Star Trek Fans Want to Replace Handshake With Vulcan Salute Because of Coronavirus

The coronavirus is quickly becoming a global pandemic, and people all over the world are trying to find ways to live a more sanitized life to keep the virus in check. One of the first societal traditions that’s quickly being abandoned is the handshake greeting. Since shaking hands is one of the easiest forms of contact transmission, finding alternatives ways of greeting have become paramount to helping keep the spread of coronavirus at bay. Star Trek fans have come up with a novel solution to this problem: replacing the handshake with the iconic Vulcan salute. No direct contact needed!

On the off chance you’re reading this article and are not already a Star Trek geek: The Vulcan salute if performed by holding up your hand, palm out towards the person you’re greeting. Extend your thumb out, and create a “v” split between your middle and ring fingers; two fingers on one end of the “v”, and two on the other.

While actually integrating the Vulcan Salute into societal practice sounds like a fun idea (and the dream of any longtime Star Trek fan), there’s actually just one big impediment to that scenario. For all the ways that we could quickly replace the handshake (fist-bumps, air waves, head nods, etc.), the Vulcan Salute is actually one of the more cumbersome ones. Greetings are supposed to be quick and easy, requiring barely a thought; could you imagine the larger population trying to figure out the hand motion for the Vulcan Salute and use it in everyday practice? How many awkward interactions would you end up having with people struggling to bend their fingers the right way? It would likely get insufferable if you’re a Trekkie that could throw up the salute like it’s second nature.

Ironically enough, the current run of Star Trek is actually kind of lite on the Vulcan Salute. While Star Trek: Discovery gave us a new version of Spock (the O.G. of the Vulcan Salute), the new Star Trek: Picard series doesn’t really make use of it. That all falls into the current discussion within in the Star Trek fandom, about whether or not the new line of series are too dark and detached from Gene Roddenberry’s vision. We’ll leave that to each of you to discuss.

As for the coronavirus: the spread of the disease within the US seems to be progressing, so all jokes aside, now is actually a good time to figure out your handshake alternative.

Star Trek: Picard is now streaming on CBS All Access. New episodes are released every Thursday. Star Trek: Discovery will return for season 3 later this year.

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