Shake It Up Baby
Handshakes are becoming ever more complex. I remember a time when greeting a man in public, (or privately) was simply a case of extending one's right hand and giving a firm shake. The length of the shake? 1 to 2 seconds. Any longer would be too much. We all knew where we were with that.
This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. It's evolved. There's the 2 point shake, grab hand in one direction then the other. The 3 point shake, the first 2 steps of the 2 pointer, followed by a locking of the fingers. The high slap, grab, then shoulder to shoulder in a manly semi hug.( I haven't come up with a name for that one yet.) There are many more.
To be honest, I just don't know what to do any more. If you go for the 3 pointer when only a 2 was required, you look a fool. If you go for a shoulder to shoulder manly semi hug when only a formal handshake was wanted, you look ridiculous.
The kiss goodbye has similar problems. Do you go for just the one? Or two? I once met a girl from France who insisted on kissing everyone three times. By the time she had greeted everyone with a kiss hello, she'd ran out of time and had to kiss everyone goodbye. I never did get to speak with her. Maybe she wasn't very good at conversation.
This doesn't seem to be the case anymore. It's evolved. There's the 2 point shake, grab hand in one direction then the other. The 3 point shake, the first 2 steps of the 2 pointer, followed by a locking of the fingers. The high slap, grab, then shoulder to shoulder in a manly semi hug.( I haven't come up with a name for that one yet.) There are many more.
To be honest, I just don't know what to do any more. If you go for the 3 pointer when only a 2 was required, you look a fool. If you go for a shoulder to shoulder manly semi hug when only a formal handshake was wanted, you look ridiculous.
The kiss goodbye has similar problems. Do you go for just the one? Or two? I once met a girl from France who insisted on kissing everyone three times. By the time she had greeted everyone with a kiss hello, she'd ran out of time and had to kiss everyone goodbye. I never did get to speak with her. Maybe she wasn't very good at conversation.
posted by Spoon at 3:40 pm
3 Comments:
That reminds me of..
The kissing thing. Whether to kiss the cheek once, twice or thrice. Or if, in etiquette terms, one should simply go for the lips. And then there's air kissing! Whatever that's about?
Yes, a tricky, and sometimes time consuming business. Imagine if you've been out for dinner with seven people. Seven people who like it thrice, as you put it. Thats three kisses per person, that's gonna take three seconds. Plus there's the time taken to move along the line to the others. I'd guess five seconds each. This is rarely conducted in silence, so there's twenty seconds of chat to add to this goodbye procedure.
That's one minute sixteen seconds wasted. I might have missed my bus!
A compromise on this whole situation would be to kiss your own hand, then quickly touch everyone's faces before you leave. Now wouldn't that be quick!
I see what you mean. That's many seconds there and meanwhile, time moved on. The thing about buses is, when you least expect it, three suddenly turn up all at the same time and you'll be spoilt for choice! Make sure to choose the right number for your own particular destination.
I was talking about the funny little ways people greet eachother. Though I suppose it's just as relevant if you're saying goodbye. I'm not so sure about kissing ones own hand and touching their faces. Is it such a good idea? It might be taken the wrong way, especially if you were late for a bus.
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