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Up Top... Happy High Five Day!

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Photo by Katie Sokoler
Another day, another... day. Today is National High Five Day, which falls on the third Thursday of April every year, or if you're that guy, every single day of your life. Neatorama has a very thorough history of the high (and low) five, to help you get in the celebratory mood. Did you know, for instance, that the low five came first, sometime during the jazz age (you can see Al Jolson giving a low five in 1927's The Jazz Singer).

The high five didn't come for many more decades, and as legend has it, the first one took place in 1977 at a Los Angeles Dodgers game. It was between Dusty Baker and Glen Burke after the latter scored a home run. Other athletes have contested that story, but either way, the high five and its name came about sometime in the '60s or '70s, and by 1980 it was in the Oxford English Dictionary. Since then, America has had a lot of fun with the high five... remember the "Too Slow"? Good times.

In 2002, three college students (of course) from Virginia started National High Five Day. To help you get in the mood, we offer up a cyber high five, this 2009 Improv Everywhere prank that had morning commuters high fiving on their way out of the underground, and what we're being told is the most boss high five scene in cinematic history:

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Comments [rss]

  • Peanut_Butter

    I thought maybe a good alternative might be the non-contact high five with wax-on/wax-off circle from Demolition Man.

  • Peanut_Butter

    "Speed" was also on the list of AFI's Top 100 Movie Lines.

  • Spirit of 76

    High five? That's so old school. I thought kids nowadays preferred the fist bump. Or has the fist bump been superseded by something else already?

  • The founders of National High Five Day have started a scholarship fund, check it out: http://www.nationalhighfivepro...

  • Why not May 5th?

  • jibbly

    It might as well be, what with all the bros at bars high-5ing each other for Cinqo de Mayo.

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