Art of Waving

Hey, it's Tim here.

Now here's something I noticed when extreme boredom sets in and it actually got me thinking. The way people wave to say hello or goodbye is quite different (and hilarious). Now I'd like to start off with the "classic hand wave". Now the way this works is exactly how you think a wave should look like. Your hand is out at shoulder height and you move the entire arm from side to side, pivoting from the shoulders. Basically both your hand and elbow swing like a pendulum. However, a lot of people have strayed away from this and started producing different forms of waving. By the end of the blog I'll even talk about people replacing the wave with...abstract body movements!

Here's a list (and by no means a complete one) of different hand waves and the descriptions. (Note: I have witnessed all these)

Title: Fake high five
Description: Mostly guys do this. Basically when you enter a room with your hands down by the side. All you do is lift the forearm from the elbow, as if you were to high five someone. Variations include how long you keep your arm up for.

Title: Lazy mans wave
Description: Basically a variation of the Fake high five, only this time you wave with your wrists. Usually only one or two swing movements

Title: Crazy twitch wave
Description: Again, think of the fake high five, but this time, you are attempting to completely bend your elbow back trying to decrease the gap between your hand and shoulder (incredibly tensed bicep). From here you twitch you hand from the wrist A LOT. Basically it reminds me of Wallace from Wallace & Gromit where he says "CHEESE, GROMIT CHEESE" (except with a wave). Mostly girls do this.

Title: THE OMG I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN AGES WAVE
Description: Basically, the Crazy twitch wave, but with your arms fully extended out at 90 degrees to your body. Turn the wrists wildly for dramatic effect. A Bonus is doing with both hands. Again, mostly girls do this <.<

Title: WTF, DEAD HAND?
Description: Start from the fake high five position, and just flop you hand BACK and FORTH (not sideways) like for some reason, all your nerves are dead and you no longer have control of your hand. Girls do this, and yes I have witnessed it.

There are plenty more and other popular ones eg The Queen Wave (However I'm glad I have not witnessed anyone doing this atrocity). I also may have sounded very sexist showing the last few extreme waves to only be girls doing...but...it's true? I'd like to point out that us guys are now even lazier and no longer acknowledge the hand wave, and instead do the nod or tilt the head back and God forbid the eye brow raise. I think society is getting lazy and we should all do our part to bring back these social norms including the "classic" hand wave.

PS: The author of this does not agree with that last few statements and he himself does a "lazy mans wave".