THE BACK STORY Is the handshake over or will it make a post-pandemic return?
t’s been over eight months since I shook someone’s hand. I don’t know when we’ll return to work “as normal” or what that will look like, but it got me thinking about the different greetings we use around the world, the role they play in how we communicate with one another, and whether the pandemic has made some obsolete. A popular theory is that handshaking originated as a way of conveying peaceful intentions and demonstrating that you were not carrying a weapon. So, the gesture is certainly outdated. Homer described handshakes several times in the Iliad and the Odyssey but using it as an everyday greeting is a more recent phenomenon. It began to appear in etiquette manuals in the 1800s and today, a Google search reveals thousands of results and countless YouTube tutorials on how to shake hands correctly. I even remember, in the early years of my career as a Junior Account Exec at Lansons, participating in a networking workshop ahead of the agency’s famous annual party, which included an exercise on how to properly shake hands with guests. Growing up in France, I was more accustomed to “la bise” — the it-couldn’t-be-more-French-if-ittried practice of planting an air kiss on both cheeks of the person you’re meeting, while making a kissing noise. Despite the more intimate nature of this gesture compared to the handshake, it’s not limited to informal meetings with friends — countless times, I saw co-workers of both genders greet one another in this way, though it’s customary for men to wait for the women to initiate. There are dozens of different greetings around the world and they all play an important role in how we communicate with friends, colleagues, elders and royalty. In Ukraine, it’s three kisses on the cheek — left, right, left — to say hello. In New Zealand, Maori leaders use the traditional “Honghi” of rubbing noses — we’ve seen countless leaders engage in the greeting over the years. In Tibet, it is
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There are dozens of different greetings around the world.
a sign of respect to stick your tongue out at someone — something that would likely communicate the opposite in most other places the world. The traditional greeting of Greenland is the “Kunik”, which involves pressing the nose and upper lip against the other person’s skin. In Japan, you bow — a deep and long bend at the waist indicates respect, whilst a small nod of the head is casual and informal. In the Philippines, when a young person greets an elder, they bow and hold the right hand of the older person, pressing their knuckles against their forehead. If you ever meet a member of the British Royal Family, you can read up on how to appropriately greet them on their official website, but in summary, it’s a curtsy for ladies and a small neck bow for gentlemen. Earlier this week, I watched the first of three presidential debates between Trump and Biden. Social distancing measures meant they didn’t shake hands as they met one another on stage, though given how they proceeded to speak to and interrupt one another for the next 90 minutes, it would have almost been stranger if they had. At the beginning of the year when news of COVID-19 cases began to emerge outside of China, we playfully greeted one another with the “elbow bump”, blissfully unaware of the significant challenges and changes that lay ahead. Even if a vaccine is developed by Spring next year, it’s very possible that social distancing measures and mask-wearing will remain mandatory at certain gatherings for months if not years after. So, it will be interesting to see which of the aforementioned greetings — many of which rely on touching a person’s hand or face — will survive. My personal view is that they represent a unique and important part of our societies and cultures, so we should do what we can to preserve them as long as it is safe to do so. Hopefully the handshake will return, but if not, I’m happy to give the “Wuhan shake” a go. By Valentina Kristensen, director, growth & communications at OakNorth, Chair of the Influence editorial board.
