Handshake’s subtlety
RE: your “Just Jen” handshake article in the recent Weekend Post.
I understand that the origin of this custom dates back to the Middle Ages, when men wore swords.
The theory was that one couldn’t draw a sword with their right hand while shaking hands with it.
It was an act of showing friendship between men. As women weren’t armed this custom wasn’t deemed necessary for them.
This was how I was brought up, but that was a long time ago and there’s been a lot of rapid changes in male/female relations since then. Eg. Men once walked on the kerb side of pavements when with a woman. They removed their hats when going indoors. They opened doors for women. A man heard swearing in the presence of ladies would find himself in deep trouble. Few of these rules are still taught and/or observed.
So, in the extremely unlikely event of us ever meeting I would politely, but somewhat unenthusiastically, shake your offered hand.
However, this act would never be the same as with a male. Men may not be running around armed any longer, but a handshake still exchanges subtle information. Alex Blair, The Esplanade were supplied to us, by the Bureau of Meteorology, in respect of the “reborn cyclone Owen”.
The information was intended to alert us to take action to save life, limb and property. Always in the past, we local residents used specific details of the cyclones as part of our preparations in readiness for its eventual landing, for its magnitude and possible widespread destruction.
But for reborn “Owen” we got virtually nothing to indicate its intensity and the size of its “eye”, nor its total width including that of its circle of destructive winds, nor its path and speed, so that we could track its progress.
I heard no regular updates from the bureau to keep us informed.
What we got was as effective as a fairy story, despite all of the bureau’s expensive equipment at its disposal.
To the Bureau of Meteorology – the public who depend upon you for information are not idiots, so do not treat us as such. We expect a much better performance from you in the future. John Walters, Whitfield