I’m 64. Kids at school think it’s funny when I do the hip hop, gangsta sign, high-five, lo-five, fo’ shizzle, 'sup dog stuff in the halls or classroom. They have to initiate it, though…those are acts that get real old, real fast. I haven’t noticed that it adversely effects my relationship with them. They are all well aware I’m mocking that culture a bit.
Never. I fist bump my friends in their 70s and 80s. I am in my 30s.
I’m SO glad you’re not king head ruler of the universe. I’m 40. I fist bump. That bugs you? That’s your problem, not mine.
Anybody that prefaces an age with a modifyer ‘and a young 23, at that’ is still too concerned about what other people think.
And the thread has been definitively answered. 
At 20 you are very concerned about what people think.
At 40 you stop being concerned about what they think.
At 60 you realize they weren’t actually thinking about you at all.
I started a new job this week and met about 30 people whose hands I had to shake. I would have preferred the fist bump to mitigate disease. Blech.
That’s usually the context in which I fist bump rather than shake hands with older people, when someone has a cold.
I suppose I’m too old, because I’m not sure what a “fist bump” is. I have it narrowed down to poking the fist a little in the air, like the old Black Power sign of the 1960s, and the little nudge you give someone in the shoulder with your fist.
It’s not about being any particular age; it’s about being around when something became popular. Which, in this case, applies to lots of different age groups.
Never too old.
I hope it replaces the handshake.
I rather prefer the Japanese bow (hands on thighs, bow body slightly) to the handshake. When I spent six weeks for work in Japan back in 1990, I discovered this bow and came to love it as a respectful way of greeting others, particularly in more formal situations.
I would quite happily never see a high-five again. But the roughly equivalent, mutually-congratualatory fist-bump doesn’t bother me as much. Yet. I haven’t been as aware of it as of the high-five.
20-something.
And the term is definitely “fist bump”. Not this one.
… Duuuude.
I was totally expecting that to go to a different clip (you know the one), but that is even more…
I’m not sure if the word I’m looking for is ‘funny’ or ‘terrifying’.
Once you hit thirty.
If you’re over 30, and a guy, you’re too old to wear earrings, (Yes, I took mine out). You’re too old to wear things from the army surplus store, you’re too old to fist bump.
If you want to fine, but it doesn’t look cool anymore, it looks like a vain attempt to pass as cool.
If you’re boss just extend your hand like a handshake, and say “No, people don’t do that anymore.” Then shake his hand. Don’t make reference to his age.
It’s like when you’re over 40 and dye your hair. It’s fine if you want to do that, but then don’t dye it a solid color. People over 40 don’t have perfectly solid color hair.
Coolness depends on doing what you want, 'cause you want to. For instance if you shave your head because YOU like how it looks that’s cool. But if you shave your head 'cause you’re going bald or are mostly bald anyway, that’s NOT cool.
If you wear a tye dyed shirt and long hair and go around like a 70s hippie because YOU want to do this. That makes you COOL. If you do that because you think that is STILL the fashion, then it’s NOT cool
I’m 51. My son is 15 and does it to me. Personally, I think he is too old, but I don’t wanna point it out and potentially embarrass him.
Unless, you know, you look BETTER with a shaved head and look like Friar Tuck otherwise. Friar Tuck is not cool. People must not be allowed to look better if they want to because, hey, they didn’t do it with coolness. :dubious:
What is cool? It’s looking a certain way for other people. There’s somthing to be said for doing something because you like it. Once you land that spouse and get those kids, who you tryin to impress?
I fistbump the wife and kids(*). I don’t think they care if you think it’s cool or not.
- = This is not legal in 13 southern states.
Good god man, you prefer high fives? High fives are always awkward and embarrassing, nobody can do them. At least with a fist bump, if you aren’t coordinated it doesn’t come off as pathetic like a high five. Ever high fived someone who meekly taps your hand like they’re afraid to touch you? Or someone who slams it like a punching bag? Or how about someone who grabs your hand after the high five? Or the person who can never high five directly on your hand and always hits your thumb with their pinky or wrist? The high five should go away, forever.
As far as a limit age goes, how could there be such a thing? I know some pretty cool 60 year olds who can totally pull it off, and some really lame 20 year olds who can’t. But the best part about the fist bump is whether you can pull it off or not, it’s always entertaining.
I don’t think I ever said I was concerned about how others felt. I just asked a question.
This is different cuz you’re doing it a bit more for comedy’s sake.
I only said I “preferred” high fives because they seem to have more longevity than the fist bump. The fist bump seems to skew younger, and tends to look weirder when someone who is older does it. When it comes down to it, I don’t really like either act, it just irks me more with a fist bump.
This whole thread was started cuz I had a question and I just posted it, I thought it would be fun. It’s really taking a much more harsh turn than I intended.
It’s a harsh turn because you slammed us oldsters. I predict the fistbump will have a long and storied history, The high five started somewhere, then hit the public consciousness, at which point, the first high-fivers felt…compromised.