h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Shaking Hands - A19774461
Author: Emmily ~ h2g2 Collector's Corner - A19482249 - U190758

This is a Flea Market rescue (A404588)

All suggestions and comments welcome.

*takes deep breath, crosses fingers, and clicks submit*

Emmily

Very good, Emmily, well done

My one comment/query is:

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"your partner" is the wrong wording here, to me that implies the person you live/sleep/eat with. If it's just two men meeting & greeting affectionately - like brothers or best friends - I'd call them "friend" in this instance:
Pull your friend toward yourself and hug with the other hand.

Did you know I've shaken Prince Charles' hand?? We shook with our right hands and I grabbed them with my left, to keep him standing there talking to megood job he didn't seem to mind

Nice rescue Em - glad others are finding the Flea Market inspirational

@ GB

I've shaken that man's hand too. But I also told him off for saying the 'Q' word in the Emergency Department (quiet).

Ooh, I'm one-step removed from Matt! Thanks Your Highness

GB & Matt

I've changed 'partner' to 'the other person'. I'll add a sentence or two under the header for that section about shaking hands in different types of relationships later.

I can add a bit about shaking hands with royals and celebrities in the trivia section, I'll give it some thought.

Emmily

Hi Emmily,

Nice article!

Don't know if you want to include this, but Eddie Izzard once had a stand-up routine where he suggested that the best response to an over-aggressive handshake was to collapse and pretend to be dead. "Oh, didn't you know, he suffers from Squeezy Hand Death Syndrome."

You could also include something about 'high fives' and the various elaborations that some cliques use.

Gif

PS: I shall try out the palm-stroking thing...

Very good! How about the briefly-popular 'Shake Hands Man' from Banzai?

Giford, I'll give that some thought

Is 'high fives' considered as a type of hand shake, there's the 'boxers', (touching knuckles) as well, but I'm not sure that would come under shaking hands either?

with the palm-stroking, though you may end up with a slap in the face with a wet

Emmily

hmm Rich, 'Shake Hands Man' from Banzai' can you elaborate please.

Emmily

Banzai was a comedy/gameshow. It was a spoof Japanese show, where they'd set up silly situations so that viewers at home could bet among themselves on the outcome. So they might have two vicars with a freshly poured cup of tea and see which would drink it the quickest, for example. A regular spot was 'Mr Shake Hands Man' (Tadao Tomomatsu http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866940/), who would go up to celebrities at film openings or tea parties and see how long he could shake hands with them for while interviewing them - viewers would get a choice of (for example) A: 0-30 seconds B: 31-60 seconds etc. He'd have fun with quite a few famous people, people like Jodie Kidd, Antonio Banderas and Simon Cowell. The funny thing was that the celebrities never knew how to react to this little Japanese fella clinging onto their hand and asking questions. Some would pull their hand away almost immediately, and some, clearly desperate to get onto any TV anywhere, clung on almost as heartily themselves. I think the record was for Chris Tarrant, who was pushing three minutes of handshaking before finally letting go.

Nice job, Emmily!

It might just be me, but I thought this was a bit strange:

"A handshake can be used as a well-done gesture at an award ceremony, which could be anything from being presented a certificate at a school assembly to winning an Oscar at a lavish event."

It reads to me as though you can get Oscars at other places that the Oscar ceremony!

Great rescue though.

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You might like this Emmily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV1AaIaIHWM

I'm working though the suggestions

GB, that clip reminded me, Mina's got an Entry that includes training a dog to shake hands, I'll see if I can squeeze that in.

Rich, that link doesn't work for me, but I think I've got the jist of it.

Emmily

The bracket and comma got incorporated into the link because I forgot to put a space in - it should be http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0866940 but it's only a bio of the guy.

You can see him in action on the same site as GB recommended, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6wfordWzbw

The handshake as a means of making a contract is an important aspect.

On Valentine's Day, this reference to 'handfasting' in the marriage contract might be interesting :
http://www.llewellyn.com/bookstore/blurb.php?pn=J668&type=Excerpt

I believe there is an EG entry on handfasting. Yep, here: A14286062

What about a brief mention of cultures that don't shake - like bowing instead? An alert that handshaking isn't always appropriate.

And what about spitting on the hand before shaking to seal a bargain?

Are there any other nicknames for types of handshake in terms of strength, wetness etc?

Otherwise I liked this.

Also, devout members of some religions will refuse to shake with members of the other gender. Would-be shakers should know that (no pun intended).