To shake hands or not? An age-old human gesture now in limbo

To shake hands or not? An age-old WESTERN gesture now in limbo

There, fixed the headline for you

Shaking hands is definitely making a comeback at my sports club. After a match I always put my hand out and if there is any hesitancy on the part of the other person I encourage them by saying "we've all been jabbed so let's get back to normal" and it always works.

I encourage them by saying "we've all been jabbed so let's get back to normal" and it always works.

so you spread the virus asymptomatically, congrats

just bow, we could all use that instead

so you spread the virus asymptomatically, congrats

While there is a very remote possibility that I could be asymptomatically infected, if I were to pass it on to another person who has - like me - been double jabbed and they also become asymptomatically infected, so what? It will, in fact, strengthen their immune system!

Those who want the double vaccinated to continue to take other precautions are anti-science extremists. I believe in the vaccines and I am confident that these offer excellent protection. The whole point of vaccinating against Covid is so that we can then forget it and get back to normal.

Humans have many methods of greetings. A funny take on this is the classic scene from the movie "Airplane!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQ_lWEtMb4

To the perpetually frightened, you can just stay home. I welcome the return of the handshake. It helps to show who can think for themselves. Even better when they've figured out masks are a waste of time.

To the perpetually frightened, you can just stay home. I welcome the return of the handshake. It helps to show who can think for themselves. Even better when they've figured out masks are a waste of time.

Any evidence of that or is it just again a personal idea already proved wrong completely by man different studies?

virusrexToday  11:44 am JST

To the perpetually frightened, you can just stay home. I welcome the return of the handshake. It helps to show who can think for themselves. Even better when they've figured out masks are a waste of time.

Any evidence of that or is it just again a personal idea already proved wrong completely by man different studies?

And didn't you take the bait?

And didn't you take the bait?

So now you purposefully repeat false information just to see who can demonstrate you are wrong? and somehow consider this something appropiate to do even if it could endanger other people that don't know your comment is completely false?, tell me again how everybody else is so bad.

To the perpetually frightened, you can just stay home

The fear and hysterics I see tend to come from the ‘alternative media’ anti-vaxxers.

These people pile conspiracy theory and paranoia onto the fear.

Anyway, I think the handshake will be back. I hope so.

Shaking hands is so passe....why not invent a new method of greeting. Hold an international competition to vote for the bes idea.

Personally,I'd look to other mammals for inspiration.

I broke my hand once and it still can be very painful if some handshake clown wants to be the man and really squeeze it. I am thankful handshakes are gone. Got tired also of people asking me why I often used my left hand to shake.

@Piskian: Do you mean like dogs?

You are too funny.

Do the namaste or bowing.

@hello kitty

Exactly. Your on point with that comment.

Alcohol, shake, alcohol.

What's the issue?

piskianToday  05:33 pm JST

Personally,I'd look to other mammals for inspiration.

2( +2 / -0 )

Like dogs? They sniff each other where the sun does not shine...except on dogs.

Even pre-Covid I though that shaking hands was gross. I've seen way too many people sneezing right into their hands, wiping their runny noses with their hands and coming out of restrooms way too quickly to have washed properly. I'm not a big germaphobe and I didn't grow up in a culture where bowing was the norm but I've definitely come to see that as the better option and hope that the one good thing to come out of this past year and a half is a willingness to forgo shaking and to just give each other a nod or bow as a way of greeting. Go on and shake if you want but don't be so harsh to judge others if they'd prefer not to.

 An age-old human gesture

Eds: Can you change this overblown headline? "Age-old" is pure hyperbole and "Human" is obviously wrong and very wrongly suggests 'universal' and should be changed to, maybe, 'cultural'. The 'bow' is a much better acknowledgement of another Human and removes also any temptation to demonstrate one's virility, and the handshake can be a very clumsy gesture at times without even mentioning our ever heightening awareness, even among the educationally impaired, of all that lives around and upon each of us. And the 'necessity' of it seems to be mostly in people whose job is manipulating the minds and/or emotions of those they encounter such as politicians, salespeople, 'investment advisors' and such while, if one is paying attention, appears often to be one of the most insincere gestures many Humans can make for which we have no better example than the trump. Acculturating to the bow was a small epiphany for this head and is much preferred than to grip a sweaty or a limp or aggressively viseoid or greedy hand in a meaningless ritual that is only practiced by certain cultures for unknown historical reasons. Who really needs it, and in this time of disease hyper-awareness, Human creativity has demonstrated several other gestures which convey the same message without the slavery of 'custom'. No loss to Humanity the disparagement of the 'handshake'.

A widely held belief is that it originated to prove to someone that a person was offering peace and not holding a hidden weapon.

That was true in the BC era (Before Corona) Now in the AD era (After Disease) its proving to be the exact opposite.