wacky.banana

Shaking hands as a form of greeting between men is a custom almost as old as the existence of man himself. From Greco Roman times, when the custom was to grip the sword arm of your "guest" to today's mixture of high fives, boyakasha riddim bro, and stockmarket/business brisk affairs that we see today. Yes, the handshake has travelled a long and hard road since man first made his mark on the planet.

And yet is the handshake now potentially at risk of extinction, relegated to the history books as an outdated practice, linked to the atrociously poor personal hygiene standards in existence today?

How many times have you seen someone sat at the traffic lights enjoying a good old play with the sticky, pliable, germ ridden contents of their nose, freshly mined with finger and thumb while sat right there in front of you? Imagine taking a handshake of that (happens everyday). Or take the new low of blokes and women alike who visit the cubicle for a dump, leave an extremely fragrant deposit behind them and then step right out without washing their hands. Couple of minutes later you catch up with them ahead of a business meeting and, yes, you get to shake their turd infested digits. Nice...

So what's driven some of us to these new lows of personal hygiene? Are we too busy to take a minute to get the crap off our hands after a good dump? Do we go so hungry these days with our fad diets that we must mine and ingest the contents of our noses, then share the sticky mess on our fingers with others?

What is the solution to all this? How do we save this treasured and historic custom of greeting each other by the hand for generations to come without seeing it die a withering death on the vine of questionable personal hygiene practices?

Discuss.

WB

markr1963

While personal hygeine standards seem to have slipped, bear in mind that kids of the last 20-odd years have been wrapped in cotton wool, not playing in the dirt like when I was a kid, etc. Let's face it, there'd be a lot less cases of asthma and other maladies if kids were allowed to be kids.

Whilst there's undoubtedly some nasty bugs out there I am fairly confident my immune system ('cos it played in the dirt) will deal with most of them.

No excuse for poor hygiene though.

Mark

Johnny E

if the humble hand shake has withstood the test of dirty middens and slop outs bloodied and work soiled hands etc over the centuries i'm sure it can withstand the odd few people who don't have normal hygenic standards.

what I hat worse is shaking someones sweaty hand urrrghh, how can you unobtrusively wipe your hand after shaking a sweaty hand without offending?

don't want to necessarily hurt someones feelings, as you can't help how much you sweat (can you)?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

What is it with people and handshakes these days? Is it a dying art?

They all seem to be limp wristed touching of hands What's wrong with these poeple? Are their hands too sore and arthritic from too much w***ing???


What ever happend to the firm and solid confident grip and shake from people who "mean" business?

Or even better: The old hand crushing game for old friends and business enemies alike

wacky.banana

Johnny E,

Yes you may be right. I just think that others should not slip me a turdy hand on the sly without my say so. if I want excrement on my hands then I am more than happy to supply my own.

Although the original post is semi tongue-in-cheek this is a subject matter I do feel strongly about. It takes only seconds to practice basic hygiene.

Not sure of you guys remember the analysis undertaken by some scientists about a year ago which proved that open bar snacks (nuts, crisps etc) contained a masively high content of a component of urine. IIRC the analysis found this in over 85% of bars and pubs visited.

Again if I want a taste of pi$$ in my food I would much rather have my own, thanks.

WB

brihoppy

slightly off the original topic but handshakes is the subject of quite a long running debate between me and some friends...

weve come to the conclusion that the traditonal handshake is being overused to the extent where its being devalued as a genuine gesture...

what i mean is, we consider it acceptable to use a handshake to greet someone for the first time in a social or business context, or a friend you havent seen in a while or on a regular basis...it should also be used in congratulations; marriage, childbirth, other anniversary, etc...

but i see people shaking the hands of people they see regularly...i was working with some eastern europeans who insisted on shaking hands every single time they saw you, which i believe is a custom of theirs, but took great offence if we didnt proffer the same to them even when this isnt a british custom...?!

i think its got alot to do with the fact that years ago, a handshake meant something, whereas these days its almost become a cliche...

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

its safer to meet people on the internet....no touching

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

MMMMM, snot.

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Read a book called "Cell" by Stephen King

CLSII

eeeewwwww

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Just think of the literally billions who have born and died and never washed their hands before shaking!!

Wipe with the left, shake with the right - simple!