About

Linning is a secret handshake originally done by basketball players Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields. Still images usually consist of the final pose of the meme, making “nerd glasses” toward a friend or the camera.

Origin

The original Linning video was posted to Youtube on February 7, 2012 by user mcastro983 on Feb 7, 2012. The video showed the recent New York Knicks recruit Jeremy Lin doing a secret handshake with fellow player Landry Fields before a game. The handshake was composed of things like flipping through a book and putting away nerd glasses. This was most likely making fun of Lin's time as a Harvard student.

Spread

This meme spread quickly. Sports fans latched on to the quirkiness of the handshake, especially the nerd glasses part. On February 9th, Business Insider writer Lorenzo Arguello reported on Lin's new handshake. The Time Newsfeed posted an article on the subject on February 14th. A site deticated to hosting examples of the meme was created on February 12th.