How To ‘Clock It’: Durand Bernarr Corrects the Viral Trend

If you’ve spent any time on the internet, then you’ve more than likely seen people use the phrase “clock it” or “clock that” in conversation and do the accompanying tapping motion with their fingers. But according to singer Durand Bernarr–we’ve all been doing it wrong this entire time. Don’t worry, we’ll explain.

The “Leveled” singer recently brought the much-needed education during his latest interview on the “Pour Minds” podcast with hosts Drea and Lex. During their chat, which covered everything from walking in confidence, Bernarr’s recent Grammy win earlier this year and more, the conversation veered off when Lex did the hand signal, tapping her thumb and index finger together.

That’s when the “Stuck” singer swiftly corrected her and told her the real on how to accurately do the motion.

“First and foremost, it’s the middle finger,” Bernarr began. “Which means ‘you ate that, I approve.’ That’s applause. Clock that is not a hand signal. This is the sign language signal for the number eight. Which means you ate that, I approve, oh b*tch yes, I approve, yes ma’am.’”

He then went on to explain how the phrase originated from the trans community and how there’s no official hand signal for it. However, if you’re going to do the hand signal, then you ought to do it in the correct context.

He continued, “So when you say ‘clock that,’ there’s no signal, hand signal for clock that. Clocking that means someone exposed your truth. So when we’re talking about our trans sisters that’s going out into the world, they’re like ‘oh b*tch, you got out into the world without somebody clocking you,’ meaning they clocked your real tea. That’s what that means but there was no hand signal for that.”

He concluded by saying that it was Leiomy, the trans woman judge from the popular HBO Max show “Legendary,” that helped popularize the hand motion (with the middle finger and thumb touching together) to mean approval and praise.

Naturally, given this newfound knowledge, the clip began making the rounds on social media with some users feeling happy that the truth was finally broadcasted to the mainstream.

“Thank you!!!! People been using it all wrong!” wrote one user on X/Twitter.

“That’s been annoying me for months seeing folks using the wrong finger,” said another.

“Black people on here and elsewhere have been telling people for years about it. I’m so glad someone with actual status to correcting people. Especially now them non Blacks wanted folks can see it and leave tings alone,” one other user wrote.

Added another: “OH DURAND YOU BETTER EDUCATE!!!”