text:
Handshake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For the telecommunications concept, see Handshaking.
Two people shaking hands
A handshake is a short ritual in which two people grasp one of each other's like hands, in most cases accompanied by a brief up-and-down movement of the grasped hands.
Using the right hand is generally considered proper etiquette. Customs surrounding handshakes are specific to cultures. Different cultures may be more or less likely to shake hands, or there may be different customs about how or when to shake hands.[1][2][3]
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Modern customs
3 Germ spreading
4 Chemosignaling
5 World's Longest Handshake
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
History[edit]
Hera and Athena handshaking, late 5th century BC, Acropolis Museum, Athens
Archaeological ruins and ancient texts show that handshaking – also known as dexiosis – was practiced in ancient Greece as far back as the 5th century BC; a depiction of two soldiers shaking hands can be found on part of a 5th-century BC funerary stele on display in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin (stele SK1708)[4] and other funerary steles like the one of the 4th century BC which depicts Thraseas and his wife Euandria handshaking (see images on the right).[5] The handshake is believed by some to have originated as a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon.[6][7][8]
Pictures: Handshaking depicted on historic artifacts
Hoplite greeting an older man with slave carrying the aspis
Funerary stele of Thrasea and Euandria. Marble, ca. 375-350 BC. Antikensammlung Berlin, Pergamon Museum, 738
Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, shaking hands with Heracles 70–38 BC, Arsameia.
Modern customs[edit]
Shaking with the right hand while delivering a certificate with the left
Tennis players shaking hands after match
Public image consultant Álvaro Gordoa demonstrates a handshaking technique at a presentation at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City
Leaders welcome a boy into Scouting, March 2010, Mexico City, Mexico. Note the left-handed handshake.
There are various customs surrounding handshakes, both generically and specific to certain cultures:
The handshake is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, expressing gratitude, or completing an agreement. In sports or other competitive activities, it is also done as a sign of good sportsmanship. Its purpose is to convey trust, respect, balance, and equality. If it is done to form an agreement, the agreement is not official until the hands are parted[9]
Unless health issues or local customs dictate otherwise, usually a handshake is made with bare hands. However, it depends on the situation.[10]
In Anglophone countries, in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women.[11]
In the Netherlands and Belgium, handshakes are done more often, especially on meetings.[12][13]
In Switzerland, it may be expected to shake the women's hands first.[12]
Austrians shake hands when meeting, often including with children.[12]
In Russia, a handshake is performed by men and rarely performed by women.
In some countries such as Turkey or the Arabic-speaking Middle East, handshakes are not as firm as in the West. Consequently, a grip which is too firm will be considered as rude.[12] Hand shaking between men and women is not encouraged in the Arabic world.
Moroccans also give one kiss on each cheek (to corresponding genders) together with the handshake. Also, in some countries, a variation exists where instead of kisses, after the handshake the palm is placed on the heart.[14]
In China, where a weak handshake is also preferred, people shaking hands will often hold on to each other's hands for an extended period after the initial handshake.[12]
In Japan, it is appropriate to let the Japanese initiate the handshake, and a weak handshake is preferred.[12]
In India and several nearby countries, the respectful Namaste gesture, sometimes combined with a slight bow, is traditionally used in place of handshakes. However, handshakes are preferred in business and other formal settings.
In Norway, where a firm handshake is preferred, people will most often shake hands when agreeing on deals, both in private and business relations.[12]
In South Korea, a senior person will initiate a handshake, where it is preferred to be weak. It is a sign of respect to grasp the right arm with the left hand when shaking hands. It is also considered rude or disrespectful to have your free hand in your pocket while shaking hands.[12]
Related to a handshake but more casual, some people prefer a fist bump. Typically the fist bump is done with a clenched hand. Only the knuckles of the hand are typically touched to the knuckles of the other person's hand. Like a handshake the fist bump may be used to acknowledge a relationship with another person. However, unlike the formality of a handshake, the fist bump is typically not used to seal a business deal or in formal business settings.
The hand hug is a type of handshake popular with politicians, as it can present them as being warm, friendly, trustworthy and honest. This type of handshake involves covering the clenched hands with the remaining free hand, creating a sort of "cocoon".[15]
Another version popular with politicians is a "photo-op handshake" in which, after the initial grasp both individuals turn to face present photographers and camera men and stay this way for several seconds.
Scouts will shake hands with their left hand as a gesture of trust, which originated when the founder of the movement, Lord Baden-Powell of Gillwell, then a British cavalry officer, met an African tribesman.
In some areas of Africa, handshakes are continually held to show that the conversation is between the two talking. If they are not shaking hands, others are permitted to enter the conversation.
Masai men in Africa greet one another by a subtle touch of palms of their hands for a very brief moment of time.
In Liberia, the snap handshake is customary, where the two shakers snap their fingers against each other at the conclusion of the handshake.
Secret-handshakes have developed in many north-american sports teams where every player on a team would have a variation for each teammate. Some Teachers have used this personalized technique to welcome each students into their class for the day. The term originated from rumored organizations like Fraternities or Secret- Societies to validate the claims of a stranger claiming brotherhood.
Germ spreading[edit]
Handshakes are known to spread a number of microbial pathogens. Certain diseases such as scabies are known to spread the most through direct skin-to-skin contact. A medical study has found that fist bumps and high fives spread fewer germs than handshakes.[1][2]
In light of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the dean of medicine at the University of Calgary, Tomas Feasby, suggested that fist bumps may be a "nice replacement of the handshake" in an effort to prevent transmission of the virus.[3]
Following a 2010 study that showed that only about 40% of doctors and other health care providers complied with hand hygiene rules in hospitals, Mark Sklansky, a doctor at UCLA hospital, decided to test a "a handshake-free zone" as a method for limiting the spread of germs and reducing the transmission of disease.[16] However, UCLA didn’t allow the ban of the handshakes outright, but they rather suggested other options like fist bumping, smiling, bowing, waving, and non-contact Namaste gestures.
Chemosignaling[edit]
It has been discovered as a part of a research in the Weizmann Institute, that human handshakes serve as a means of transferring social chemical signals between the shakers. It appears that there is a tendency to bring the shaken hands to the vicinity of the nose and smell them. They may serve an evolutionary need to learn about the person whose hand was shaken, replacing a more overt sniffing behavior, as is common among animals and in certain human cultures (such as Tuvalu, Greenland or rural Mongolia, where a quick sniff is part of the traditional greeting ritual). [17]
Atlantic City, New Jersey Mayor Joseph Lazarow was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for a July 1977 publicity stunt, in which the mayor shook more than 11,000 hands in a single day, breaking the record previously held by President Theodore Roosevelt, who had set the record with 8,510 handshakes at a White House reception on 1 January 1907. This had already been broken, in 1963, by Lance Dowson in Wrexham, N.Wales who shook 12,500 individuals hands in 10 1/2 hours. This was recognised by the Guinness World Records Organisation and published in their 1964 publication.[citation needed] WSAI DJ Jim Scott broke the record at Northgate Mall, Cincinnati, Oh[citation needed]. On 31 August 1987 Stephen Potter from St Albans Round table shook 19,550 hands at the St Albans Carnival to take the World record for shaking most hands verified by the Guinness Book of records. The record has since been exceeded but has been retired from the book. Stephen Potter still holds the British and European record.
World's Longest Handshake[edit]
On August 15, 2008 Kirk Williamson and Richard McCulley broke the Guinness Book's World Record for the World's Longest Handshake (single hand) when they met at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii and shook hands for 10 hours besting the previous record of 9 hours and 19 minutes set in 2006[18] On 21 September 2009, Jack Tsonis and Lindsay Morrison then broke that record by shaking hands for 12 hours, 34 minutes and 56 seconds.[19] Their record was broken less than a month later in Claremont, California, when John-Clark Levin and George Posner shook hands for 15 hours, 15 minutes, and 15 seconds. The next month, on 21 November, Matthew Rosen and Joe Ackerman surpassed this feat, with a new world record time of 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds[20] certified in the latest edition of the Guinness Book of Records on page 111. At 8 pm EST on Friday 14 January 2011 the latest attempt at the longest hand-shake commenced in New York Times Square and the existing record was smashed[21] by semi-professional world record-breaker Alastair Galpin[22][23] and Don Purdon from New Zealand and Nepalese brothers Rohit and Santosh Timilsina who agreed to share the new record after 33 hours and 3 minutes.[citation needed]

See also[edit]
Dap greeting
Fist bump
Namaste
Golden handshake
Greeting habits
Handshake Man
Holding hands
Scout handshake
Secret handshake
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b "Fist bumps, high-fives spread fewer germs than handshakes, study says". Los Angeles Times. 28 July 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b "Attention Germaphobes: A Less Icky Alternative to the Handshake". ABC News. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Fist bump can pound out flu transmission Archived 20 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Thomas, Chris (27 August 2009). "Handshake – Priest and two soldiers, 500BC. Pergamon Museum Berlin (SK1708)". Picasa Web Albums. Google. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
Jump up ^ Busterson, Philip A. Social Rituals of the British.
Jump up ^ "Dear Uncle Ezra – Questions for Tuesday, April 3, 2007". Cornell University. 3 April 2007. Question 8. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011. There are many conflicting theories about the origin of the handshake. It seems that the most common one involves the evidence of the lack of a weapon in the right hand, which normally bears a weapon. It is shown to be empty by its connectedness to the opposite person's hand. [full citation needed]
Jump up ^ Evergreen.edu 4 December 2002[unreliable source?]
Jump up ^ csun.edu −28 August 2002[unreliable source?]
Jump up ^ "Shaking hands with women". GQ. Condé Nast Digital. 2000. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
Jump up ^ Post, Emily (1922). Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Chapter 3.
Jump up ^ "Why Do People Shake Hands? | Why Do People". whydopeople.net. 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Theconnectedwoman.com – "Handshakes from Around the World"
Jump up ^ "Shaking Hands Around the World". wisc-online.com. 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
Jump up ^ Strubbe, Kevin; Hobert, Liesbeth (2009). Etiquette in het buitenland [Etiquette Abroad] (in Dutch). Leuven: Van Halewyck. ISBN 978-90-5617-910-6.
Jump up ^ Handshake: Student's Book: A Course in Communication. OUP Oxford. 7 November 1996. ISBN 978-90-5617-910-6.
Jump up ^ Handshake-Free Zone: Stopping the Spread of Germs in the Hospital
Jump up ^ Idan Frumin; Ofer Perl; Yaara Endevelt-Shapira; Ami Eisen; Neetai Eshel; Iris Heller; Maya Shemesh; Aharon Ravia; Lee Sela; Anat Arzi; Noam Sobel (3 March 2015). "A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking". eLife Sciences.
Jump up ^ NCTAMSPAC, Public Affairs Office (Fall 2008). "Sailor & Coast Guardsman Go for World Record Handshake for Charity Event" (PDF). Info Domain. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
Jump up ^ McClymont, Mhairi (21 September 2009). "Great shakes! World record raises charity funds". ABC News. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
Jump up ^ "Movers and shakers – an article on the new World Record". The Jewish Chronicle. 3 December 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
Jump up ^ "Longest Handshake: Team New Zealand and Team Nepal set world record". New York City: Worldrecordsacademy.org. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
Jump up ^ Galpin, Alastair. "Records achieved". WorldRecordChase.com. Longest continuous handshake. Retrieved 4 September 2011.
Jump up ^ "Kiwis break world record for a handshake". TVNZ.co.nz. Television New Zealand Limited. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
External links[edit]
Media related to Handshake at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of handshake at Wiktionary
http://www.videacesky.cz/ostatni-zabavna-videa/gesta-napric-kulturami
[hide]
v
t
e
Gestures
Friendly gestures
Air kiss
Applause
Cheek kiss
Dap
Elbow bump
Eskimo kiss
Finger heart
Fist bump
Forehead kiss
Hand heart
Handshake
Hand wave
Hat tip
High five
Hongi
ILY sign
Kiss
Liberian snap handshake
Namaste
OK
Pinky swear
Pound hug
Shaka
Thumb signal
Gestures of respect
Adab
Bow
Curtsey
Gadaw
Genuflection
Hand-kiss
Kowtow
Kuji-in
Mano
Mudra
Namaste
Prostration
Sampeah
Sembah
Schwurhand
Wai
Zolgokh
Salutes
Bellamy salute
Nazi salute
Raised fist
Roman salute
Scout sign and salute
Three-finger salute
Two-finger salute
Vulcan salute
Zogist salute
Celebratory gestures
Applause
Crossed hands
Fist pump
High five
Victory clasp
V sign
Finger-counting
Finger binary
Chinese number gestures
Chisanbop
Obscene gestures
Anasyrma
Bras d'honneur
Cornuto
Fig sign
Finger
Mooning
Mountza
Reversed V sign
Shocker
Thumb/index-finger ring
Wanker
Taunts
Akanbe
Finger
Loser
Talk to the hand
Head motions
Head shake
Head bobble
Nod
Other gestures
Air quotes
Allergic salute
Aussie salute
Awkward turtle
Crossed fingers
Facepalm
Eyelid pull
Finger gun
Gang signal
Hand-in-waistcoat
Hand rubbing
Jazz hands
Laban sign
Merkel diamond
Pointing
Pollice verso
Shrug
Sign of the cross
Sign of the horns
Related
List of gestures
Mudras
Articulatory gestures
Manual communication
Nonverbal communication
Sign language
Authority control
LCCN: sh2003010820
GND: 7756832-1
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Handshake&oldid=835426733"
Categories:
Greetings
Parting traditions
Hand gestures
Hidden categories:
Webarchive template wayback links
Articles needing more detailed references
All articles lacking reliable references
Articles lacking reliable references from September 2011
CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)
Use dmy dates from May 2017
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014
Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017
Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters
Pages using Columns-list with deprecated parameters
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikiquote
Languages
العربية
Bân-lâm-gú
Català
Čeština
ChiShona
Deutsch
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
Italiano
עברית
Basa Jawa
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Português
Русский
Shqip
Simple English
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
Tiếng Việt
粵語
中文
20 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 8 April 2018, at 17:14.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

values:
note
hatnote navigation-not-searchable

attrs: href class

attrs: href class title

attrs: class style

value: p

value: sup

values: Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell

values:
/wiki/2009_H1N1_pandemic
mw-redirect
2009 H1N1 pandemic

values:
/wiki/Weizmann_Institute
mw-redirect
Weizmann Institute

values: List of mayors of Atlantic City, New Jersey

values:
/wiki/Guinness_Book_of_World_Records
mw-redirect
Guinness Book of World Records

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (November 2014)

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values: Cincinnati Inquirer 8 Sep 1977, page 77 (August 2017)

values:
/wiki/Guinness_Book_of_Records
mw-redirect
Guinness Book of Records

values:
/wiki/Nepalese_people
mw-redirect
Nepalese people

values:
/wiki/Dap_greeting
mw-redirect
Dap greeting

values:
/wiki/Greeting_habits
mw-redirect
Greeting habits

values: div-col columns column-count column-count-2

values: -moz-column-count: 2; -webkit-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;

values: A more detailed citation is required. (September 2013)

values: The material near this tag may rely on an unreliable source. (September 2011)

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
/wiki/Finger_heart
mw-redirect
Finger heart

values: nowraplinks collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/7756832-1

values: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

values: Category:Articles needing more detailed references

values: Category:All articles lacking reliable references

values: Category:Articles lacking reliable references from September 2011

values: Category:CS1 Dutch-language sources (nl)

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017

values: Category:Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters

values: Category:Pages using Columns-list with deprecated parameters

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Handshake
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values: مصافحة – Arabic

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-min-nan
display: none;

values:
https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encaixada
Encaixada – Catalan
ca
ca
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ca
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cs
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sn
display: none;

values:
https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manpremo
Manpremo – Esperanto
eo
eo
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eo
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eu
display: none;

values: دست دادن – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ko
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-it
display: none;

values: לחיצת יד – Hebrew

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-he
display: none;

values:
https://jv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salaman
Salaman – Javanese
jv
jv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-no
display: none;

values:
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handtrykk
Handtrykk – Norwegian Nynorsk
nn
nn
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nn
display: none;

values: Рукопожатие – Russian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sq
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-simple
display: none;

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Handshake rootpage-Handshake skin-vector action-view