# Other military hand salutes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2002, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727 "2002-07-25T07:23:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/41 "2011-06-28T10:32:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Has this changed in the last twenty years? - when I was in the cubs, we did the three-finger version that you described as the scout salute. I was a cub, scout and venture in the UK from the late 70s until early 90s. From what I remember there were two hand signals. The shoulder-high pointing up “salute” wasn’t the salute as such. I’m pretty sure there was another name for it, but it is escaping me right now. It was used for things that took time. For example, the Cub Scout promise “Akela, we’ll do out best!/Cubs! Do you best!/ We WILL do our best!” Whereas the head salute was used when receiving badges and suchlike. And for the flag. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/42 "2011-06-28T11:48:59Z")
The gesture used for the oath-taking, I’ve usually heard as “raise your hand to the square” or simply “raise your right hand.” The hand salute, of course, I’ve only heard called “hand salute.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/43 "2011-06-28T14:31:43Z")
I’ve been involved with Scouting in the U.S. since the mid-Seventies. All that time, and still today, Cub Scouts (including Webelos) salute with two fingers and Boy Scouts salute with three. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/44 "2011-06-28T14:35:26Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Zombies don’t salute. As a matter of fact, [this is incorrect](http://images3.blu-ray.com/reviews/105_1.jpg). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/45 "2011-06-28T14:39:17Z")
That’s one respectful zombie. I sit corrected. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/46 "2011-06-28T14:41:44Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ve been involved with Scouting in the U.S. since the mid-Seventies. All that time, and still today, Cub Scouts (including Webelos) salute with two fingers and Boy Scouts salute with three. Completely different in the UK. I wonder what else is different? I’ve been in all three levels of Scouting that was available to me (Beavers weren’t around when I was that age) and I’ve never done a two-fingered salute. IN fact I have no idea what it looks like, it sounds like a rude gesture 😉 As with everything, there’s a Wikipedia page about it. The shoulder-height one is the “Scout Sign”: > **[Scout sign and salute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_sign_and_salute)** > > The three-finger salute is used by members of Scout and guide organizations around the world when greeting other Scouts and in respect of a national flag at ceremonies. In most situations, the salute is made with the right hand, palm face out, the thumb holding down the little finger. There are some variations of the salute between national Scouting organizations and also within some programme sections. > A "half-salute", known as the Scout sign, is also used in certain situations. The hand is s... Oh on the general Scouting page it says that the UK and some other associations got rid of the two fingered salute when “they detached from the Jungle theme”. I’m not sure what this means though as apparently Cubs still have the Jungle Book theme, with Akela, Baloo etc. > **[Cub Scouts (The Scout Association)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cub_Scouts_(The_Scout_Association))** > > Cub Scouts, often shortened to Cubs, are a section of Scouting operated by The Scout Association with a core age of eight to ten and a half years of age. This section follows on from the Beaver Scouts (6–8 year olds) and precedes the Scout section (10½–14 year olds). > Originally beginning in 1916 as Wolf Cubs, the section gained its current name in 1966 as a result of the Advance Party Report. Because of this early name, the section has themed links to wolves and the novel The Jungle Book with... > **[Cub Scout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cub_Scout)** > > Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with some Scout organizations, for young children, usually between 8 and 12, who are too young to be Scouts and make the Scout Promise. A participant in the program is called a Cub and a group of Cubs is called a "Pack". > The Wolf Cub program was originated by The Scout Association in the United Kingdom in 1916 to provide a program for boys who were too young to be Boy Scouts and make the Scout Promise. It was adopted by some other Scout organizations. Mo... ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/47 "2011-06-28T14:43:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Zombies don’t salute. When I first saw this post it didn’t register with me. Apologies all for continuing a nine-year-old thread! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/48 "2011-06-28T15:06:22Z")
> [@Milton\_De\_La\_Warre](#): > > The Communists used to use a fist salute, with the forearm straight up. I have seen it in pictires from the 30’s, but I don’t know if it is still used. It was, of course, adopted by many left wing activist groups from Earth First! to the Black Panther party. And just for the hell of it by practically every college student in the late sixties, early seventies. But those aren’t military use. From the “student strike” days, I remember the popularity of the “fist” emblem stenciled on a blue denim shirt, with “STRIKE” stamped diagonally across it. I entered college towards the tail end of that time, but you still saw it - there had actually been a strike on my campus the year before I entered. (I remember somebody having a “60s party” some time around 1990, and I went out of my way to dig up a blue denim shirt and recreate that logo, worn over a tie-dye tee shirt. A lot of the younger people at the party didn’t recognize it by that time. The older ones definitely did.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/49 "2011-06-28T15:08:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Has this changed in the last twenty years? - when I was in the cubs, we did the three-finger version that you described as the scout salute. I think the two-finger salute is the USA Cub Scouts, or was thirty years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/50 "2011-06-28T17:00:51Z")
Boy Scouts and the [Polish Army](http://www.nato.int/pictures/women2004/b040922n.jpg). And as for the whacky [Albanians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Albanian_army_2.jpg)… ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727/51 "2011-06-28T20:25:27Z")
When I was in Japan I saw several instances of what I had thought of as the Nazi salute, obviously with no Nazi reference intended. During sporting events such as middle school track and field day the kids making speeches on behalf of their school or class used it, and I also saw it in a flower shop commercial. It seemed to have that ancient Roman, “We swear we’re going to do our very best to make flower arrangements you’ll love, or die trying!” vibe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-military-hand-salutes/120727.md?page=2)