with the conventional handshake, pivoting to the thumb grip, and then sliding into the finger grip. At least, I’m pretty sure that’s the way my dad taught it to me, and he claimed to have learned it from a West Indian he did National Service with in the Fifties. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/30 "2018-05-30T21:43:28Z")
[NPR Marketplace story](https://www.marketplace.org/2014/07/31/economy/meet-baseball-player-who-invented-high-five). (Better to listen than to read.) The interview agrees with Wikipedia, inso far as Wiki suggests Glenn Burke as a contender as the originator. There’s a link to the page with [Michael Jacobs’ 10-minute documentary](http://grantland.com/features/30-for-30-shorts-high-five-invention-glenn-burke/). ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/31 "2018-05-30T21:50:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And yes, that is exactly who you think it is. Steve Wilson? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/32 "2018-05-30T22:49:28Z")
Dude. My mind is blown. I was born in 1978 and I thought high-fives went back…uh, 50 years at least? I mean, didn’t baseball teams in the 1920’s do it? I believe it…but I am stunned. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/33 "2018-05-31T00:14:44Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Dude. My mind is blown. > > I was born in 1978 and I thought high-fives went back…uh, 50 years at least? I mean, didn’t baseball teams in the 1920’s do it? > > I believe it…but I am stunned. It changed at the same rate as skateboarding, slang speech or ebonics, and other things that evolve. They were all a lot different 50 years a go. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/34 "2018-05-31T12:40:01Z")
My first memory of it was with Olympic volleyball teams in the sixties. I don’t remember it being used before but it spread pretty quickly and there were a million variants. My best buddy and I did a low one-finger touch after a good play. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/35 "2018-05-31T12:44:29Z")
I’ve been surprised before how quickly such things take hold and seem to have been around forever. I don’t recall the term ‘high five’ as a child so it doesn’t surprise me that it started in the late 70s, but lots of slang started when I was young in the 50s and 60s and seemed to be forever part of the language at the time. As a child I don’t recall putting much consideration into when the words and phrases started though. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/36 "2018-05-31T17:39:16Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Dusty Baker is often credited with being one of the co-creators of the high five. This makes sense. The first time I remember hearing about it was the Dodgers doing it in the early '80s. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/37 "2018-05-31T19:32:29Z")
Good lord,\* bowling leagues\* were doing it by the seventies. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/38 "2018-05-31T21:13:50Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Good lord,\* bowling leagues\* were doing it by the seventies. I wasn’t part of one, but I have to guess that they were working on the transition from hand shakes to slapping five for just about the whole decade. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/39 "2018-05-31T21:22:10Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I wasn’t part of one, but I have to guess that they were working on the transition from hand shakes to slapping five for just about the whole decade. Also, let’s make sure we’re not conflating the High 5 with the Gimme 5. The Gimme 5 (waist high, hands horizontal) has been around forever. The High 5 (vertical, head-height) is the more recent development, credited to Dusty Baker & Glenn Burke. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123/40 "2018-05-31T21:28:04Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Also, let’s make sure we’re not conflating the High 5 with the Gimme 5. The Gimme 5 (waist high, hands horizontal) has been around forever. The High 5 (vertical, head-height) is the more recent development, credited to Dusty Baker & Glenn Burke. I think Gimme five was from african american influences. I don’t think it was in general use until the hippie era, when younger and/or hipper people began to do it instead of shake hands. To replace the habit of shaking hands, however temporarily, in the US anyway, was a big deal. The notion didn’t even exist to do it over the head until after it had been metabolized at waist level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123.md?page=3)