Dissecting the Viking Slap: Parts 1 - 3
January 17th, 2008by Kip Tobin
MADRID, ESPAÑA
In contemplating this post (possibly the first all-video post on TNB?) I looked into the history of the handshake and why humans have come to do it.
While it may be of (trivial) interest to note that Sir Walter Raleigh is accredited with bringing about the modern handshake (along with tobacco and thus the cigarette, the bastard) and also that it was initially used to reveal no weapons were being held and hence it was a show of trust and so on and so forth, I realized that I am not Wikipedia, that Wikipedia itself is probably only 80% accurate and that if you, dear reader, wish to know more about the handshake, reading it via my vapid digital prose (or non-plagiarized copying from Wiki) is probably not going to wow or educate you anymore than the pertinent text of Wikipedia itself.
So, JGreen and I developed this unique greeting which has been called the Viking Slap or, as I erroneously name it in this video, The Forearm Slap. We should call it the Weltmaker or the Cherrybomb.
Or when that happens, just The Bomb.
As you can see, we haven’t done it in some time.
I lived with Jason Green in a small, charming house previously occupied by a nonagenarian female who died sometime before we moved in. (I’m not sure where she expired but I always felt it was my room.) The state was Ohio, the city was Columbus and pre-millenium tension was just starting to brew.
Since then and due to the years and moves and marriage and promotions and emigration and offspring and second houses and transatlantic annual flights and hours-long visits, we naturally don’t see each other much anymore.
But we take comfort in knowing the Viking Slap will be there as long as we are.
Even if we only moderately get it right, or miss it altogether - as in part 1.
When we do get it right — when each palm greets each others’ upper forearm and an echo resounds simultaneous with the pain fragmenting throughout our arms’ nerves, I always wonder…
Why in the hell did we ever come up with this?
*****
Kip is the author of Steppe and the Dream of Mt. Whitney, a children’s story he wrote for his nieces, and co-author of Waiting For Tom, a full-length fictionalized film script about the myth and the man who is Tom Waits. He normally doesn’t like to include pics or vids of himself in his posts, but these videos (taken by Jason’s wife Alex) were simply too good to pass up.
Did you know that the human body radiates most of it’s energy through the top of the head and the second most radiant place is the hands?
Unh hunh - tis true.
And did you know that the most common greeting on the planet is a head to head bow and the second most common greeting a palm to palm shake?
Mm hmm. Fascinating ain’t it?
Of course I imagine that after the Viking Slap a great deal of energy is emitted from the forearm…
Damn, Kip:
Ouch! You guys seem just one step short of bitch slappin’ each other.
You and your crazy Spaniard ways.
KT:
Thanks to my slow Tanzanian connection, I can’t actually see these videos, but I’m intrigued. Having remembered other videos of yours from past posts, I’m sure I would be laughing if I’d seen them.
RK
I live in Columbus, Ohio right now. I have to say, I’m glad to learn that at least one cool thing has come out of this town.
As the other participant in the handshake, I have to say that it should indeed be called something grand. Feel the burn, my friend, and call out it’s name.
I have no idea where or how or why we came up with it other than it’s absurd and fun to do.
let’s rock, you dont stop
rock the riddle that will make your body rock
well so far youve heard my voice but i brought two friends along
and next on the mike is my man kip
come on, kip, slap that arm
(that made the video for me)
cuz you were a frat boy - that’s why you came up with it!
Hey, I am glad to see Green again.
It was a funny video.
Alex started her own business, huh?
I hope she will success her job.
did you read marshall mcluhan on handshakes? he writes about it as a form of aggressiveness, which shows in your viking grip you got going there…
You guys made me giggle.
I also have wondered what it would be like if we were to greet each other in a different way. Like with belches, wide eyes, or by a little soft shoe action.
Next time I see you, Kip, we’re totally Viking Slapping.
Pretty funny videos, Kip. But I have to ask (I am douchebag, you know), by “the first all-video post on TNB” do you mean the first post that’s roughly half text/half videos?
Also, I got a little excited when reading Shigeru’s comment. Particularly:
“I hope she will success her job.” That’s why I’m going back to Japan.
douchebag,
i guess you’re right - “all-video post” tag is misleading. what i meant was there were no pictures, only video as accompanying imagery. if i had tagged it “the very first vlog”, would anyone have understood me? probably not. deep down i think, “who really cares?” because i don’t, but i’m definitely glad to find someone as meticulous and exigent as me regarding others’ work. kudos.
also, at one point there was a requirement to have two pics and two links minimum on all posts. so in a way this broke that rule, but i don’t think there are any rules on TNB any longer.
shigeru is one of my frat brothers from college. he lived in the US for about 8 years and still has the occasional noun-mistaken-as-verb error, et al.
anyway, slap on.
SMACK!
ah kip… are you still in madrid?
d
i am working on successing myself…shared the post with my MBA group and we will all be sharing in the Viking spirit.
tobin-
well, well, well. there you are, tobin. in the flesh. that was fun, man. very creative, in the now, and stony. when you hit the states we must get drinks and ramble through a batch of handshakes. okay, man, take care, k.
r
OK, your avatar portrait does not do you justice. The only way to make the Viking Slap more fun would be to preface it with a Samurai Bow or something