Fenxy

That's so bad, because it's SO TRUE.

It's a symptom of MySpaceitis, you see a camera and you KNOW it's gettin posted on their blog so you can't HELP but act like a total MORON.

Man, that's hilarious.

Did I hear somewhere that the largest demographic purchasing rap music (not to be confused with hip hop) is middle-aged white men? I'll have to do more research on that.

Gang signs? I thought that was arthritis.

estarla: yeah that has been happening ever since "office space" came out.

Random, but funny.

You're right - show us a camera and out come the goofy expressions.

@RightOn
I don't get the connection. Maybe because I've been avoiding MySpace pages. Why would people push to look like morons if they know it goes public? In any case, I hope the trend dies out soon. It's rediculous.

@Estarla
I don't know, Is that right?

While we're in the humor section ... I'm currently looking at an ad here on 9r reading "Uncovered Jesus Christ Pictures" with two thumbnails of JC. I wonder if there are 3D sonograms as well?

That's pretty hilarious - mostly because it's true, just as others mentioned.

This makes me think of a problem I've had the past few years: I apparently no longer understand how to shake hands. It used to be, when I met a fellow adult male, we would both extend our hands, grasp them together, and give a short pump or two. That was it.

Now when I try to shake hands with guys my age, they try to have finger-sex with me or something. They slap the top of my hand, they show me their palm, the shake slides out where only our fingers are held together. I just don't get it.

I vote we return to our old handshaking ways. They're far simpler.

Now when I try to shake hands with guys my age, they try to have finger-sex with me or something.

Hahaha, you had me laughing out loud. Hahaha.

I actually get that too from time to time; but I just try to firmly impose my old-fashioned handshaking when I feel something like that on the verge of happening.

@hthth:

Why would people push to look like morons if they know it goes public?

That's the 1M question. They do it, think it's the "cool" thing to do, upload it to share it with the world. They don't realize how foolish they look.

@Josh:

Now when I try to shake hands with guys my age, they try to have finger-sex with me or something.

I too laughed out loud reading that. Too funny.

@hthth & @Tyme: I'm glad to know you got a laugh out of it.

The first few times it happened, I know I look baffled. "What the hell is this guy doing to my hand?"

In all seriousness, can someone explain to me what that style of handshake means? Is it gang related? I ask, because if men of my generation got a memo dictating the new rules for The Handshake, I didn't receive one. It hasn't happened recently, but when it does, I just have to let the other guy "lead," for lack of a better word. I don't know the right steps / moves for the handshake, so I have to put my hand in his and let him have at it.

@Josh - it's a cultural thing and I hate to tell you this...it's different depending on where you are located. It did stem from gangs (each gang had their own handshake) but now it has spread to cliques and they all have a different one.

There are tons of them on You Tube - all different ones lol.

@Tyme: Wow. Those make the ones I've "received" look rather simplistic. It makes me wonder - how do they come up with those? I'm imagining a bunch of guys sitting around, saying things like "No, no, we should do the finger slide and then the knuckle tap, not the other way round!"

I think I'll stick with my grasp and pump method. :)

Actually, the hand shake where it's a traditional shake and then the palms slide out to a finger lock is pretty old school -- I remember doing that in the early 80's (yeh, I'm older than I look ;)). The videos Tyme posted here, look more like these guys spent too much time watching their sisters do that hand slapping thing..."Ma-ry, Ma-ry, quite con-tra-ry...

Everyday I am more and more glad that MySpace didn't exist when I was 13 and practicing gang signs. Whew.

@Josh - I just imagined the look of utter confusion on your face

@fuscom - I thought the same thing, except I thought of a hand clapping game that included the lyrics "Shimmy shimmy cocoa puff, shimmy shimmy shake" Of course, once I looked up the lyrics I found 800 different versions of the song.

I am a regular hand shaker, but I was at a VC/Startup meetup the other day and multiple guys commented that I had a firm handshake. So, maybe too strong?

hahaha... niiice video. i'll definitely think twice before posing.

i have a friend who shakes hand with his friend the normal way but right at the end, they do this different type of hand signs (while still shaking hands) such as the number 7 and stuff like that. My friend say that it symbolise which gang they are in.

For those not in gangs, its just another avenue to perceived coolness. Look back over the last twenty years and you will find many examples of things that you can now look back and say ... "What the hell was I thinking?"

I really love seeing people expressing their "individuality."

Hey don't make fun of the white chicks. Be nice. We should all learn to be more accepting.

Ozone42, It's just because they're individuals just like everybody else.

I think I saw one of them do "live long and prosper." I don't think I've ever done a gang sign like those. We just stick with our own thing with little bunny foo foo.

@hthth: I found this, where it says:

We used to think of hip-hop as just a black thing, but it's not. The largest share of rap music sales in America goes to white listeners.

...even though it doesn't quote a source or actual numbers/statistics. So it probably remains arguable. Plus, there are more whites than blacks in America so I'd say it's not a tough thing to outnumber a minority in sheer sales numbers if it is popular in general.

What I'm thinking is that these girls probably do it for the "irony." And irony is ALWAYS funny. Yeah, I'm saying irony in quotes because it's no longer ironic. You know, like hand signs are supposedly an African American guy thing and like, ... whoa, I mean, these chicks are ... wait for it ... Caucasian!!

:)

Ah, yeah that makes sense. Still interested in the middle-aged hypothesis. I find the idea amusing. I'd have assumed young men — as in 9 to ~20 years old.

Yeah, I'm saying irony in quotes because it's no longer ironic. You know, like hand signs are supposedly an African American guy thing and like, ... whoa, I mean, these chicks are ... wait for it ... Caucasian!!

Heehee, yeah. I think it's gone so far for many that they don't remember why they even started.

Did anyone notice the CCCP shirt on that dork in the second "slo mo" video Tyme posted...

Is it just me or does it seem to be a growing trend in young adults who weren't even ALIVE to know what the USSR was to wear attire glorifying oppressive communistic regimes? I've seen a LOT of it in current High School attire and it drives ME crazy.

RightOn: I feel you--the same thought strikes me when I see the army green caps with the red stars in the middle as a sort of fashion fad.

They sell them in Chinatown here at the cheap touristy giftshops and it amazes me to no end how 1) they even sell that stuff, considering what it represents and 2) people buy them as their Chinatown souvenir and then sport it with pride.

There's this awesome hole-in-the-wall place that sells Vietnamese Pho in Chinatown that I love. While my friend and I were eating, a group of tourists walked in, each person in the party wearing one of those green caps with the red star in the middle and the child in the group was carrying a replica Samurai-style sword. What they did not notice was people snickering as they walked in. Of course, what they also didn't realize were the huge human rights violations that red star represents--for instance, they were wearing replicas of caps the Peoples Republic of China soldiers were wearing while they shot peaceful protesters in the middle of Tiananmen Square. If there were immigrants in the restaurant directly from China, that star represented the kind of oppression they were seeking asylum from. And a Samurai sword? Samurai are Japanese, not Chinese.

But how are they to really know, especially if they're up for sale in a tourist shop selling only things that were made out of a sweatshop in China? The frustration I felt was definitely dualfold--including that they could even buy them in Chinatown.

[/sorry for taking this way off-topic] Okay, about gang signs and white chicks, again?

Now when I try to shake hands with guys my age, they try to have finger-sex with me or something.

This quote is SO going into my e-mail signature. ;-P

[/sorry for taking this way off-topic]

I kind of like where you guys are taking this ;)

So maybe I'm just a white chicks and gang signs noob, but what does the one that seems to be predominate in that video mean? Many of them have their two middle fingers crossed with the index and pinkie fingers up.

It's the letter W. Originally derived from rivalry/distinction between East- and West coasts of the US (there's probably someone here that's more savvy on this than I am).