Meeting & Greeting People
from Around the World
by Ruairidh Bulger
The world has become much smaller over the
last 100 years or so. The advent of powered
flight in December 1903, the ability to travel the
world has become increasing easy, and more
accessible than ever before. People, as a rule, go
on holiday much more than they used to, and
travel to more destinations than ever before.
The chance to explore new countries has
opened us up to the possibility of meeting many
more people from different countries, and
different cultures, is an ever growing reality for
many of us. We want to be able to immerse
ourselves in the day to day lives of a new
community, and to understand their customs,
and their lives, and be abel to learn from each
other.
To be able to make the most of any such
opportunities that might come our way, we
would need to ensure that we are not blowing
our chances with a bad first impression. We want
to be opening doors, not having them slam in
our faces because we accidentally caused offence
before we even had the chance to finish our
“Hellos”.
So how do we greet people? How do we know
what is the right thing to do?
The answers are almost always straightforward.
For most of the world, when a Gentleman is
greeting someone of the same sex, the
handshake should always be the first option.
Mannered Gentleman
23