Handshakes in your country

[Buckshot Bear]

What are handshakes like in your country?

 

It's pretty much a given in Australia that you want to hear bones creak, extra points for bending a ring on someone's finger. Of course, if you're shaking an elderly bloke's hand you use common sense.

 

You are very much judged by the firmness (or lack thereof) of your handshake.

 

Boys are taught from a very young age to shake hands firmly.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Firm, but not the bone crushers you described.  Here that's usually a direct challenge. 

 

But definitely not the dead fish version. There was one guy at a company we did business with whe had a handshake like a wet dishrag. I always hated shaking his hand.  Felt like I needed to wash up afterwards. 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

My experiencw with Ozzies is they don't have muscles in their hands.

[watab kid]

firm but not to injure the elderly - i say that because my hands are starting to cripple with arthritis - we were taught to respect the elderly , your buddies , anything goes - grovel in the dirt if thats you pleasure but its a bit unbecoming 

[Blackwater 53393]

I learned a little trick from a karate instructor. If someone tries to mangle my hand, they won’t use theirs again for several days. There’s a pressure point in the forearm that will temporarily put the hand out of action!!

[watab kid]

that sounds good to me , a pressure point , i can break a wrist pretty quickly but it seems so permanent 

[Buckshot Bear]

5 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

Firm, but not the bone crushers you described.  Here that's usually a direct challenge. 

 

But definitely not the dead fish version. There was one guy at a company we did business with whe had a handshake like a wet dishrag. I always hated shaking his hand.  Felt like I needed to wash up afterwards. 

 

Theres nothing worse is there than a cadaver hand shake...... Makes my skin crawl. 

[Texas Joker]

Come in at a steep angle and gently force the back of your thumb web into their thumb forcing to to stay mostly upright and you can control their strength and leverage on your hand. Most grip strength come from the thumb.

[Eyesa Horg]

5 hours ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

I learned a little trick from a karate instructor. If someone tries to mangle my hand, they won’t use theirs again for several days. There’s a pressure point in the forearm that will temporarily put the hand out of action!!

Where!!!

[Eyesa Horg]

I hate my own sometimes .

Since wrecking my shoulder, I don't always get my hand all the way out there quick enough! Results in the other person shaking my fingers. Seems asking for a redux would be weird. By the same token, I don't like getting my hand crushed either. I was taught, firm, look in the eye, hold for a few seconds.

, 

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

Here's a professional complication.
Physicians in general and surgeons in particular have a mild handshake, especially when greeting a fellow medicine man.

It is a professional recognition of the delicacy of touch and digital precision required when performing surgery.

[Subdeacon Joe]

58 minutes ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

Here's a professional complication.
Physicians in general and surgeons in particular have a mild handshake, especially when greeting a fellow medicine man.

It is a professional recognition of the delicacy of touch and digital precision required when performing surgery.

 

A handshake can be "mild" and still be firm without being what Brother Buckshot so aptly described as the "cadaver hand shake," a term which I'm going to add to my lexicon.  Mild but firm is decisive, offered without hesitation, you know it's there, you can tell it could be much stronger but the giver chooses to go light with it.  

[Eyesa Horg]

As done when shaking a Ladies hand.

[Rye Miles #13621]

Ever since Covid “fist bumping” has become more prevalent. Some people don’t want to shake hands!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I thought elbow bumping was ridiculous.

[Dr. Zook]

Firm handshake, look em in their eyes and how long was depending on situation.  Meet n greet on the street vs say a funeral.

Your word and handshake was your bond.

At one point, I learned that the position of your hand meant something (body language) as well.

When you offered your hand forward towards the receiver:

Palm downward you thought you were better than that person.

Palm up, sign of respect that person was superior to you.

Palm vertical,  you considered that person equal.

 

What's your interpretation?

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

10 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

My experiencw with Ozzies is they don't have muscles in their hands.

OH! Now that's going get responses and challenges.

 

The Ozzies I knew in 'Nam had firm but not uncomfortabe hand shakes.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Just now, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

OH! Now that's going get responses and challenges.

 

The Ozzies I knew in 'Nam had firm but not uncomfortabe hand shakes.

I knew three professionally. One was a Bloke, the other two were dead hands.  I dont remember from my time in Oz, that was too long ago.

[Subdeacon Joe]

1 hour ago, Dr. Zook said:

Firm handshake, look em in their eyes and how long was depending on situation.  Meet n greet on the street vs say a funeral.

Your word and handshake was your bond.

At one point, I learned that the position of your hand meant something (body language) as well.

When you offered your hand forward towards the receiver:

Palm downward you thought you were better than that person.

Palm up, sign of respect that person was superior to you.

Palm vertical,  you considered that person equal.

 

What's your interpretation?

 

I think that's a bit of a stretch, reading way too much into it.

[WD Farren]

Masons have a light shake that can be interpreted by the unwashed as effeminate.

 

I know combat vet Masons with a light shake who can tear apart the bully boys who think it is “manly” to crush somebody’s hand.

[Blackwater 53393]

Another trick is to place your off hand on top of the other person’s hand.  It’s often recognized as a gesture of sincerity and it almost always breaks up any sense of a contest!

 

If it doesn’t, you’ve got two hands to their one! 😜

[Rip Snorter]

Then there are all the secret handshakes!  Strangest one I had in business was shaking hands with an enormous guy, former college athlete.  Normal firm handshake got a yelp out of him and an accusation of trying to crush his hand,  Weird since his hand literally enveloped mine.  Never did sort that one out.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

My dad taught me to keep you hand vertical and look the person in the eye...unless you were shaking hands with a woman.  Then it's palms up at about a 45 degree angle and firm but not too strong nor too weak in any way.

 

Either way, keep your wrist solid, NOT EVER LIMP.

 

The only times it  ever varied was with my frat brothers and our "secret" hand shake.

[Cypress Sun]

A firm, genuine handshake is the way I shake hands. Look them, in the eyes, firm grip (but not overpowering) lasting no longer than 2 or 3 seconds. I used to be an electrician for 45 years, anyone that wanted to show how big a "man" they were by crushing my hand got a big surprise. Squeezing lineman's pliers for all those years had it's advantages that way. Limp, dead fish handshakes just feel creepy to me.

 

The only person that I didn't do the retaliatory crusher handshake to was a F-1/Indy Car driver named Nigel Mansell. We wired his house in Clearwater when he went from F-1 or Indy Car. The first time I met him, he gave me the bone crusher grip. I let it go, never shook his hand again even after he offered it to me many times. Told him why, eventually. He said he didn't know that he was doing the crushing grip as he was used to gripping the little steering wheels in the cars. Maybe so, maybe not. After I got to know him a little better, he stuck his hand out one time and I asked if he wanted to have a hand crushing contest, he refused. That was the last time he stuck his hand out for a handshake. Overall, he was a friendly person but I warned people that want to shake hands with the "famous" racecar driver so they could say they did, what they were in for.