Sound of one hand clapping ?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
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RE: What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Given that clapping is an activity that cannot actually be performed with one hand, it seems like the maybe the correct answer ought to be “Mu” - (as a sort of uber-shorthand for: “Sorry old bean, there’s a fundamental misconception in what you’ve just said that’s makes it inoperable as a question”).

Obviously I’m excluding from consideration the sort of limp, finger-clicking substitute for applause affected by certain types of jazz afficionado. While it’s not only feasible but probably crucial that this exercise be performed in strictly mono-manual fashion for the applauder to avoid exhibiting a woefully unsophisticated degree of enthusiasm, the fact that it is a sort of super dilute, ultra low calory substitute for applause doesn’t make it “clapping” IMHO. :slight_smile:

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It’s perfectly possible to clap single-handedly. My 7th grade music teacher did it (and he didn’t even have to spank us).

Anyway, it’s obviously a metaphor for yin-yang and duality of everything. Asking the sound of one hand is like asking what would the universe look like if there was only yin… the universe cannot exist that way, even hypothetically (or it would be simply without properties… either way, a nonsensical question).