The Ultimate Body Language Book

The handshake is quickly becoming the most popular method that people meet and greet one another.
Fast becoming the most common type of greeting is the handshake as it represents the middle ground
between the kiss and the bow. It contains some intimacy in the form of touching but stops short of
being too intimate for most cultures. Even with respect to the handshake there are differences across
cultures. For example firm handshakes are welcome in the West but in Asia are seen as aggressive. In
parts of East Asia and North America, women and children rarely initiate a handshake, but will usually
oblige if offered, and in Islamic countries men never shake the hands of women. Across the world a
handshake is most commonly done with the right hand, but is far from universal.
The French lead the world in the handshake department and have been shown to shakes hands for up to
thirty minutes a day. Shaking hands is common for the British, Australian, Canadian, American and
German. Variations of the number of pumps also exist with some cultures shaking hands up to seven
times. For example people from Northern Europe pump hands up and down only once and those from
Southern Europe and Latin America pump hands up and down longer and with more vigor. Other
cultures, still, will continue to hold the hand even after the handshake is complete which is common for
Indian, Asian and Arabic cultures. If not prepared, this intimacy can be disconcerting and one might be
driven to pull their hand free.
Hand kissing is another ritualistic greeting, but one that is nearly extinct today. It was common in the
European upper class in the 18th and 19th century. The hand kiss was a form of respect given to
someone of high class by someone of lower class. The palm was presented face down to a subordinate
and he or she would bow forward and kisses the knuckles or ring. It is still observed in Central Europe
such as Austria, Poland, Turkey and Hungary. Other greeting gestures are the kowtow from the Chinese
which happens by kneeling and bowing so low as the head nearly touches the ground, the hongi, a
traditional greeting in New Zealand where the noses are pressed together and hugging which is more
common among friends and family in North America, but more universal in Latin America even
amongst men, and in Russia where we see firm handshakes followed by big hugs called “bear hugs.”
Polynesians can be seen following up hugs with back rubbing. In North America where greeting
gestures are less formal, the fist pound happens where two fists are brought together as if punching
each other. Less intimate greetings include waving, hat tipping or “doff” (which is mostly obsolete) and
hat raising common in the 19th and early 20th centuries.