Geek Quotes

The Vulcan Salute first appeared on Star Trek in the first episode of season 2. “Amok Time” premiered September 15, 1967. It was the first time that Spock met another Vulcan on-screen, so Leonard Nimoy wanted to help develop Vulcan sociology through something like a ritual. So he suggested to the director that they should have some special greeting that Vulcans do. The director asked what he meant. Nimoy explained that humans have rituals like shaking hands, nodding or bowing to each other, or saluting each other, so it seemed like Vulcans should do something. He suggested a hand gesture he had seen in his youth, the shape of the letter “shin” in the Hebrew Alphabet, altering it slightly to have the palm forward with the thumb extended and fingers parted between the middle and ring finger creating the “V” like sign with one hand.

Born out of Nimoy’s Jewish heritage, this gesture changed the way geeks greeted each other from then on. The phrase “Live long and prosper” accompanied the salute. Eventually, LLAP became a way to sign off of email/text/social and the Vulcan Salute became an Emoji 🖖.