The History of the Surfer Hand Gesture Shaka

Writer Blair Mastbaum’s written an engaging piece on the origin of the Hawaiian hand gesture shaka, commonly used by surfers.

Mastbaum writes: The word “shaka” and its accompanying hand gesture — thumb and pinkie outstretched, the three middle fingers tucked close to the palm, hand gently wobbling back and forth — is a unique piece of Hawaiian cultural history that has spread around the world, first disseminated by the traveling surfer subculture, and now spread widely by social media as the ultimate symbol of one’s relaxed attitude toward life. With nearly a million #shaka tagged photos on Instagram, you can now find people from Australia to Antarctica holding up shaka signs for the camera, but most have no idea of its origin.

Linguists believe that the word “shaka” originated in the Hawaiian English dialect — also called Hawaiian Pidgin English — where it is used as an interjection to express positive sentiments such as affirmation, approval, and solidarity, characteristically in the greeting or valediction, and often in the phrase, “shaka brah” (“brah” being the Hawaiian Pidgin English form of “bro”).

Read the full story here.