It's Smacking Someone In The Face

Why do people always ask what the sound of one hand clapping is? I know, I know, it's an ancient Zen riddle, but it never made any sense to me. I get the "tree falling in the forest with no one around" one. That's kind of an interesting idea. It's something to think about. How can we really know? Do we believe what science tells us? Are the vibrations that make the sound a sound in itself, or does it have to be heard to be considered one?* But the "one hand clapping" thing? That just seems incredibly stupid to me. There is no sound. It's one hand!

What exact kind of motion are they referring to? Is it like clenching your hand, tapping your fingers against your palm? Or is it even more stupid, and it's just a hand flailing around in the air like the owner has some kind of horrible disease that it wouldn't be funny to make jokes about? What are they talking about when they ask this question? Nobody I've ever talked to seems to know.

Maybe it's just taking your hand and hitting something else that isn't your other hand. That would be one hand clapping I guess. Would smacking your hand against your arm be one hand clapping? That seems like the only way for it to even approach any kind of sense in the broad realms of basic logic. Maybe you have to just swing your hand so hard that it collides with the air. Is that possible? I'm sure we've built things that move that fast by now. And if we haven't we will soon.

*For the record, I firmly believe that it does make a sound.