<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLook them in the eye and give them a good, firm handshake. \u00a0None of that \u2018wet dishrag\u2019 stuff.\u201d \u00a0If you had this conversation with your father at some point in your younger years, welcome to the fraternity. \u00a0I am not exactly sure how far back in time this goes, but when this piece of manly advice was finally passed on to me, it sounded more like a sacred oath than fatherly advice. \u00a0\u2018Wet dishrag\u2019 or \u2018wet noodle\u2019 handshakes were portrayed as a sure way to assassinate your own character when being introduced to someone. \u00a0I drank the koolaid and grew up as a \u201clook them in the eye while trying to crush the bones of their hands\u201d kind of guy. \u00a0As the Summer of Love approached, something changed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The handshake as I was taught it evolved into something else. \u00a0The younger generation deemed it no longer necessary to engage in a wrist-wrestling match when shaking hands. \u00a0The old fashioned hand to hand gripper shake was replaced by what we called \u2018the brother handshake\u2019. \u00a0The two shaking \u00a0hands met, not at the waist, but shoulder high and the palms came together at a 45 degree upward angle. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t a high five and it wasn\u2019t a traditional handshake. \u00a0The younger generation seemed to delight in finding a new way to greet each other that wasn\u2019t your father\u2019s handshake. \u00a0The clasped hands were sometimes accompanied by a slap on the shoulder with the free hand bordering on a hug. \u00a0If it was a heartfelt greeting, a little arm wrestling might ensue with the two clasped hands being tugged in opposite directions to add more feel to the brother shake.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The transition period was brutal. \u00a0One had to decide upon greeting someone whether or not to go old school and use the traditional handshake or get hip and use the brother. \u00a0It could make for an ackward moment if you misjudged and went for the wrong handshake. \u00a0One could direct the action by making the first move, thus signalling which type of handshake to use. \u00a0If one approached the prospective handshakee in a timid fashion, it would result in all manner of gesticulations until the right grip was achieved. \u00a0Some gave up completely and just took to blandly waving their hand in salute.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The brother handshake is still in use but as the younger generation began aged, the more traditional handshake returned. \u00a0By our tenth high school reunion, I can\u2019t remember greeting anyone with anything but a firm, traditional handshake. \u00a0When the brother handshake began to be used extensively by athletes, it kind of diluted the revolutionary power that it had in the late 1960s. \u00a0Once athletes began using the brother shake, it further devolved into all kinds of strange forms that began to include strange grips, thumb locks, hand slaps, and hand bumps. \u00a0Many of those bear little or no resemblance to a handshake of any kind. \u00a0I kind of lose the focus on the meaning of a handshake when athletes began using strange, ritualistic handshakes that remind me of something Fred and Barney would use to get past the sergeant at arms of the <\/span>Loyal Order of Water Buffalo Lodge No. 26<\/span>. \u00a0There may be entertainment value in a handshake that features the same amount of body motion that one achieve if they sat on an anthill or a campfire, but for me, the meaning is devalued to mere showboating. \u00a0It reminds me of the old football coach telling a player who goes overboard in their TD celebration: \u00a0\u201cNext time you score, act like you have done it before.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How about the fist bump? \u00a0When did the handshake become a fist bump? \u00a0Was it in reaction to the wild and crazy, sitting on an anthill gyrations that some passed off as a handshake? \u00a0Was it a subtler form of the brother shake or a high five? \u00a0Different sources claim that it may have started in the late 1800s or early 1900s when gloved boxers met at the center of the ring before a bout, in Jamaica where it was a casual greeting, or even as an alternative to a handshake to help curb the spread of infectious diseases. \u00a0\u00a0Some profess to have seen it in certain animal species. \u00a0I confess that I actually started to enjoy getting a fist bump once in awhile. \u00a0Not long after the fist bump started to replace the wild and crazy greetings, \u00a0it also began to change. \u00a0First there was the \u2018fist bump followed by the explosion\u2019 with wiggling fingers being extended upward after the bump (sometimes followed by a soft \u2018boom\u2019 from the bumper and bumpee). \u00a0The the \u2018shower of sparks\u2019 was added as the waggling fingers were slowly lowered toward the floor. \u00a0Just the other day, one of my students gave me \u2018the snail bump\u2019. \u00a0After the regular fist bump, she flattened her hand out and slid it beneath my fist and announced \u2018snail bump\u2019. \u00a0One thing is for sure: \u00a0if you invent a new type of handshake, someone else is going to modify it to the point where it will eventually look much different than what you started with.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Any other crazy greetings out there? \u00a0Well, there is the elbow hook: \u00a0the two greeting parties hook their arms together at the elbow while trying to not punch each other in the head. \u00a0Let us not forget the chest bump. \u00a0The chest bump was first popularized by football players wearing helmets and pads. \u00a0Seeing it performed by players in other sports with less equipment looks like a train wreck in waiting. \u00a0Cartoonist Stephan Pastis has even drawn the crazy crocs in his <\/span>Pearls Before Swine<\/span><\/i> panels doing the chest bump. \u00a0\u00a0Seeing golfers do the chest bump will probably be a sign that it is on the way out, soon to be replaced by something else (although watching the most recent Masters tournament, I noticed that the brother handshake was exchanged the most frequently on the final green). \u00a0High fives begat low fives. \u00a0Low tens begat high tens. \u00a0Elbow bumps begat elbow locks. \u00a0Where will it end? \u00a0Hopefully not with head butts. \u00a0I recall quarterback Vinny Testaverde knocking himself out of a football game when he head butted a wall on the sideline during a game. \u00a0I can\u2019t remember if it was with or without a helmet on, but it certainly would not be a recommended form of greeting between two humans. \u00a0Our brains are not protected like those mountain goat rams that crack heads in territorial standoffs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I should back pedal here and rethink my earlier \u2018welcome to the fraternity\u2019 statement. \u00a0When I was in sixth grade, spring meant we \u00a0played softball on the lawn outside of Spaulding Hall at NMU. \u00a0One day a bunch of girls from the dorm came out and we thought they were going to chase us off of \u2018their ball field\u2019. \u00a0Instead, they challenged our neighborhood team to play them. \u00a0We were so overmatched it wasn\u2019t even funny. \u00a0If we could hit the ball on the roll from home plate to the curb on Center Street opposite from my house, we thought we were the reincarnation of The Babe. \u00a0A good number of the college girls we played against would hit towering fly balls that would land across Center Street in my yard. \u00a0If you can recall the picture of Charlie Brown having his clothes knocked off by a line drive in the <\/span>Peanuts<\/span><\/i> cartoons, then you get a pretty good idea of how we felt playing those girls. \u00a0This was before Title IX blew up and woman\u2019s (not just girl\u2019s) sports began the explosive growth in opportunities and skills that continues to this day. \u00a0Those girls already had skills and loved to play ball. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What does this have to do with handshakes? \u00a0Every time one of the coeds belted a home run, they all shook her hand as she crossed home plate. \u00a0They also shook our hands at the end of the game. \u00a0We played just about every day after school during my sixth and seventh grade year and were bummed when Northern let out for summer vacation. \u00a0It all came to a screeching halt near the end of the second year when a couple of the coed\u2019s boy friends joined in. \u00a0They were not fun to play against and they didn\u2019t shake hands at the end of the game like the girls did. \u00a0Oh yes, the girls we played against used the \u2018old fashioned, look them in the eye\u2019 handshake and there were no \u2018wet dishrag\u2019 handshakes from anyone of them. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I remember years ago my buddy Mitch and I had run into an old friend. \u00a0After we had \u00a0a brief discussion and parted ways, Mitch said out of the blue,\u201dHey, that was great. \u00a0None of that \u2018brother stuff\u2019 – just a good, old fashioned handshake.\u201d \u00a0Hearing Mitch say this made me realize that I had returned to my roots as a \u2018look them in the eye and give them a firm handshake\u2019 guy, just like my dad taught me. \u00a0Just because it is old school does not mean that it is out of style! \u00a0Be forewarned: \u00a0if you meet me in a social situation and shake my hand, I am going to do the way my dad taught me.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video: \u00a0Elvis will have to do with\u00a0Shake a hand<\/em> – hey, songs about hand shakes are hard to find!