One of my favourite Juba-things, which is apparently also a Kenya-thing, is hand-shaking. You always shake hands with the people you meet, all the time, every person in the room, no matter how long it takes.
There's also a great rule for when you are eating, or your hands are otherwise dirty - just offer a wrist instead. Simple, and avoids that English awkwardness where you don't know what to do. I'm bringing it back to England. Who's with me?
There's also a great rule for when you are eating, or your hands are otherwise dirty - just offer a wrist instead. Simple, and avoids that English awkwardness where you don't know what to do. I'm bringing it back to England. Who's with me?
6 comments:
The wrist thing is also a Tanzanian thing and a Malawi thing. Someone actually did it with me the other day, but only because his hand was injured
I thought of trying to implement it in the US when I cam back from living in Kenya but I utterly failed. However, I stand behind you in full support.
It is also a (North) Sudan-thing - they have more in common after all!
Is this a step towards making hugging the universal greeting around the world? If yes, then it is a great start for the English ;).
I think the real cause of this is that in the UK, there is no cultural norm that makes a personalized, individual greeting (such as shaking hands) mandatory when you enter a room or join a group. I struggle with this as I never know whether I should be shaking everyone's hand and/or giving hugs, cheek kisses (for "da laydeeez").
In Germany, where there is the norm that you shake hands with everyone in the room (regardless of gender, although closer female friends may be kissed instead) I've always offered up the elbow when my hands are full or dirty, and people never seem at all shocked by it. They just shake the elbow.
As long as you can impose the cultural norm on the UK that a personalized greeting (with physical contact!) must be offered to each person when someone new joins, I think you'll be completely successful with the whole wrist thing. I'll even support you in it.
The UK could definitely use some new cultural norms imposing...
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