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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Helix:''' Is command presence also why people do the Sam Salute when they recognize you?
'''Sam:''' Sam Salute. That's not [[Flipping the Bird|the gesture with the finger]], is it?
'''Helix:''' No, I mean the one where people put their hand over their wallet.
'''Sam:''' Oh, that one. I'm pretty sure that's a sign of respect.
|''[[Freefall]]''}}
{{quote|'''Captain Hollister''': "Rimmer, is this salute ''ever'' going to end?"
|''[[Red Dwarf]]''}}
[[Exactly What It Says
Note that this [[Trope]] covers only strictly fictional salutes, saluters and/or ''salutees''. If [[Those Wacky Nazis]] set their right arms straight at a 45-degree-angle above the horizontal (and slightly to the right) to greet [[Adolf Hitler]] in a [[Wartime Cartoon]], it's certainly ''a'' salute - one some might even find ''strange'' - but ''not'' a
For the more general version, see [[Memetic Hand Gesture]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Crest of the Stars]]'' and its sequels, Abh uses the Polish-style two-fingers salute, except that in this version, the palm is facing downward.
* The Hige-Hige salute in ''[[
* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' and ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', the ZAFT troops have a distinctive salute wherein the right hand (if present) is raised to one's temple, open palm facing inwards, towards the face, while the elbow stays directly below it, almost touching one's side. There is even a brief scene in ''SEED'' where Lacus coaches Kira how to do it properly. Don't try it at home unless you have an anime character's waist.
** Which ''may'' be yet another of numerous shout outs to earlier [[Gundam]] and Gundam-related [[Humongous Mecha]] series, in this case, to ''[[Space Runaway Ideon]]'', whose Buff Clan military personnel salutes each other exactly the same way.
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** [[Winston Churchill|V for Victory]], eh?
* A couple of these appear in ''[[One Piece]].'' The White Berets of Skypeia make an odd hand gesture on their foreheads. Marines salute palm-inwards. Though, according to Oda, the latter is an actual sailor salute used to avoid showing tar-stained hands to your superiors.
* In ''
* Throughout the entire opening to ''[[Elfen Lied]]'', the protagonist is depicted making a curious one-handed sign: With the back of her hand outward, middle and ring finger held together and the rest apart. Never seen or explained in the actual story. Hint: {{spoiler|Compare with the Vulcan Salute depicted above. Very [[Villain Protagonist|in-character]].}}
* In ''[[
* From ''[[Tsuritama]]'', Akira's crew hold up cards emblazoned with a "D", strike a [[Dragon Ball
* In the first season of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', the four Shitennou of the Dark Kingdom salute Queen Beryl by bowing with their right fists clenched over the left breast.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
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* Sometimes, [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] comic books have some variant of American or British salutes. Sometimes they don't. There are a couple of cases where Imperials used something like the Roman salute, which the Nazi one is based on. And in one comic where Luke greets a superior his palm is turned outwards in what really looks like some kind of salute - since it's one panel and we see it from the superior's POV, it's hard to tell.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* The Idris in ''[[
* When Sailor V/Sailor Venus arrives after being summoned by a ritual performed by Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Doug Sangnoir in ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk S: Heart of Steel]]'', she gives Sailor Moon (now in her Princess Serenity form) the same bow-with-clenched-fist-over-heart salute that the Shitennou give to Queen Beryl noted above.
== [[Film]] ==
* There's the infamous "crossed arms" from ''[[Plan
** [[
* The Spaceball fleet in ''[[
* In ''[[
* In the [[Marx Brothers]] film ''[[Duck Soup]]'', the soldiers of Freedonia salute by placing their arm horizontally, with a down-facing open palm, across their chest.
* In the 1984 film version of ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four
* In [[The
* In ''[[Monty Python
* The air guitar riff in ''[[Bill
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Moon Child]]'', Sho, Kei and Toshi have a private friendship salute that involves placing their index and middle fingers at the bridge of their noses, sticking their thumbs out (sort of like a gun, but the fingers are more spread) and saluting in an outwards curve.
* In ''The Last Castle'', Robert Redford's character, a three-star general is put into a military prison. When the other inmates begin to respect him, they aren't permitted to salute, so they improvise by waving at him when they pass him. Their intent is clear.
* In the german movie ''[[Die Welle]]'' (The Wave) the salute of the titular student organisation was a sea-wave hand motion.
* In ''Morons from Outer Space'', Griff Rhys Jones guiltily claps a hand over the breast pocket of his stolen uniform to hide the name tag (in case someone realises it's not his) this is mistaken for a salute by visiting politicians who return it, then use it to a colonel, who returns it also.
* In
== [[Literature]] ==
* This is, in fact, [[Older Than Print]], with Dante's ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' having an example with Malacoda and the [[Our Demons Are Different|Malebranche]]: One of the demons salutes his cohorts by ''farting''.
* Dr. Seuss's ''[[The Birthday Book]]'' has a special birthday salute that involves standing on one foot. This being Dr. Seuss, it also has a fun name.
** [[The Movie]] of ''Horton Hears A Who'' also has the Whos salute by pressing their foreheads with their thumbs and holding their hands sideways.
* When [[Discworld|Detritus the troll]] first joins the Night Watch, he can't get the hang of saluting, and tends to knock himself out.
* Stanley Howler of the Post Office (''Going Postal'') is introduced while standing to attention with "one side significantly more at attention than the other." He was raised by peas, he tends to turn towards the light, [[Informed Ability|Groat says.]]
* In [[The Saga of Darren Shan]], book 5, Trials of Death, the vampires Darren passes on the way to his trials do a strange sign, placing their hand in front of their face with the middle finger on their forehead, with the index and ring fingers placed on the eyelids. This is called the Death's Touch, which is meant to mean "even in death, may you be triumphant". {{spoiler|Becomes a [[Meaningful Echo]] later in the book.}}
* In the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series, the D'Haran salute has the soldier in question place a fist to their heart.
* [[Larry Niven]]'s Kzinti salute by raking their claws horizontally in front of their eyes.
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* In [[The Hunger Games]], District 12 has a salute - touching the middle three fingers of the left hand to their lips and holding it out - that means thanks, adoration, and goodbye to someone you love.
* The Tribe in the [[Warrior Cats]] series has a greeting gesture, which the Clan cats find strange: extending a paw while bowing the head.
* [[
== [[Live
* ''[[
* ''[[Star Trek]]'', the perennial [[Mildly Military]] [[Space Opera]], of course featured a gazillion of these.
** The best known is probably the [[wikipedia:Vulcan salute|Vulcan salute]] - pictured above - which is also based on a Jewish blessing gesture.
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** The [[Mirror Universe]]'s [[The Empire|Earth Empire]] salute is functionally identical to the Romulan salute, except that you hit your chest right above your heart beforehand.
* Occupants of The Village in ''[[The Prisoner]]'' bid farewell by saying the phrase "Be seeing you" after forming a monocle over one's eye with the thumb and the forefinger, with the rest of the fingers extended diagonally above the forehead.
* The Psi Corps in ''[[Babylon
** The salute and the use of the phrase "Be seeing you" are deliberate homages to [[The Prisoner]] TV series.
** The Narns, meanwhile, cross their arms across their chest, hands balled up as fists, as a salute.
** The Minbari Warriors hold their right fist in front of the chest, with the open left palm pressed against the right fist (think the standard "tough guy" pose), while half-bowing. The Minbari Religious Caste has a relatively simple bow while steepling the fingers.
* [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|Parodied]] in ''[[
** Further explored in the books, where the 'Double Rimmer' is joined by the "Full Rimmer" and the "Single Rimmer," three rotations of the wrist before a salute "for emergencies." That's the ''simplified'' one.
** The full service one shows up in one of the later episodes. It's contrasted with Lister's less than military friendly wave to the captain.
* Another British comedy to feature the continual use of salutes is Garth Marenghi's ''[[
* In ''[[3rd Rock
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Paradise Towers'' the caretakers saluted by holding up their hand horizontally under their nose!
** In the episode ''Inferno'', The fascist army of an alternate-history UK had a salute sort of like the Vulcan one, but without the split fingers.
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* ''Camp Cariboo'' did a segment on funny handshakes, from lumberjacks to foot doctors (described as "corny") and farmers ("[[Incredibly Lame Pun|"udderly ridiculous"]]).
* An episode of ''Welcome Freshmen'' had a very long salute done by the new militaristic Hall Monitors that involved using both hands and a full spin, accompanied by drumbeats. Each monitor had to give the full salute every time he was given an order, which gave the offending student time to just walk away without being apprehended.
* The humans of the Pegasus galaxy in ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' lean their foreheads against each other. The Jaffa in [[Stargate SG
* In ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' and in ''[[Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger]]'', the SPD salute consists of clenching your right hand into a fist over your left shoulder, then drawing it over your heart.
== [[Tabletop
* In the [[Warhammer
** It's also an expression of piety roughly equivalent to crossing yourself.
** And if you're a member of the Cult Mechanicus, the "sign of the cog" is basically the same, just curve the fingers to shorten the wings to gear teeth. Convenient!
** The old, pro-Unity salute was a single clenched fist to the chest. [[Dan Abnett]] has a very old Space Marine use it instead of the aquila in ''Horus Rising''.
*** That's actually the standard Space Marine salute by the 41st millennium.
** There's also a single handed variant mentioned in the [[Ciaphas Cain]] series, known as "thumbing the palm": fingers slightly splayed, with the tip of the thumb resting just between the start of the index and middle fingers
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* The 10 (soon to be 12) playable races in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' each have their own unique salute.
* In the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series, the Thieves' Sign (a type of salute for thieves to covertly make themselves known to other thieves) changed slightly throughout the games, but involved something similar to crossing your eyes while wiggling the fingers on one hand and rubbing your belly with the other. It had a few practical uses for progressing in the game, but mostly it just made people think you were a little loopy.
* [[Super Smash Bros.|Show Me Your Moves!]] This is Captain Falcon's taunt phrase accompanied by the salute.
* In the second ''[[Paper Mario (
* Cloud in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', asked by some soldiers to come up with a "special move" with which to salute Rufus, teaches them a very
* The SeeD salute in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' consists of raising the right hand, palm turned inward, to partially cover the face. This becomes a minor plot point later in the game, when Selphie uses the wrong salute when disguised as a Galbadian soldier. Another point has Rinoa pretending to be a SeeD, and is shown mimicking it with a slight delay, as she was never taught it.
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'': The prayer of the Yevon religion is, to Tidus' suprise, the same as the mundane blitzball victory gesture he always used in Zanarkand: hold hands before torso as if holding a blitzball, then bow. {{spoiler|The blitzball victory sign became the real Zanarkand's act of defiance against Bevelle in the war 1000 years ago, and when Yu Yevon subdued them, he had Bevelle adopt the victory sign as their prayer to show their obedience to him.}}
** There's also a Crusader salute, which consists of a clenched left fist held directly in front of your heart.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy X
* In ''[[Space Rangers]]'', the Maloqs are a [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]], whose salute is punching the one being saluted in the shoulder. If you wish to show great respect for the other, you punch them in the jaw. Because Maloqs are physically very strong, diplomacy can be bit iffy; in one quest, a Maloq purposefully holds himself back in order to not kill you with his punch.
* The [[Command
* ''[[City of Heroes]]: Going Rogue'' introduced the [[Mirror Universe|Praetoria]] salute: Feet together, right hand outstretched, palm down, then bend elbow, placing hand over heart, then bow head.
* ''[[
* [[Viewtiful Joe]] has 'The Airplanes'. Bend your ring and index fingers, and stick your little finger and thumb out to the sides. Turn your palm towards yourself if you're the one being awesome, otherwise point your middle finger at the recipient. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141015003316/http://www.nineinchsandwich.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Viewtiful-Joe.jpg This is what it should look like].
== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[Doctor Steel]] - In several of his propaganda posters, Dr. Steel is shown saluting with his fist over his heart, looking up and (usually) to his right (toward a better future?). This has become the [[Real Life
* [[Kickassia]] salute is [[Flipping the Bird
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* In Imperial China, Chinese military officers and martial arts practitioners salute each other in the now-famous [http://singaporewushu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Wushu-Salute.jpg fist-in-palm salute]. The fist means the strength and courage of the wielder, while the palm symbolizes the wisdom and temperance that controls said strength.
** This follows protocol, however. Its not always your right hand that forms the fist. If you're left handed, then that hand becomes the fist, as it is where your strength is focused.
** Corollary, if you're saluting with a weapon, ensure that your palm covers the hand that holds the weapon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110814005328/http://cottqa.com/images/protocol.gif as shown here]. This retains the "wisdom controlling strength" message of the salute
* Using the ''actual'' British military salute in an American drama, or vice-versa, can essentially function as an example of this trope in terms of exotic-ness. While both salutes are identical in function, the palm is turned outward in a British salute, whereas in an American salute the palm is turned downward and slightly towards the body.
** And in the Royal Navy, just turn the palm inward! This is an old tradition from the days of sail, where sailors would hide their tar-stained hands from an officer when they saluted.
** [[Stephen Colbert]] infuriated knowledgeable fans when he accidentally used the British variant on screen. Although he claims not to read the forums ("they scare me") he has always used the proper American salute since.
* Due to its visible similarity to the Nazi salute (as both were derived from the Roman salute), the Bellamy salute was dropped from the United States flag code during [[World War Two]], replaced with the now familiar hand-on-heart salute.
* During [[The Vietnam War]], an Australian Colonel was assigned to a U.S. Marine unit. Apparently every time he walked through the camp, Marines would purposely cross his path to make him salute in the Aussie fashion (same as the British one
* The French military salute with palms facing out, almost flat against the brow. In the old days, Foreign Legion hardcases would have insulting or obscene things tattooed on the blade of their hands, so they'd automatically insult any officer they saluted.
** I was under the impression that Foreign Legion types were [[Memetic Badass|by default hardcases]].
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* The 'Devil horns' heavy metal salute. Extend index and pinky fingers, fold thumb over middle and ring fingers. Can be displayed in either direction. There is also a variation that combines this with the crossed arms across the chest. It has another form where one extends only the pinkies on both hands and places both fists together.
** Known to ''[[Discworld]]'' readers as the "Holy Horns of Om", Om being the god honoured by the salute. Serves roughly the same purpose as a Christian crossing himself.
** Similarly used as the symbol of the winter god Ulric in [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].
** Also seen as the "Hook 'Em Horns" of the University Of Texas (Pres. George W. Bush flashed them at a game, causing some people who [[Did Not Do the Research]] to think he was flashing Satan/gang signs).
** According to the satirical movie that accompanies a segment in the [[Blue Man Group]]'s concert, it's a tribute to Floppy The Banjo Playing Clown, whose history and influence on rock and roll they go into. The two fingers represent his hairdo.
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* The Young Pioneers in U.S.S.R. saluted by raising an inclined arm in front of their forehead (as if they tried to cover their eyes from sun but with an outstretched hand).
* Competitive marching bands and drum corps normally have elaborate salutes given by the drum major/field commander at the start of the performance to signal the band's readiness to begin. These usually, but not always, include an American military-style hand to the forehead in the midst of some complicated arm movements. Some bands devise a new salute each year that goes with the theme of their show, while others, especially world-class drum corps such as the Cavaliers, have an iconic salute used every year. These salutes are judged as part of the performance.
{{quote|
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Print]]
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