# So Do You Know "The Nod" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695 "2014-12-19T20:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/21 "2014-12-20T00:33:38Z")
I’ve been known to nod off. ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/22 "2014-12-20T01:43:29Z")
Back in college the nod was to let my buddies know that yes, I do have the weed. Sometimes I would follow up with a thumbs-up. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/23 "2014-12-20T01:50:38Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > Apparently, [Homer and Skinner know](http://youtu.be/DJHFhFbhzoY). Well, everyone knows that [Homer nods](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Homer_nods). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/24 "2014-12-20T01:56:19Z")
I answered “No - white male”, but I probably should have picked “What the hell are you talking about?” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/25 "2014-12-20T02:04:14Z")
[ul] [li]Do you do The Nod? **Yes** [/li][li]Do you know about The Nod? **Yes** [/li][li]Has The Nod been done to you and you are not a member of the principal group that does it? **Yes and no (I am a member of the principal group that does it)**[/li][li]Do you do The Nod to someone not a member of the principal group that does it? **Impossible to do, as all humans are a part of the principal group that does this** [/li][/ul] Acquaintances from work, people I might have seen at multiple concerts, anyone I know well enough to recognize but not well enough to send a xmas text: they all get The Nod. Heck I’ll nod to someone who sees me coming and makes some effort that hopefully matches my own to make sure we don’t collide. No, I don’t put the same weight on The Nod as the recent TV program did. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/26 "2014-12-20T02:13:15Z")
I do it when I see someone wearing a [fainne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A1inne). The OP seems to suggest that there is some context in which men do this to each other. I can’t think of any situation in which that might be true. 😕😕 ETA: having read further, I see that he means it as a more subtle version of the power fist. And even that has been adopted by feminists of every race, so there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/27 "2014-12-20T02:37:20Z")
So, are we ever going to find out what the fuck “the nod” is? If all we’re talking about is a nod of acknowledgement when we meet a colleague or acquaintance I’ll be rather shocked that a thread was started for that reason. Sometimes it’s the “raised eyebrow” acknowledgement. Sometimes it’s “hey.” Sometimes it’s a combination of two or all three. Is this all we’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/28 "2014-12-20T02:42:15Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > So, are we ever going to find out what the fuck “the nod” is? > > If all we’re talking about is a nod of acknowledgement when we meet a colleague or acquaintance I’ll be rather shocked that a thread was started for that reason. > > Sometimes it’s the “raised eyebrow” acknowledgement. > Sometimes it’s “hey.” > Sometimes it’s a combination of two or all three. > > Is this all we’re talking about? [Psst. Hey buddy. Over here.](https://medium.com/matter/the-nod-a-subtle-lowering-of-the-head-to-another-black-person-in-an-overwhelmingly-white-place-e12bfa0f833f) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/29 "2014-12-20T02:46:20Z")
The Nod can be in any social group. Two guys in a roomful of women. The Nod acknowledges that there’s another like minded person present. Could be two white dudes in a room with blacks. Two blacks in a room with whites. Two women in a room of guys. I see this often at work meetings. There’s often more men in the conference room than women. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/30 "2014-12-20T02:50:03Z")
Spock did it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/31 "2014-12-20T02:52:58Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Psst. Hey buddy. Over here.](https://medium.com/matter/the-nod-a-subtle-lowering-of-the-head-to-another-black-person-in-an-overwhelmingly-white-place-e12bfa0f833f) I still have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/32 "2014-12-20T03:03:29Z")
My cat up-nods tome. He’s orange, I’m not. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/33 "2014-12-20T04:17:27Z")
Never heard of it as a thing. Now that I have read up on it and am therefore an expert, I am reminded of a time when I wore my Cardinals hat to Yankee Stadium. I saw a gy in a Twins hat. We did what I suppose was the 1988 version of The Nod. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/34 "2014-12-20T04:37:25Z")
I was thinking about starting a thread to ask if there was an equivalent among women. This looks like as good a place as any to tack on the question. ---
**Author:** ![mind\_the\_gap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mind\_the\_gap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mind_the_gap)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/35 "2014-12-20T05:42:01Z")
Yeah, I’ve given and got the “nod”. Never thought of it as a black thang though. Just an easy, quick non verbal way to acknowledge another person, usually of similar type. Fellow worker, guy in Home Despot with a honeydew list and so on. As **leftfield6** mentioned, there’s a motorcycling equivalent. I do it to everyone, but some Harley riders only salute other Harley riders. I once, when on the bike, had a lady at a stoplight roll her window down and ask in all seriousness, “Do you motorcyclists really all know each other”? It was hard to keep a straight face as I answered in the affirmative. mind the gap ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/36 "2014-12-20T06:23:35Z")
I’ve been known to nod to strangers on the street if I made eye contact with them. I never knew I was misappropriating an act of black solidarity. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/37 "2014-12-20T09:32:56Z")
Huh. I thought the “up nod” was a New Yorker thing, black or white. I certainly used it a lot, as a general greeting, when I was living there. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/38 "2014-12-20T12:39:08Z")
Asked my son, a White male who spent 4 years in Japan, how he’d react there when he briefly came across another Westerner he did not know and he said “like this” and gave an up-nod. His point is that it is not just being a notably (and superficially obviously so) minority group though - it is being an “out class” in the circumstance as well. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/39 "2014-12-20T12:58:05Z")
So in summary; ‘The Nod’ is actually just ‘a nod’ (of acknbowledgement). Something presumably older than spoken language itself, repackaged as an internet meme. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695/40 "2014-12-20T13:21:10Z")
There is a stoner nod. I’ve been on the giving and recieving end. Kinda cool how we recognize one another even in full camo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-do-you-know-the-nod/707695.md?page=3)