Eyes on the elbows, fellows. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

It isn’t too hard to successfully pull off a handshake or fist bump, but executing a crisp high five is another matter. Not only can hand-eye coordination fail, leaving high fivers swatting at air, but if you don’t slap hands at just the right spot, the auditory effect is lackluster. I, for one, have fallen prey to such pitiful high fives in the past – that is, until my brother-in-law passed along an invaluable tip for making a sharp, satisfying high five every time.

Most high fivers pay too much attention to their hands, when, in fact, they should keep an eye on the elbows. To never miss a high five, look at the other person’s elbow as you go in for the slap instead of staring at their hand. I searched around fruitlessly for a scientific explanation to this trick but can tell you from experience that the results are impressively accurate (unless you’re practicing this tip with someone who intentionally misses to skew the outcome…). Not only will you make solid contact with the other person’s hand, but that glorious high five sound will also echo far and wide, heralding the message of your joint jubilation.

Now, high five tips might seem like the lowest common denominator of how-to advice, but the celebratory gesture’s origin is surprisingly interesting. For one thing, the high five has only been in use since the late 1970s, and sources disagree about who invented it.

According to Slate and The Phrase Finder, basketball player Derek Smith performed the first official high five in 1980. The University of Louisville forward supposedly devised it with his teammates during their bid for the NCAA championship. Others attribute the high five to former LA Dodger Glenn Burke, who allegedly used it to congratulate a teammate who hit a home run in 1977. National High Five Day, on the other hand, credits Kentuckian Monts Sleets. As a toddler, Sleets purportedly high fived his father’s military friends who referred to themselves as “The Five.”

Like raising the roof, bumping chests and performing a tomahawk chop, there’s a time and a place for high fiving. And now, when those perfect opportunities come along, you can make the mark every time. Just try it and see.

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