My guess is that it is sign of special rights and privliges between
ingroup members, that the perceived outgroup could not get away with.
When we are members of a group we gain special rights of movement and
touching, possibly, but I would have to think and google more before I
decided on a cool/pimped opinion about it.
Fiving can be adapted, and elaborated upon, as fits the situation.
Many fivers will take a high five while walking or running past each
other. A jumping five can be dangerous as there's a lot of momentum
flying about, but is certainly enjoyable if pulled off correctly.
The 'flipside' or 'windmill' five is another important variation.
Popularised by 80s film Top Gun it involves a standard high five where
both participants follow through so that their hands meet again on the
back swing, for a reverse five. This is generally regarded as a
derivative of the 'ass pat' five, where a conventional high five is
followed by a full swing to pat the other participant's bottom. This
is a five which congratulates, but also affirms authority, and is
usually carried out by sports coaches on one of their players. It is
not intended to be reciprocated.
A high ten is the doubling up of high fives, so that both participants
slap both of the other participant's hands6. A correct arm angle is
required otherwise this five can bring your face uneasily close to
that of your fellow fiver. This is not a good five to partake in while
walking in opposite directions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A22548747
http://www.slate.com/id/3461/
But why bother with these inferior options when there's a perfectly
good ass pat waiting in the wings, ready to go? Your buddy finally
works a Sunday Times crossword? Give him an 'attaboy' on the rear end.
That girl in the cube next to you puts together a nice presentation
for the boss? Give 'er a quick slap on the rump. You go, girl! Or
maybe a stripper just gave you a really nice lap dance? Ass pat, ass
pat, ass pat!
That's how it ought to work. But no. Somewhere, somehow, the ass pat
has fallen out of favor. Maybe it's the eleventh commandment: 'Thou
shalt rubbeth no rump, excepteth your own.' You go out in the real
world and try some of the stuff above, and you'll find yourself in a
world of trouble. Your brainy friend will beat you with the Sunday
Times, the girl at work will likely end up with half your stuff, and
the strip club bouncer just might end up with half your teeth. So, I
can't recommend you try any of that, despite the temptation.
On the other hand, maybe we can fight through this prejudice together.
We can't possibly turn the tide of sentiment in one day; the ass pat
will take time to catch on. But we can start small -- go out there,
this weekend, and pat one of your good friends. Right there, on the
ass. It's okay. If he or she gives you a strange look -- or a knee to
the groin, or a restraining order -- just explain that this is a
grassroots effort we're starting here. First, we'll pat two friends --
and then, they'll pat two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Soon enough, we'll have cheek-slapping privileges just about anywhere
we like. Except the strip clubs, probably -- to be so fricking
decadent, those places are way too damned uptight. Or so I hear. Ahem.
http://www.wherethehellwasi.com/categories/wide-world-o-sports/ill_pat_your_backside_if_you_p...
THE MOST OBVIOUS human tragedy comes from the difference between our
feelings toward kin and our feelings toward non-kin, one of the
deepest divides in the living world. ...
Throughout history, when leaders have
tried to unite a social group they have
trained their members to think of it as a
family and to redirect their familial emotions
inside it.
The names used by groups that strive for
solidarity-brethren, brotherhoods, fraternal
organizations, sisterhood, sororities, crime
families, the family of man-concede in their
metaphors that kinship is the paradigm
to which they aspire.
The tactic is provably effective. Several
experiments have shown that people are
more convinced by a political speech if the
speaker appeals to their hearts and minds
with kinship metaphors.
Verbal metaphors are one way to nudge
people to treat acquaintances like family,
but usually stronger tactics are needed.
[Accourding to Alan Fiske] ...the ethos of Communal Sharing arises
spontaneously among the members of a family but is extended to other
groups only with the help of elaborate customs and ideologies.
Unrelated people who want to share like a family create mythologies
about a common flesh and blood, a shared ancestry, and a mystical bond
to a territory (tellingly called a natal land, fatherland, motherland,
or mother country). They reinforce the myths with sacramental meals,
blood sacrifices, and repetitive rituals, which submerge the self into
the group and create an impression of a single organism rather than a
federation of individuals. Their religions speak of possession by
spirits and other kinds of mind melds, which, according to Fiske,
"suggest that people may often want to have more intense or pure
Communal Sharing relationships than they are able to realize with
ordinary human beings." The dark side of this cohesion is groupthink,
a cult mentality, and myths of racial purity-the sense that outsiders
are contaminants who pollute the sanctity of the group.
The Blank Slate - The Modern Denial of Human Nature
Steven Pinker
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670031518/qid=1086630363/
http://alumweb.mit.edu/opendoor/200205/pinker.shtml
