Handshakes Around the World

SOCIAL STUDIES – A DAILY MISCELLANY OF INFORMATION

BY

MICHAEL KESTERTON from the Globe and Mail

No air-kissing for execs

Tomorrow will be U.S. National Handshake Day. The training firm that is promoting the idea says: "Get a grip on a professional handshake today! The handshake is an important part of corporate America and can make or break a business deal, interview or other encounter."

Source: Chase's Calendar of Events 2008

World o' handshakes

"As handshakes go, the greeting between President Bush and Gordon Brown was a very odd one," Dr. Peter Collett wrote last week in The Daily Mail. The Prime Minister opted for a conventional shake while the President opted for a more streetwise shake. The result was a tangle with three of Mr. Brown's fingers sliding up Mr. Bush's sleeve. The U.S. President, Dr. Collett added, likes to catch people unawares. Some notes about shaking:

The Queen has developed her own way of informing her subjects that the royal handshake is about to be terminated: she surreptitiously and almost imperceptibly pushes the other person's hand away.

The French are enthusiastic about le handshake. They repeat the gesture with the same people throughout the day.

In West Africa , expect to have your hand grasped for minutes on end while you are bombarded with questions about your well-being.

Chairman Mao had a limp handshake. It didn't say anything about his character.

In certain remote parts of South America and New Guinea , tribesmen greet each other with scrotal handshakes, gently grasping each other's testicles rather than hands.