The End of Handshakes As a Gesture (cnbc.com) 213
jmcbain writes: In many societies, handshakes are a gesture of friendliness. How many times have you shaken hands when meeting new engineering professionals? Probably quite a lot. However, given what we've seen with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, it's time for a new way to greet people. According to a CNBC article, Anthony Fauci, the head advisor of the USA's task force on the coronavirus, says "I don't think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you. Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease, it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country." Other scientists agree with Fauci. Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group has been trying to put an end to handshakes for nearly three decades. He suggests tilting or bowing your head to greet another person like people did many decades ago. "When men greeted other people [back in the day], they raised tor tipped their hat," he says. Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases at Northwell Health in New York, thinks Americans need to start implementing other ways to great each other "like [with] a head bob or wave of a hand. This act would maintain proper distance, avoid contact and potential spread of COVID-19," Farber says.
Peter Pitts, former FDA associate commissioner, says shaking hands transmits germs and viruses "as swiftly as kissing and hugging" and until we develop a vaccine against COVID-19, the new normal will have to be "verbal greetings and long-sleeved elbow bumps." He adds: "The social theme song for right now is 'I wanna, but better not, hold your hand.' Love doesn't conquer all."
Peter Pitts, former FDA associate commissioner, says shaking hands transmits germs and viruses "as swiftly as kissing and hugging" and until we develop a vaccine against COVID-19, the new normal will have to be "verbal greetings and long-sleeved elbow bumps." He adds: "The social theme song for right now is 'I wanna, but better not, hold your hand.' Love doesn't conquer all."
Elbow bumps? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: Elbow bumps? (Score:5, Insightful)
The Vulcan greeting don't seem so nerdy anymore, and is safer than elbow bumping.
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And adding "Live long and prosper" really means something these days.
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It's a very uplifting phrase, isn't it?
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Duh - cough into the left elbow, bump-greet with the right elbow.
Unless you're a southpaw. That could be a problem. Maybe we should label all the sinisters with a bright red flashing LED worn on their forehead.
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What the hell is an "elbow bump"? Is that an American thing? Never heard of it. Or is it the "Sorry I broke your nose when you bumped it into my elbow" sort of thing?
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It's a WHO thing and has been promoted during basically every epidemic for the past couple decades.
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It depends.
If it is this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w... [wikimedia.org]
That would be absolutely dumb looking and require me to get in closer with the person and I'd just rather shake a hand.
If it is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Or a variant with more straightened arms that is more like forearm bumping, I could credibly see that.
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Perhaps the Thai wai or the Indian namaste could be adapted to our western sensibilities. The meeting of palms signifies recognizing the participants as equals worthy of due respect.
{^_^}
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I think what they really want is for us to bow deeply at the waist, possibly with a greeting of "hello comrade citizen"
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We're supposed to cough into our elbows, then bump them as a greeting? That will end well
Last I looked the WHO had revised their advice and dropped elbow bumps as an alternative. Their favored gesture now is an ass slap.
Python and Gibson Know Best (Score:5, Funny)
First, from a safe distance of 6' or more, we exchange the usual greeting:
Alice: "Your mother is a hamster, and your father smells of old elderberries!"
Bob: "I fart in your general direction!"
Then, NFC or Bluetooth exchanges our public keys.
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Ssh handshakes (Score:2)
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For me it was more "It's a gesture? I was under the impression it's required to get a TCP connection going, didn't know it's just a legacy thing."
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Well, it sure as hell won't be me.
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A technical interpretation is being a "moron" now? Are you sure you should be on /.?
Silly (Score:5, Insightful)
Handshakes have endured other pandemics, I don't see this one ending it.
Mainly because too many social interactions are far more physical. The thing I miss most is partner dancing, and I assure that will return, eventually. If a full body hug with sweat accepted will return, so will some form of hand shake.
I could see a movement for something less, like grabbing each other's wrist, instead of the hand. At least then you are usually just touching cloth, not the hand itself. Drier and more inhospitable for bacteria and viruses.
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I don't see how you can compare these things. They are light-years difference.
When I am at a trade conference I likely shake hands with between 50 and 100 or more people in a 6 hour period. And each one of them is also doing the same. 50*50*50, this adds up fast.
Hell, forget the conference. If you go to visit a client, at the end of the meeting you walk around the table and shake 10 hands.
This is not unusual, it is routine, and simply how a lot of business is done in America.
Do you partner dance with or hug
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When I am at a trade conference I likely shake hands with between 50 and 100 or more people in a 6 hour period. And each one of them is also doing the same. 50*50*50, this adds up fast.
It's amazing anyone makes it out of those things alive!!!
Re: Silly (Score:2)
You mean like the Biogen conference in Massachusetts? It was the primary vector in MA at the start of the pandemic:
https://time.com/5801554/coron... [time.com]
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Pssst. Most of you at the trade conference are shaking hands with the same people. Your exponential growth will hit a ceiling really fast at the number of attendees to the conference, maybe increased by hotel staff but not far beyond that.
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Depends on the type of dancing. If you only change partners between dances (e.g. modern ballroom), probably not more than 10 / hour. But there are some dances where you hug, swing, or high five half the people in the room in five minutes.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Well, maybe we could keep the handshake thing going with just a minor modification to our current routines - by implementing basic hygience through hand washing.
Now I know that, looking at some people I know, its a crazy pie=in-the-sky utopian dream thought. But it might just catch on, if we shame them enough. And put electrodes on their testicles.
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We really need the physical part of the social interactions. Keeping our distance indefinitely will cool social relations. Eventually, we will die out as a species.
A fun and safe alternative to the hand shake would be the hip bump.
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I much prefer bowing. Just a little nod, doesn't have to be over the top. No physical contact, none of the macho BS hand crushing or Trump-style pulling.
It's not like we didn't see this coming (Score:4, Funny)
Handshakes are but one vector (Score:5, Insightful)
What about door knobs, taxi door handles, hold straps on public transport, shopping trolleys and baskets, money, lift push buttons, and the myriad of other shared surfaces that everyone touches? And you're worried about handshakes?
This is about as sensible as my cat-lady aunt, who insists we all use hand sanitisers on the way in the door yet happily lets her little filth balls wander all through the house, over counter and table tops, all while having just buried a few nuggets in the litter box. The place is a dump, but at least we have clean hands, right?
No, I'll happily shake your hand. We've been doing it since 5 BC, "back in the day" refers to a period of what, a few hundred years tops when hats were a common thing? Pish.
I see a big problem here (Score:5, Funny)
"When men greeted other people [back in the day], they raised tor tipped their hat," he says."
First - I do not own a top hat.
Second - I do not particularly care to buy one. I really think it would clash with my cargo pants and t-shirt.
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Top hat? Only for fans of Thomas the Tank Engine.
We slashdotters prefer the fedora. /m'lady
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Fans of *Anansi* from Neil Giman's stories like fedoras. W also enjoy singing karoke well, and dancing with busty blonde tourists n Florida weather. Those were _fun_ stories.
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"First - I do not own a top hat.
Second - I do not particularly care to buy one. I really think it would clash with my cargo pants and t-shirt."
Derby? Boater? Stetson? Boonie? Although the basic ball cap should be fine with this.
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Nonsense; it would make that outfit! See how the hat and wingtips it all together ...
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It’s possible... I must admit I have no sense for fashion.
Well let's see (Score:3, Insightful)
....handshakes or similar gestures have lasted what, THOUSANDS of years, through multiple epidemics more substantial (and vastly more lethal) than this one?
So stop wetting your panties that this is the end of history.
Tragic, certainly for the people who suffer loss, but as epidemics go, this is relatively trivial - basically a new flu-caliber disease in the wild. (shrug).
People continued casual contact after the Black Plague(s).
People continued casual contact after polio, smallpox, yellow fever, and Spanish Flu. They're going to continue it after Wuhan Flu as well.
I'm going to wager that 6 months from now people are pretty much just doing the same shit they used to.
My god we've turned into a complete collection of wussies.
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Yup, infantilising the population has been going on for some time now, along with a sense of "do whatever you like kids, smoke dope, drop out, anyone says anything to you, its because they're oppressing you, or they're racist" etc.
It all about controling us, or rather, the next generation. Everything is great, while us old folks are paying for everything, but one day we'll all be too old and then who's going to be feeding the economy enough to make your welfare checks?
Fist bump bro (Score:2)
As Brazilian Jui Jitsu got more popular one of the thing you would do is shake hand with your training partners. The exception was if you just came out of the toilet and one of your mates greeted you, you would fist bump instead.
I always tend to have a bit of a laugh when people fist bump knowing where it came from. It's pretty practical now though.
So much ridiculous bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
This 'pandemic' will pass.
Things will go back to normal some time after that, and this whole mess will be a page in the history books.
Meanwhile a vaccine will be developed, possibly mandatory, and people actually getting this virus and dying will end up about as common as someone dying of the flu (...and NO, I AM NOT SAYING THIS VIRUS *IS* THE FLU).
MEANWHILE:
o STOP HOARDING EVERYTHING. You're just making a bad situation worse for everyone. SO KNOCK IT OFF.
o STOP BELIEVING ALL THE FAKE SHIT YOU READ ON 'SOCIAL MEDIA'. Better yet: get off 'social media' for good.
o YES, DO KEEP DOING THINGS THAT WILL PREVENT MORE PEOPLE FROM GETTING THIS STUPID VIRUS. Eventually there'll be an 'all clear', just wait for it.
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Stop saying this is the 'New Normal', because it is NOT.It's temporary.
I've just set a calendar reminder to check back in three years, and post a reply here if you're wrong.
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Personally, I can't even get near the grocery store I'd normally go to, because I don't have an hour or two to stand in a line with a bunch of random people who may or may not be carriers, just to save a few bucks. I've had to revert to more expensive stores that don't have lines to get in, and I still can't buy freakin' toilet paper. For that I had to order online some likely crappy stuff on monster 1000 foot industr
Indeed (Score:3)
The time of the dual-finger-guns, clearly the superior greeting gesture, is at hand.
Why is this not modded higher? (Score:2)
This is clearly the best solution all round. It's safer and we all look, and therefore, feel better.
Double finger guns to you sir!
But the Chinese already don't shake hands (Score:2)
In Asia, the preferred greeting is a bow. If handshakes are the problem, why did this virus originate and become a pandemic...in China?
Boy in the bubble (Score:2)
We should also all live in plastic bubbles and eschew all interpersonal contact. All of our interactions can be virtual.
Is a life without risk even worth living? Seriously.
In the future, hand on shoulder and touch visors (Score:2)
When coming across someone on your stroll over the surface of the moon or Mars, or after a soft-dock of your vessels in orbit, you'll want to introduce yourself. It will become customary to extend your hand to grasp the shoulder harness of the other's pressure suit, to steady yourself against the other on land or prevent drifting apart in orbit. Then to speak to the other you touch the visor of your helmet to the other's. With the visors touching you'll be able to exchange greetings, name and rank, and a
Culture (Score:4, Interesting)
So... (Score:3)
start bowing (Score:2)
wonder if it means the west will start bowing
This would be long-term dangerous (Score:2)
It makes sense to temporarily stop shaking hands or hugging during a pandemic, but if we permanently change social culture to eliminate body contact we avoid the daily small challenges to our immune systems that keep us healthy. That means we all die of the next pandemic that spreads easily through the air.
It's like those kids who live such squeaky-clean childhoods that they get monster allergies ('atopic disease') in adulthood.
People in China donâ(TM)t shake hands (Score:2)
People in China donâ(TM)t shake hands. Unless maybe when they meet a foreigner, and even that is usually limited to business people who know that itâ(TM)s a custom in the west.
Clearly though, this virus still hit the Chinese. As well as other people where handshaking is not a thing. While I understand touching can transmit the virus, it does not seem that handshaking has made it any worse.
Sieg H... (Score:2)
Kisses, hugs, etc. (Score:2)
End those too if ending handshakes. :P
Demolition Man as a documentary? (Score:2)
In the future all restaurants are Taco Bell...because all the sit-down restaurants were closed down...
In the future, TP has been replaced with 'the three seashells", probably invented because it became impossible to buy TP.
In the future, no one shakes hands, hugs, or touches each other.
In the future, sex doesn't involve touching, let alone bodily fluids.
What a joyous place THAT is.
Glad to be rid of them. (Score:2)
Some people have rather disgusting hands.
Some people feel the need to squeeze hard during a handshake.
Some people don't know when to let go.
Most of the time they are non-events, but for the sake of those awkward times I'm glad for some no-contact replacement, or something like a forearm bump.
It's a Thinly Disguised Advertisement (Score:2)
Big Hat is back and it's trying to get everyone to buy their products again. Let's face it, hats have been out of fashion, except with the trailer park crowd and the ball cap, for a long time. The hat industry is trying to use this calamity to bring back hats to the general public in any way. Don't be fooled by them. They'll do almost anything to bring back the wearing of hats. I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that they started COVID-19 but ...
nonsense (Score:2)
It's ridiculous to change our behaviour so drastically because of this. Yes WHILE the crisis is occuring, it is the thing to do, but once the crisis is over we should just go back to the way we were living and not change everything drastically. Things like this can happen and probably will happen in the future, but it only works for this particular type of virus, maybe the next virus will be much harder and stays airborne for a long time.. The only thing that should change is the way we react/handle crisis
Long sleeve elbow bumps?? (Score:2)
Long sleeve elbow bump. Recommended 6 foot physical separation.
One of these things is not like the other
One of these things just doesn't belong
Uh huh.... (Score:2)
the more I see of this dork the more he reminds me of the doctor on the Simpsons with the lab coat and thick glasses. I think he should go back to the lab with the test tubes and bunsen burners. Yeah, maybe if the first thing I did was lick my hand after shaking hands with someone he might have a point. But real people, you know the ones that live outside the lab, don't do that.
And what is it with these people all trying to one up each other? You shut your city down for a week...I'll shut mine down for a mo
We don't have to show we're not carrying a sword. (Score:2)
No reason exists for the custom today. It was alway filthy. Touching other humans for other than sex is ridiculous but we're used to it. We can drop the custom as a relic of ignorant primitives. Society need defer to ancient foolishness.
Re:Don't stop with handshakes (Score:4, Funny)
...as a method of greeting
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There's always Rishathra......
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Now let's not be hasty.
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Bowing is often seen as offensive (to the bower, not the bowee) in some Western societies.
Also, OP is wrong. "Many decades ago," the appropriate way to greet another man was still to shake hands. Tipping your hat was for the ladies.
Hand-shaking originated as a way to make sure the other person did not have a weapon up his sleeve.
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There is the military solution: A salute.
Also used by boy and girl scouts.
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In many militaries, its “dont salute someone if either of you aren't wearing their head dress.”
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Boy scouts used to (I can't speak to recently) shake with the left hand, a culturally borrowed sign of trust. (It would mean putting down your shields while keeping your weapons in your right hands).
Re: Don't stop with handshakes (Score:2)
Interestingly, even handshaking with your non-dominant less used hand would possibly reduce transmission.
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Then there's the whole who salutes first. In the military it is the lower rank person that initiates. It would become a status struggle on whom forced the other to salute forced.
Of course there's also the question of the style of salute. Many countries salute with the person's hand facing down while others the hand is facing the other person. :) (I'm being silly here. Please don't make obvious comments about it.)
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I give salutes with the middle finger where required.
Bowing is a signal of submission to authority (Score:2)
Then just bow instead. :-D
Bowing is a signal of submission to authority. Americans don't do that.
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Then just bow instead. :-D
Bowing is a signal of submission to authority. Americans don't do that.
They're expected to just bend over instead.
Re:Simple idea - just wash hands more (Score:5, Insightful)
It's true that handshakes, hugs, cheek-kisses, even air-kisses help to spread bacteria and viruses, both benign and dangerous.
It's also true that constantly challenging your immune system with a diverse range of bacteria and viruses helps to keep it functioning optimally. You're not just exchanging "bad" microbes, you're exchanging benign ones, and ones you're immune to - which helps to remind your immune system of their existence.
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Then you're only as good as the hand-washing practices of the other guy, and all the other people they shook hands with since their last hand-washing. Also, excessive hand-washing has consequences too. Dry, cracked, little torn bits of skin around the nails. These hands are raw! RAW, I TELL YOU! /Ramsay.
You are in control of how safe you are (Score:2)
Then you're only as good as the hand-washing practices of the other guy
if you are careful about not touching your own face before you wash your hands, you control how safe you are. It doesn't matter if you shake hands with the most army hand there is, it's not like that soaks into you through your fingers you know...
Also, excessive hand-washing has consequences too.
I'm talking like several times a day, basically before you use your hands to put anything near your mouth (read into that what you will). Wa
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Wrong, they most certainly do bow in China.
Here, educate your ignorant self:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re: hilarious (Score:2)
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Feel better now? Next time you pass on your cold to someone else, remember this post.
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Most people respond MUCH better to touch from others...it is a big part of human socialization.
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but nobody of us normal humans asked for it, nobody wants it, and nobody will care about it when this is over.
Handshakes are not socializing...
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I beg to differ. I recently lost my dad due to non-corona related reasons but everything was on social cool down. So not a single doctor or nurse could shake my hand, I actually had to stop one nurse who forgot herself and tried. Luckily my dad wasn't infectious so I could at the very least hold his hand. I know they were trying their best to express their sympathy from a distance, but It made everything seem so much colder, more clinical. Handshakes are a subtle reminder that there's a flesh and blood huma
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No thanks! That gives me horrible flashbacks about being lost on an island or something, along with a feeling of wasting a lot of time.
Re: Nah. The simple secret is... (Score:2)
Thanks for the image people putting their hands inside their trousers before handshaking. Here in the UK, "pants" means and is short for "underpants".
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Then why is a "trouser snake" a "trouser snake" and not a "pants snake"?
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Curious - Italy and France have a lot of that more expressive, nay *intimate* greeting habits - face kissing, etc.
The UK has handshaking, and kissing womens' hands.
The USA has the bro-hug, and the pussy-grab.
Germany has the mutual "HIEL GODWIN" salute, where the viruses slide off your rapidly-extended palm towards the other person, in a nice ballistic arc.
Canadians are too polite to get close enough to touch.
And Japan has only the formal bow.
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pffft, This is exactly the reason this should be implemented. Once the gene pool is comprised solely of miniature Elon Musks and Jeff Bezoses, the world will be in perfect harmony. Don't you know that all the world's ills are due to us "deplorable little people"?
Just as long as there's enough of us peasants to wash the golden ones's toilets, that's all they need.
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And really, how long could you stand living like this? Most people would go crazy.
(This is something they never considered in those campy 1950's film on what to do when a nuclear attack is imminent)
Considering all the shitty living conditions of the past and war-torn hellholes and the people who've suffered neglect and abuse or forced to become child soldiers or prostitutes but made it through... if people had to live in a doomsday vault they'd endure. I mean not by choice, if there was any other choice but the will to survive is strong. I know a lot of first-world people would get up on their high horse and pretend like "I could never live like that" but if it actually came down to that or death they