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The Handshake: Travel's Newest Enemy

May 9, 2009 at 12:46 PM | by | Comments (0)

Thanks to an over-caffeinated media, travelers were pretty freaked out about the swine flu for a while there. Now that it no longer looks like the end of the world, though, everyone's mellowed out a bit, and the story is gradually falling off newspaper front pages. While it's never a good idea to panic, the H1N1 hysteria does leave one positive development in its wake: hand shaking is no longer a required greeting. In fact, it's frowned upon in many situations, which comes as a relief to people like me, who've always found the forced physical contact a little skeevy, especially during runny-nose season.

I was listening to a show on WNYC the other day where a guy was in Mexico attempting to shake hands with people, and they all politely declined, or else went for the hand sanitizer soon after. On cruise ships, hand shaking has long been frowned upon, ever since that norovirus scare a few years ago. Yet, without the ritual of the handshake, it does create an awkward moment when meeting people. So, what will take its place?

I think Asian societies do it right, as bowing conveys respect without transferring any creepy crawlies. In the west, some people are allegedly doing the elbow bump, which looks weird, but when you think about it, is no less meaningful than squeezing somebody's hand. But I've only ever seen people elbow bump in jest. Has anybody out there seen sincere elbow bumping?

Maybe elbow bumping will catch on. Maybe, in time, it will even seem normal. But handshaking is a hard habit to break, and it will probably take a more serious outbreak for people to retire the antiquated custom altogether. In the meantime, I'll shake hands rather than risk offending, but I'll excuse myself shortly after to scrub the bugs away with hot, soapy water.

[Photo: BusinessWeek]

Related Stories:
· Hand Shaking Is So Medieval. Let's End It. [TechCrunch]
· Do the Chicken Bump Elbow Touch [rackjite.com]
· Swine Flu Coverage [Jaunted]

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