What the hell is this ‘shaka’ pose and why is every guy in every nightclub doing it?

A lot of trends have taken off for guys in 2017, including crossbody bags, ripped jeans and male rompers. This time though, it's something they're doing with their hands when posing in photos.

In clubs across the 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.

They extend their thumbs and pinky, with the other three fingers curled in and rotate their hand in expression of 'good vibes.' And I swear they're not even being ironic.

After extensive research, it turns out that the hand gesture has been around for some time and is often associated with surf culture. It's called the 'shaka' and was adopted from local Hawaiian culture in the 1960s. It's original use is that of a greeting or a salutation.

In America, you hear guys referring to it as “hang loose" or you may even remember Ronaldinho celebrating his goals with a double shaka all the way back in the 2000's.

But in 2017, a whole new meaning has been given to the appropriated version of the shaka in the UK. Sometimes, guys will do the shaka with an additional dab or with their tongues out. The speed of the hand movement can be varied, depending on the sarcasm of it.

To make the shaka pose even more versatile, they will do it right by the hip, next to their chest or in the air. This is determined by what level of embarrassment they're aiming for.

© Kasbah Nightclub

I spoke to a guy named Josh, who is a self proclaimed shakaholic. When asked what the shaka meant to him, he replied: “I thought guys did it to signify rowdiness or the pursuit of good times. For me it's now replaced the mimicking pint gesture as a tool for describing revelry.

He continued: “It can also be used sarcastically when someone is describe how rowdy a night was or how loose they got, usually done while they're speaking about how great said night was."

Yet the trend isn't uncommon amongst girls, who have apparently also started doing the hand gesture ironically and now can't stop.

The shaka hand gesture is so popular that there's an actual emoji for it and people are legitimately getting tattoos of it.

As if dabbing or pointing in pictures wasn't enough, it seems that the shaka is taking over people's lives.

If you think you can start doing it to take the piss out of others, don't. Because before you know it, you'll be stuck doing it yourself.

Featured image credit to Soda Sundays.