On Shaking Hands

- A. G. Gardiner
Objectives:
 To help you comprehend the importance of shaking hands
 To make you understand the importance of physical greetings in different
cultures
 To sensitize you to other cultures

About the author

Alfred George Gardiner was born in Chelmsford, the son of a cabinet-maker and
alcoholic. As a boy he worked at the Chelmsford Chronicle and the Bournemouth
Directory. He joined the Northern Daily Telegraph in 1887 which had been founded the
year before by Thomas Purvis Ritzema. In 1899, he was appointed editor of the
Blackburn Weekly Telegraph.
Alfred George Gardiner (1865–1946) was a British journalist and author. His essays,
written under the pen-name Alpha of the Plough, are highly regarded. He was also
Chairman of the National Anti-Sweating League, an advocacy group which campaigned
for a minimum wage in industry. Some of his essays are Prophets, Priests and Kings
(1908),Pillars of Society, The War Lords, Pebbles on the Shore,Windfalls &Leaves in the
Wind,The Anglo-American Future,What I saw in Germany: letters from Germany and
Austria and Life of George Cadbury include his later works.

Pre-reading Activity
Discuss the following in pairs or groups:
1. What do you do to greet these people when you meet them after a long time?
a) your friends b) your family members- cousins of your age c) your family members-
uncles and aunts, or grannies
2. When someone comes and says what you do customarily at your home is wrong,
how do you react?
3. What do you know about shaking hands? Whom do you usually shake hands with?

Read the following essay and check if what you know about shaking hands is same as what
is described in the essay.

If there is one custom that might be assumed to be beyond criticism it

is the custom of shaking hands; but it seems that even this innocent and
amiable practice is upon its trial. A heavy indictment has been directed
against it in the Press on hygienic grounds, and we are urged to adopt
some healthier mode of expressing our mutual emotion when we meet
or part. I think it would need a pretty stiff Act of Parliament and a heavy
code of penalties to break us of soingrained a habit. Of course, there
are many people in the world who go through life without ever shaking
hands. Probably, most people in the world manage to do so. The
Japanese bows, and the Indian salaams, and the Chinese make a grave
motion of the hand, and the Arab touches the breast of his friend at
parting with the tips of his fingers.
By comparison with these modes of salutation it may be that our
Western custom of shaking each other by the hand seems coarse and
bucolic, just as our custom of promiscuouskissing seems an
unintelligible indecency to the Japanese, to whom osculation has an
exclusive sexual significance that we do not attach to it. In the matter of
kissing, it is true; we have become much more restrained than our
ancestors. Everyone has read the famous passage in Erasmus' letters in
which he describes how people used to kiss in Tudor England, and how, by
the way, that learned and holy men enjoyed it. He could not write so of us
today. And there is one connection in which kissing has never been a
common form of salutation with us. Masculine kissing is an entirely
Continental habit, chiefly cultivated among the Russians. The greatest
display of kissing I have ever witnessed was at Prince Kropotkin's house—
he was then living at Brighton— on his seventieth birthday. A procession of
aged and bearded Russian patriarchs came to bring greetings, and as
each one entered the room he rushed at the sage, flung his arms about
his neck, and gave him a resounding smack on eachwhiskered cheek,
and Kropotkin gave resounding smacks in return.
This is carrying heartiness too far for our austere tastes. I do not think
that Englishmen could be bribed to kiss each other, but I cannot
conceive that they will ever be argued out of shaking hands with each
other. A greeting which we really feel without a grip of the hand to
accompany it would seem like a repulse, or a sacrilege. It would be a
bond without the seal—as cold as a stepmother's breath, as official as a
typewritten letter with a typewritten signature. It would be like denying our
hands their natural office. They would revolt. They would not remain in
our pockets or behind our backs or toying with a button. We should have
to chain them up, so instinctive and impetuous is their impulse to leap at
a brother hand.
No doubt the custom has its disadvantages. We all know hands that we
should prefer not to shake, warm, clammy hands, listless, flaccid
hands, bony, energetic hands. The horror and loathing with which
Uriah Heap filled our youthful mind was conveyed more through the
touch of his hand than by any other circumstance. It was a
cold,.dank hand that left us haunted with the sense of obscene and
creepy things. I know the touch of that hand as though it had lain in
mine, and whenever I feel such a hand now the vision of a
cringingfawning figure damns the possessor of it in my mind
beyond reprieve. It may be unjust, but the hand-clasp is no bad clue
to moral as well as physical health. 'There is death in that hand' was
Coleridge's remark after parting from Keats, and there are times when
we can say with no less confidence that there is pollution, or
dishonesty, or candour, or courage 'in that hand'.
Some personalities seem to resolve themselves into a handshake. It is
so eloquent that it leaves nothing more to be discovered about them.
There is Peaker, the publisher, for example, who advances with
outstretched hand and places it in yours as though it is something he
wants to get rid of. It is a cold pudding of a hand, or a warm pudding of
a hand, according to the weather, but, cold or warm, it is equally a
pudding. What are you to do with it? It obviously doesn't belong to
Peaker, or he would not be so anxious to get rid of it. You can't shake it,
for it is as unresponsive as a jelly-fish, and no one can shake hands
heartily with a jelly-fish. Hand-shaking must be mutual, or it is not at all.
So you just hold it as long as civility demands, and then gently return it
to Peaker, who goes and tries to get someone else to take it off his hands,
so to speak. And at the other extreme is that hearty fellow Stubbings, the
sort of man who hails you 'Tom' or 'Jack', and proves by thumping on
your back how he esteems your merit.

But he does not thump you on the back. He takes your hand—if you are
foolish enough to lend it to him—and crushes it into a jumble of aching
bones and shakes your arm well-nigh out of its socket. That's the sort
of man I am, he seems to say. Nothing half-hearted about me,
sir.Yorkshire to the backbone.Jannock right through, sir. (Oh, torture!) And
I'm glad to see you, sir. (Another jerk). He restores your hand, a
mangled pain, and you are careful not to trust him with it again at
parting. And there is the limp and lingering hand that seems so
overcharged with affection that it does not know when to go, but lies in
your palm until you feel tempted to throw it out of the window. But
though there are hands that make you shudder and hands that make
you writhe, the ritual is worth the occasional penalty we have to pay
for it. It is the happy mean between the Oriental's formal salaam and
the Russian's enormous hug, and if it has less dignity than it has more
warmth and more of the spirit of human comradeship. We shall need a
lot of medical evidence before we cease to say with the most friendly of
all poets:

Glossary
Amiable : having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner
Indictment : a formal charge or accusation of a serious crime.
Ingrained : (of a habit, belief, or attitude) firmly fixed or established; difficult to change.
Bucolic : relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life.
Promiscuous : demonstrating or implying an unselective approach; indiscriminate or casual
Osculation : to touch
Smack : a sharp slap or blow, typically one given with the palm of the hand
Austere : severe or strict in manner or attitude.
Sacrilege : violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred
Impetuous : acting or done quickly and without thought or care
Flaccid : soft and hanging loosely or limply, especially so as to look or feel unpleasant
Loathing : a feeling of intense dislike or disgust; hatred.
Cringing : bend one's head and body in fear or apprehension or in a servile manner
Candour : the quality of being open and honest; frankness
Thumping : of an impressive size, extent, or amount.
Mangled : destroy or severely damage by tearing or crushing.
Writhe : make twisting, squirming movements or contortions of the body.

Comprehension Questions

1) What is represented by shaking hands?

2) What is the ingrained habit given in the essay?
3) What are the modes of greetings for Japanese, Indians, Chinese and the Arabs?
4) Does the author support or oppose the culture of kissing? Give reasons from the text to
support your answer.
5) How does A.G.Gardinerelude greeting without a handshake?
6) What according to the authorare the disadvantages of shaking hands?
7) When do we hesitate to give hand shake to others?
8) According to the author how should the hand shake be?
9) How does he differentiate shaking hands with different people?
10) Which culture of greeting would you mostly support?

Think Critically
1. Do you agree with the author on his comments about Indian and Russian greetings, and
hand shake of British being a mid-way decent greeting when compared to the other two?
Explain with examples.
2. If you are supposed to attend an interview, what seems to be customary to greet the
interviewer(s) there? Does difference in gender have anything to do with your greetings?
How?
3. Identify the structure of this argumentative essay. Mark which parts of the essay fall under
these categories:
1. Introduction to the issue
2. main advantages with examples
3. other advantages
4. disadvantages
5. conclusion supporting advantages

Vocabulary

Fill the following blanks with suitable form of phrasal verbs from the box given
below using the hints given in the brackets

Asked After Ask Around Grown away from

Grow back Grew to Hold back Held out
Held over Jumped off Jumped on

1. Jenny rang earlier and ___________ you, so I told her you were fine. (Enquire about
someone's health)
2. I have no idea, but I'll ____________ at work and see if anyone can help. (Ask a number
of people for information of help)
3. I have __________ many of the people I grew up with.(Become less friendly with)
4. Nails _________ quickly after you cut them.(Grow again)
5. We ___________ like the neighborhood.(Eventually do something)
6. It was really hard to __________ the tears (Not show emotion)
7. When the enemy attacked, they ___________ for six weeks. (Resisted)
8. The meeting has been ___________ till Friday (Delay)
9. The IPO __________ on the first day.(Start quickly)
10. Everyone __________ me when I raised the issue.(Criticize, attack)

Grammar
1. Make a list of 50 actions that can be part of your day to day work. Add a noun to it if
necessary to explain the action. For example: shake (action) hands(noun), blink (action)
eyes (noun).

2. Now divide the actions according the time: actions that you did yesterday, actions you
do today and what you will do tomorrow.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow

3. Now use at least 10 action from each time in your own sentences.
For example:
Yesterday: Met a friend: Yesterday evening I met a friend of mine in the market.
Today: go to college: Today, I am going to college.
Tomorrow: watch a movie: Tomorrow, I will watch a movie with the members of my family.

Writing: Argumentative essay

The essay, “On Shaking Hands” is a well-structured argumentative essay as you must have
noticed with the help of the previous exercise (Think critically Q.3)
Make a list of the differences between what you usually consider as the structure of an essay.
 ESSAY ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Type of topic
structure
language
Importance of
examples

Task: Write an argumentative on “Sciences are better than arts to make our living more
comfortable and meaningful”.
The steps to start writing an argumentative essay are:
Prepare an outline for the essay with the points that you have to argue for and against the
given topic.

Points in support of Science Points in support of arts

Based on the number of points and their strength develop an essay in the structure give to
you in Q.3.

Life Skills: Cultural Sensitivity and Cross cultural Communication.

India is a country with wide cultural diversity. We are born amidst different languages,
customs and rituals that vary from door to door in a group of families that live in a particular
area or village. Tolerance to others’ customs and traditions is part of our lives.

Cultural Sensitivity is a set of skills that enables you to learn about and get to know people
who are different from you, thereby coming to understand how to serve them better within
their own communities. It also means that cultural differences and similarities exist and have
an impact on the values, learning and behavior of an individual.

Read the following anecdote to understand cultural sensitivity better:

Avery Jones, a 55-year-old African American woman, has not been feeling well. Since she is
new in town and has not yet had a chance to establish care with a physician, she decides to go
to Dr. James Morrison at her friend's recommendation. Upon their first meeting, the 32-year-
old Dr. Morrison introduces himself as 'Dr. Morrison' and calls her 'Avery'. Dr. Morrison then
assumes that she is on Medicaid( state program that helps low-income individuals or families
pay for the costs associated with long-term medical and custodial care). Avery Jones leaves
Dr. Morrison's practice upset and decides to find a different doctor. Dr. Morrison is obviously
confused about her response. So what did he do wrong?

In this example, Dr. Morrison was not being culturally sensitive. In many cultures, it is
customary to call people by their last names, especially when they are older than you. Since
Dr. Morrison called his patient 'Avery' instead of 'Mrs. Jones', she took it as a sign of
disrespect. To make matters worse, Dr. Morrison assumed that Avery was on Medicaid based
solely upon his initial impression of her. This not only upset Mrs. Jones, but also prevented
her from getting the medical treatment that she needed.

So what would the culturally sensitive approach look like? Instead of calling her 'Avery', Dr.
Morrison would have asked her how she would like to be addressed. He could then make a
note in her chart so that all of the staff know to address her as 'Mrs. Jones'. Instead of
assuming that Mrs. Jones was on Medicaid, Dr. Morrison would have asked her if she had
medical insurance and who her insurance provider was. Or maybe he would have avoided the
subject all together, as most practices have a billing department that handles insurance
matters.

1. Who do you think is culturally more insensitive, Dr Morrison or Avery Jones? Why?
2. Does addressing by your first or last name matter in your culture? How important is the
difference?
3. What must Dr. Morrison have done to upset Avery Jones in his treatment as Medicaid?
4. Are the solutions to the issue with Avery Jones similar in all cultures? Why/Why not?

Speak: Cross cultural Communication

Our culture influences many aspects of our lives. It influences how we interact with others
and with the world around us. People who are culturally sensitive are able to function in other
cultures. They value and respect diversity, and are open to learning things from the point of
view of others. Here is an activity that helps you
Make a list of activities that you find strange about others. They can be related to the way
they celebrate a festive or a family functions. Note down how you responded to it ( physically
and verbally)
Form into pairs and discuss with your partner if the activities that are strange for you seem to
be the same him or her. Present the same to the class inviting others comments and
understand the tolerance levels of yours and others.