Greeting Customs of The World

If there is one custom that might be assumed to be beyond criticism, it is the custom of shaking hands; but it seems that even this innocent and amiable practice is upon its trial. A heavy indictment has been directed against it in the press on hygienic grounds, and we are urged to adopt some healthier mode of expressing our mutual emotion when we meet or part. I think it would need a pretty stiff Act of Parliament and a heavy code of penalties to break us of so ingrained a habit. Of course, there are many people in the world who go through life without ever shaking hands. Probably most people in the world manage to do so. The Japanese bows and the Indian says ‘namaste, and the Chinese make a grave motion of the hand, and the Arab touches the breast of his friend at parting with the tips of his fingers.

By comparison with these modes of salutation, it may be that our western custom of shaking each other by the hand seems coarse and rustic, but I cannot conceive that Englishmen will ever be argued out of shaking hands with each other. A greeting that we really feel without the grip of the hand to accompany it would seem like a repulse or a sacrilege. It would be a bond without the seal – as cold as a stepmother’s breath, as official as a type-written signature. It would be like denying our hands their natural office.