People have established different ways of saying hello depending on their region, their culture and general values. These rules have generally been kept from ancient times to our present days. Thus, in ancient Rome, people used to greet each other by raising their right arm upwards. The Romans used to greet each other with "Ave" (I greet you), "Salus" (May you be healthy) "Servus" (I am at your service, very respectful greeting) or "Salve" (a sort of good day), and they would say "Vale" when they used to part. (Farewell). The ancient Greeks when they met they would greet each other with "Charie", which meant "peace to you".
The inhabitants of China would greet each other by squeezing their own hand. The first Christians used to greet each other by using the word "peace". The French used to greet each other by squeezing each other’s cheeks.
Military men greet by raising their hand to the cap.
People in Latin America hug each other.
People in the Far East greet by bringing their hands together as if for prayer, and then bow. People in New Guinea put leaves on each other’s head as a greeting. People in Samoa express their greetings by smelling each other.
As a general rule, kids always say hello to the adults first. Also, boys greet girls. Friends greet each other cordially and it does not matter who says hello first.
When we salute a person that comes to welcome us, we greet that person from a 3-4 steps’ distance in order to allow that person to respond.
Who says hello first? Well, it usually goes as follows: the one who is walking says hello to the one who is standing; the one who is in the car says hello to the pedestrians; the one who is approaching a group; the one who enters a room says hello to the ones in; the one who leaves the first; the most respectful one. The most frequent greetings are hello, good morning/afternoon/evening, nice to see you, good luck. One should always respond to a greeting.
As far as the hand shake is concerned, here the order changes a bit. The rules about who stretches his hand first are the opposite of the ones for the greetings. Always give your right hand. Adults stretch their hand to the kids. Girls stretch their hand to the boys. Friends greet each other by stretching their hands at the same time. When shaking one’s hand, you should always look that person in the eye and smile. When we shake a boy’s hand, we do it firmly but when we shake a girl’s hand we do it with gentleness and tenderness. It is impolite to shake one’s hand while wearing a glove. It is not polite to retain the other person’s hand too much, just until saying hello is quite enough. Also, it’s not nice to squeeze the other person’s hand too tight.
French people have the habit to shake hands with their friends, or to kiss them on both cheeks whenever they meat or take leave. For this very reason, French people consider that the British are cold, impolite and unfriendly.
There are many other interesting greeting habits all over the world:
* In Japan, people consider it polite to greet each other by taking a bow. This is valid for both men and women.
* In Polynesia they have a very cute way of saying hello to your friend, and that is taking your friend’s hands and use them to stroke your face with them.
* In Canada, the Inuit people have the habit of rubbing noses.
* In Tibet there is what we would consider it a bit funny way of greeting. It is considered to be very polite to stick your tongue out at somebody, because in this way you show you have no evil thoughts towards that person.
* In the US, it is normal especially for men to shake hands when they meet, but unusual to kiss each other’s cheeks.
* British people usually say no more than hello when they meet their friends and they shake hands when they meet for the first time.
* People in Holland kiss three times on cheeks (not only twice as French or Romanians do).
Well, be it as it would, but if our hello is friendly and from a warm heart, that is what makes the difference!
The inhabitants of China would greet each other by squeezing their own hand. The first Christians used to greet each other by using the word "peace". The French used to greet each other by squeezing each other’s cheeks.
Military men greet by raising their hand to the cap.
People in Latin America hug each other.
People in the Far East greet by bringing their hands together as if for prayer, and then bow. People in New Guinea put leaves on each other’s head as a greeting. People in Samoa express their greetings by smelling each other.
As a general rule, kids always say hello to the adults first. Also, boys greet girls. Friends greet each other cordially and it does not matter who says hello first.
When we salute a person that comes to welcome us, we greet that person from a 3-4 steps’ distance in order to allow that person to respond.
Who says hello first? Well, it usually goes as follows: the one who is walking says hello to the one who is standing; the one who is in the car says hello to the pedestrians; the one who is approaching a group; the one who enters a room says hello to the ones in; the one who leaves the first; the most respectful one. The most frequent greetings are hello, good morning/afternoon/evening, nice to see you, good luck. One should always respond to a greeting.
As far as the hand shake is concerned, here the order changes a bit. The rules about who stretches his hand first are the opposite of the ones for the greetings. Always give your right hand. Adults stretch their hand to the kids. Girls stretch their hand to the boys. Friends greet each other by stretching their hands at the same time. When shaking one’s hand, you should always look that person in the eye and smile. When we shake a boy’s hand, we do it firmly but when we shake a girl’s hand we do it with gentleness and tenderness. It is impolite to shake one’s hand while wearing a glove. It is not polite to retain the other person’s hand too much, just until saying hello is quite enough. Also, it’s not nice to squeeze the other person’s hand too tight.
French people have the habit to shake hands with their friends, or to kiss them on both cheeks whenever they meat or take leave. For this very reason, French people consider that the British are cold, impolite and unfriendly.
There are many other interesting greeting habits all over the world:
* In Japan, people consider it polite to greet each other by taking a bow. This is valid for both men and women.
* In Polynesia they have a very cute way of saying hello to your friend, and that is taking your friend’s hands and use them to stroke your face with them.
* In Canada, the Inuit people have the habit of rubbing noses.
* In Tibet there is what we would consider it a bit funny way of greeting. It is considered to be very polite to stick your tongue out at somebody, because in this way you show you have no evil thoughts towards that person.
* In the US, it is normal especially for men to shake hands when they meet, but unusual to kiss each other’s cheeks.
* British people usually say no more than hello when they meet their friends and they shake hands when they meet for the first time.
* People in Holland kiss three times on cheeks (not only twice as French or Romanians do).
Well, be it as it would, but if our hello is friendly and from a warm heart, that is what makes the difference!
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