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A 'handshake' is a short ritual in which two people grasp their right or left hands, often accompanied by a brief shake of the grasped hands.
The handshake is initiated when the two hands touch, immediately. It is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, or completing an agreement. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality.^[1] Handshakes possibly originated as a gesture showing that the hand holds no weapon.
In Anglophone countries, shaking hands is considered the standard greeting in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women. It is considered to be in poor taste to show dominance with too strong a handshake^[1]; conversely, too weak a handshake (sometimes referred to as a "limp fish" or "dead fish" handshake) is also considered unseemly^[3].

Contents

Customs

See also

References

Customs

There are various customs surrounding handshakes, both generically and specific to certain cultures:

★ Generally it is considered inappropriate to reject a handshake.

★ In some cultures people shake both hands, but in most cultures people shake the right hand.

★ Scouts specifically use a left handshake, as do practitioners of Fencing. This is due to the right hand being employed holding a pole or a sword respectively.

★ Secret societies and fraternities and sororities often use secret handshakes to identify themselves as initiated brothers or sisters to outside members.


★ In American culture, there is a "Soul Brother Handshake," also called a "Power" or "Unity" shake, dating to the 1960s, begun among African-American men, and still widely practiced between men of various races and particularly among teenage boys as a gesture of close friendship. This is usually a three move procedure, beginning with a traditional, palm-to-palm clasp, followed in quick succession by a clasping at the hilt of the thumbs, and finally, by a hooked clasp of only the fingers, in the manner of railroad couplers. Variations include the above, followed by an exchange of facing palm slaps, as in "Gimme Five," or fist bumping, tops-to-bottoms, "the face slap", or knuckles-to-knuckles.

★ In Islam, handshakes are an old tradition, accompanied with a salutation known as ''As-Salamu Alaykum'' ''(peace be upon you)''.

See also

★ Greeting habits

★ Holding hands

★ Handshake Man

★ Golden handshake

★ Handshaking lemma

References

1. men.style.com - GQ Style Guy, June 2000
2. men.style.com - GQ Style Guy, June 2000
3. Handshaking: Do you know what your handshake says about you?