It’s not easy keeping up with all the latest workplace and tech trends (hey, I just finally got plugged into Twitter). But frankly, some are not worth the effort. They’re just silly.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about, with the question courtesy of USA Today: “Can the fist bump mix with business?”

According to the newspaper, the fist bump is the trendy new way to exchange business greetings without actually shaking hands, but not all agree that this is a good thing.

“I have not encountered a fist bump and would judge anyone who tried it as a total redneck,” says Dr. Grace Keenan, medical director of Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center in Ashburn, Virginia. ”I hope that it never is seen as a replacement for a handshake in the business community.”

The USA Today story also notes: “The handshake has been a part of business since the dawn of commerce and is too entrenched to be replaced, says University of Iowa management professor Greg Stewart, who recently completed a study confirming that a firm handshake at a job interview is as helpful as a dead-fish handshake is detrimental. … Fist bumps did not come up during the research, but Stewart strongly discourages them at job interviews.”

I’m not against new social traditions, but I wouldn’t know how to react if someone I was interviewing tried to forgo the usual handshake and close with a fist bump instead. To me, it’s about as serious as a high five, but according to some of those who talked to USA Today, I may be out of touch.

“In business, the fist bump is catching on mainly among younger men,” the newspaper says. “Eric Casaburi, the 34-year-old CEO of Retrofitness, a Manalapan, New Jersey, company that franchises workout facilities in five East Coast states, says that one of his managers said goodbye recently with a fist bump. It seemed natural, but Casaburi says he would hesitate to do the same with an older franchisee.

 Older executives believe they can tell something from a handshake, Casaburi says, but, ‘I don’t buy into that.’ He sees the fist bump as a positive addition to the business greeting repertoire. But Paul Lipschutz, the 62-year-old CEO of water treatment products company WaterPure in Fort Lauderdale, says it should be reserved for light-hearted moments or between business associates who are otherwise friends. ‘Save fist bumping for germaphobes, boxers and fun,’ he says.”

In other words, this burgeoning business tradition seems to break down across generational lines—younger workers like the fist bump, while older ones don’t. And the fist bump may also be an HR issue in the making.

“Tom Moore, the 62-year-old CEO of Cord Blood Registry in San Bruno, California, which stores cord blood stem cells from 220,000 newborns for potential medical use down the road, says he began seeing fist bumps at his company about two years ago,” according to USA Today. He said that “a female employee considered it a male-dominating interaction, so … people were made aware that it might be inappropriate.”
 
As business trends go, this is a silly one, but then again, I could be wrong. Barack Obama seems to like it, and it could be the next hot, cutting-edge thing, like MySpace, Facebook or Twitter. Or then again, it could go the way of the Betamax and the Zune. In any case, it’s a workplace trend I can do without.