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advertising and surfing

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Ubiquitous Hawaiian hand gesture formed by making a fist and extending the thumb and pinkie fingers in opposite directions, sometimes accompanied by a hand wiggle; the sign is typically used as a greeting, or to demonstrate enthusiasm and approval, and has been used by surfers worldwide for decades. "I used to throw ironic shakas all the time," author Chas Smith wrote in 2014. "But it accidentally got into my blood and now I throw real shakas, everywhere. To Starbucks baristas in New York City and Parisian taxi drivers."

The origins of the shaka are unclear, though it likely first appeared on Oahu during the mid-20th century. One story is that the gesture began with machine operator Hamana Kalili of Laie, who lost his three middle fingers of his right in a sugar mill accident, and later became locally famous for waving the remaining two digits while chasing kids away from the mill trains. "In 1948," one local resident later recalled, "people in Laie would have the shaka sign, [and] just wave to each other like that. By the early 1960s, the shaka was everywhere on the island."

The word "shaka" itself is a puzzler, as the "sh" sound is not part of the native Hawaiian tongue. Hawaiian actor and car pitchman David "Lippy" Espinda, however, would end his local television commercials by waving his thumb and pinkie and shouting "shaka brah!" Sometime in the late 1960s or early '70s, the original "Hang Loose Hawaii" T-shirts, featuring a big cartoon shaka sign, were sold in Waikiki; different versions of the shirt have been on the market ever since.

The gesture is not unique to Hawaii. In the Netherlands, it means "drop dead," and in some Caribbean countries it's a sexual come-on. In other nations, a similar hand gesture, with the thumb near the mouth and the pinky raised high, means "let's have a drink."

Advanced shaka-throwers know to keep a "soft" hand—the three middle fingers float an inch or so above the palm, while the extended pinky and thumb remain bent and relaxed and nearly parallel to each other, rather than zinging off rigidly in opposite directions. The most casual of shakas are thrown low, at waist level or a little above, with knuckles facing outward.

Celebrity-thrown shakas have been around for decades, beginning with longtime Honolulu mayor Frank Fasi in the 1960s, on up to soccer star Ronaldinho, actors Dwayne Johnson, Pierce Brosnan and Shailene Woodley, and Dog "the Bounty Hunter" Chapman. President Barack Obama, who grew up in Oahu, flashed a shaka sign to visiting Hawaiian students during his inauguration in 2009.

A larger-than-life (7'6") statue of Hamana Kalili was built and installed at the entrance of the Polynesians Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii, in 2015. Kalili, bare-chested, holds a fishing spear in his left hand and is throwing a high happy shaka with his right.

The shaka began trending especially hard in the mid 2010's, and caused some eye-rolling. As UK-based writer Diyora Shadijanova noted in The Tab, "A lot of trends have taken off for guys in 2017, including crossbody bags, ripped jeans and male rompers. [Now], in clubs across the United Kingdom, just as certain as there is someone drinking a VK through a straw, there will be a guy and his crew doing the 'shaka' sign on the dancefloor."

The "call me" hand emoji, released in 2016, was immediately put to use as a digital shaka sign. That same year, "shaka" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

shaka

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

The Sunday Joint