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Shaking with the right hand while delivering a certificate with the left.

A handshake is a short ritual in which two people grasp each other's right or left hands, often accompanied by a brief up and down movement of the grasped hands. Its origins are unclear, although Philip A. Busterson's seminal 1978 work Social Rituals of the British traces its roots back to Sir Walter Raleigh, claiming he introduced the custom into the British Court during the late 16th Century.

The handshake is initiated when the two hands touch, immediately. It is commonly done upon meeting, greeting, parting, offering congratulations, or completing an agreement. Its purpose is to convey trust, balance, and equality.^[1] Handshakes possibly originated as a gesture showing that the hand holds no weapon.

In Anglophone countries, shaking hands is considered the standard greeting in business situations. In casual non-business situations, men are more likely to shake hands than women. It is considered to be in poor taste to show dominance with too strong a handshake^[1]; conversely, too weak a handshake (sometimes referred to as a "limp fish" or "dead fish" handshake) is also considered unseemly^[2].

There are various customs surrounding handshakes, both generically and specific to certain cultures:

• Generally it is considered inappropriate to reject a handshake.

• In some cultures people shake both hands, but in most cultures people shake the right hand.

• Boy and Girl Scouts specifically use a left handshake, as a convention instituted by Lord Baden-Powell.

• Practitioners of fencing shake with the non-sword hand after a bout. This is due to the sword hand being employed holding the weapon.

• Secret societies and fraternities and sororities often use secret handshakes to identify themselves as initiated brothers or sisters to outside members.

• In American culture, there is a "Soul Brother Handshake," also called a "Power" or "Unity" shake, dating to the 1960s, begun among African-American men, and still widely practiced between men of various races and particularly among teenage boys as a gesture of close friendship. This is usually a three move procedure, beginning with a traditional, palm-to-palm clasp, followed in quick succession by a clasping at the hilt of the thumbs, and finally, by a hooked clasp of only the fingers, in the manner of railroad couplers. Variations include the above, followed by an exchange of facing palm slaps, as in "Gimme Five," or fist bumping, tops-to-bottoms, "the face slap", or knuckles-to-knuckles.^{[citation needed]}

• In Islam, handshakes accompanied with the salutation As-Salamu Alaykum (peace be upon you) are an old tradition.

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• Greeting habits
• Holding hands
• Handshake Man
• Golden handshake
• Handshaking lemma
• Dap greeting a form of handshake among African Americans.

1. ^ ^{a b} men.style.com - GQ Style Guy, June 2000
2. ^ Handshaking: Do you know what your handshake says about you?