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Shaking hands is a common way to greet someone or show agreement.

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It started in ancient times (like in Greece and Rome) as a way to show you weren’t carrying a weapon.

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In the Middle Ages, knights would shake hands to prove peace and show they trusted each other.

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A handshake also shows respect and equality between two people.

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In many cultures today, shaking hands is used to start or end a meeting, close a deal, or welcome someone.

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It is also used as a sign of congratulations, thanks, or support.

Useful Phrases

“Let’s shake on it.”

– Used to agree on a deal or promise.

“We sealed the deal with a handshake.”

– Means the agreement       was confirmed with a handshake.

“A firm handshake”

– A strong and confident handshake.

“To extend a hand”

– To offer help or friendship.

“Shake hands on something”

– To agree on something

(e.g., "We shook hands on the contract").

Hi, everyone and welcome to the new segment 【Oh, So That's Why!】《原来如此》.

Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu, hi everyone.

In this new segment which is kind of a spin off from 【It Means What?】This is where we are going to dive deep into some of the common human behaviors that you can see today, either in the world in general or in... at least in western countries, and we're going to explore the origins of these behaviors.

So today we're gonna look at something that most of us do on a daily basis, shake hands.

I don't do that on daily basis. I just politely wave because I have really sweaty hands.

I was always wondering why you never shake my hand.

No.

So握手shake hands,

I think in China shaking hands, it's perhaps more of a businessy social thing. You don't really shake hands with friends to be honest.

Not really no. So what we're gonna look at is why do we shake hands?

We can hug people. We can wave at people. We don't even have to do anything, we can just say hello. What is it about shaking hands? Why do we do it?

You know what, this is the first time I ever thought about this, really!

This is, I guess the beauty of this segment. These behaviors are so common that we take them for granted.

We don't even think about them.

Exactly. And you just feel that everyone else does the same, but in reality, they don’t, it's not a natural behavior. It all comes from history and tradition from socialization, from certain origins.

Precisely.

First of all, let's establish that shaking hands in this is a behavior that societies used to greet someone or sometimes to show agreement like shaking hands, it's a deal.

Yes. So this comes from ancient times.This comes from ancient Greece and Rome. Basically, it's a way to show that you aren't carrying a weapon.

I think in ancient Chinese history we had something similar. Come to think of it, shaking hands really isn't a Chinese tradition.

No.

Because we used to just bow or we used to just have almost like a courtesy that sort of... it's another way of greeting people.

Precisely. So we've been shaking hands in the west now for thousands of years and it's basically just a way of saying, look, I trust you, I'm unarmed, here is my hand. You hold my hand, I hold your hand.

You can still put weapon on your body though.

That's why you traditionally always shake with the right hand.

What if you're a lefty?

Well, most people are right handed. So that's why you never shake with the left hand. You always normally shake with the right hand.

It is basically saying, look, this is the hand that I used to wield weapons especially back in the days when weapons basically were swords, spears, and that kind of thing, I needed to use my right hand to hold it.

And now you got my right hand. So therefore even if I'm carrying arms, I cannot use it, it's a way to show you that I'm completely open and friendly.

Yes. This is also the same in the mid wages, so knights would shake hands to show peace and to show that they trusted each other.

Even when they're in full armor?

Even when they're in full armor, because they could still use their hands.

By the way, in the UK you guys don't really kiss to that extent, I mean the social kissing not like the French or the Italians.

We don't do it to the same extent, there is social kissing, but it's normally for close family friends or family members or just friends in general.

And also British men never kiss each other unless they're gay.

No, they don't kiss each other in greeting. If you're very, very close, you would hug each other.

So in business etiquette, it’s just shaking hands.

And sometimes some people like to shake hands. So for example, if I'm with men of my parents' generation, I would shake their hand, but if it was a female friend of my parents, I would give them a kiss on the cheek.

I guess it's also because your parents, friends, they tend to be older as well.

It is a way of showing respect, but it's also a sign of equality as well.

So one of the big things is that when I was a little kid, my parent’s friends would say let me shake you by the hand. It's a way of showing that you’ve grown up.

That's interesting.

By the way, when you say shaking hands, in the UK, it's just one hand with another hand, right? You don't hold the other president's hand with both of your hands?

No, generally not, some people do, but that's kind of more like...I would say more of like a Mediterranean custom. We don't really do it in the UK.

What about holding the hand for longer as you're chatting away.

That we don't do, you normally just shake a few times and then you let go.

I see, one more question who extends the hand first? This is also something that confuses me. Shall I initiate it or should the other person initiate it, if I meet like a man in social or business context?

Generally it would be the man that offers their hand first, to be perfectly honest in business settings, it doesn't matter if it's a man or woman, but I was saying social settings, handshaking is still seen as something that men do.

I see.

I wouldn't say there's like a specific rule about it, but it's still got that connotation.

In many cultures today shaking hands is used to start or end a meeting or close a deal, we shake on it.

Yes.

Or to welcome someone, welcome to the event.

Exactly.

It's just a very nice way to start or finish a conversation. So normally if we meet someone for the first time, we would shake them by the hand.

And now as we're coming to the end of today's episode, let's share with you, as usual, let's share with you some useful phrases relating to handshake. Like I mentioned before, let's shake on it, 握手成交的感觉.

Let's shake on it.

This is used to agree on a deal or a promise. And in many cases, if you shake someone by the hand, that means you've agreed to the deal. And that means you won't go back on it.

We seal the deal with a handshake.

Yes.

This is also why sometimes people say this is a handshake deal.

So once you shaken someone by the hand, that’s it, the deal has been agreed.

已经握手成交了.

There's another expression, a firm handshake.

Why does that remind me of Donald Trump, that's not even firm that's aggressive handshake.

So a firm handshake in English speaking cultures is shown as a sign of confidence. So if you shake someone by the hand very lightly, then that seen as a little bit underconfident.

But again, it can also be used for aggression as well.

A firm handshake, depending on how firm, have you seen Donald Trump shaking hands? It’s literally trying to yank the other person’s arm.

That is very, very strange, that is very be very weird.

But generally American handshakes, they tend to be firmer compared to say Chinese handshakes, because for us I think in Chinese culture if you shake other people's hands too firmly, it also is seen as aggression, so out of respect, we do it more as a formality.

I would say there's also a slight difference between men and women.

So for example, a man shakes another man's hand, it tends to be a lot firmer; But if it's a man shaking a woman's hand, it tends to be a bit softer, a bit lighter.

Another useful expression is “to extend a hand”.

To extend a hand, like to offer a hand?

To offer help or friendship.

So for example, if you offer someone your hand, it's a way of saying, okay, we’re friends, let's have a good relationship. So we would also say offer the  hand of friendship.

And we finish off with shake hands on something.

We're back to shake on it or shake hands on it. For instance, we shook hands on the contract, so we’ve agreed.

We've agreed on a contract and a handshake means the deal was done.

So let's shake hands on the fact that you are not getting a raise.

Let's go back to that later on.

Alright. And on that note we're going to wrap up today's episode in the new segment《原来如此》【Oh, So That's Why!】

If you have anything you want us to talk about in this segment, leave us a comment, put in your request. Or just let us know what you think about this new segment.

So until next time,

We'll see you next time.

Bye bye.