A corrective action in three parts: 1. * Take open palm. 2. * Apply directly to the back of the skull. 3. * Optional: Ask some variant of "What are you, stupid or something?" The Dope Slap is a lighthearted slap (or knuckle tap) to the back of the skull that is intended as a disciplinary move by one character when another character does, says, or even thinks something that is uniformly stupid, or just to shut them up. The slap is almost always in some way played for laughs; think of it as an attempt at Percussive Maintenance on somebody's brain, and thus occasionally overlaps with Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! Another variation is a "shut up" poke to the ribs with the elbow.