Liberian snap handshake
Liberian greeting gesture
In Liberia, the snap handshake or finger snap is a gesture of greeting, in which two people shake hands in the conventional Western way, but end the handshake with a mutual press of the fingers that creates a "snap" sound.[1]
Apocryphally, the custom is attributed to the Americo-Liberian population of freed slaves, who created the gesture to contrast with slave owners' practice of breaking slaves' fingers.[2]
During the 2014–15 Ebola epidemic, handshaking in Liberia was curtailed, leading a BBC commentator to note that avoidance of handshaking was detrimental to the established custom of the Liberian handshake.[3]
References
- ^ Leanne Olson (2009). A Cruel Paradise: Journals of an International Relief Worker. Insomniac Press. pp. 50–. ISBN 978-1-897414-89-7.
- ^ Ayodeji Olukoju (2006). Culture and Customs of Liberia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 119–. ISBN 978-0-313-33291-3.
- ^ "Ebola outbreak: How Liberia lost its handshake". BBC News. 20 September 2014.
- v
- t
- e
Gestures
- Aegyo
- Air kiss
- Applause
- Cheek kiss
- Dap
- Elbow bump
- Eskimo kiss
- Finger heart
- Fist bump
- Forehead kiss
- Hand heart
- Handshake
- Hand wave
- High five
- Hongi
- ILY sign
- Kiss
- Liberian snap handshake
- Lip kiss
- Namaste
- OK
- Pinky swear
- Pound hug
- Shaka
- Thumb signal
- Bellamy salute
- Nazi salute
- Raised fist
- Roman salute
- Scout sign and salute
- Three-finger salute (Serbian)
- Three-finger salute (pro-democracy)
- Two-finger salute
- Vulcan salute
- Wolf salute
- Zogist salute
- Anasyrma
- Bras d'honneur
- Fig sign
- Middle finger
- Mooning
- Mountza
- Nazi salute
- Reversed V sign
- Shocker
- Sign of the horns
- Thumb/index-finger ring
- Wanker
- Akanbe
- Loser
- Talk to the hand
This Liberia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e