The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
regardless of their sex, in Britain hand-shaking is more
likely to occur between two men than between a man and
a woman or two women. The preponderance of
male-male hand-shaking in Britain could be a hangover
from the days when men used the handshake to sea!
agreements.
When people perform a non-contact greeting they often
accompany their verbal salutations with a slight dip of the
head. The British have developed their own version, which
is the 'head-cock'. This is performed by shifting the chin to
one side while the top of the head is lowered - in other
words, by dipping and twisting the head at the same time.
This greeting often mystifies visitors to Britain, who
wonder what it could conceivably mean. Its origins are
rather obscure. It is possible that the head-cock emerged
from the practice of tugging the forelock, a submissive
gesture used during medieval times. It's also possible that
the head-cock originated from the now defunct practice of
doffing or touching the hat. Winking is another possible
source, because it often involves an involuntary tilt of the
head to one side. The collusive message conveyed by
winking is also to be found in the head-cock. Finally, the
head-cock may be a hybrid gesture - a cross between
the head-dip and head-canting, both of which, as we saw
earlier, are signals of submissiveness.
Another form of greeting that varies cross-culturally is
the kiss. The practice of kissing a lady's hand has all but
disappeared, but before the Second World War it was used
extensively throughout Europe, especially in countries
like Poland and Hungary, which once formed part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. If you find a man kissing a
woman's hand nowadays, the chances are he's joking
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