THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING

Do you remember that old joke? It’s not really a joke. It’s a zen riddle to challenge rational thinking to help achieve enlightenment. Huh? Right. It’s way above my pay grade to understand deep thoughts like this, but it’s what I always think about when I watch a Kdrama and see how Koreans clap.

Americans clap full out with our fingers against our palms. At least that’s the way I clap. Koreans clap with their fingers touching. It’s a more gentle clap, more measured and more nuanced. Americans clap in a more boisterous way. There is no confusion about what we’re trying to say. We’re in your face when we clap.

The different way we clap fits perfectly with how I see our cultures. Koreans are more polite, their system of addressing one another is more respectful of others, seniors citizens seems to be more revered. Americans are not like this. We’re…well, you know how we are! (You will never see an American prostrate themselves to apologize!)

Food for thought… ~ Pat

Another thing I've been told is that Koreans have rather 'weak' handshakes. As an American we are told to soften our handshakes a bit as our normal, firm, look-them-in-the-eye handshake is considered too aggressive. So far I've never had the opportunity to shake hands with a Korean but I'll try to remember this should the need arise. Cultural differences are truly out there! ~ Judy

Nothing is worse than a wet noodle hand shake! I thought handshakes were a thing of the past after The Pandemic when we were all so terrified of touching one another, but they’re back, even the wet noodle variety. I’m wondering if Koreans have a softer handshake because they rarely get the chance to do one. ~Pat

Spoken like a true American! Pat thinks of them as 'wet noodle' handshakes; Koreans probably think of ours as 'bullying!' Actually what I think we don't like is when we use one form (i.e. the 'American Firm' handshake & the other person uses the 'Soft' handshake.) It's the incongruity that makes us uncomfortable. Every time I've encountered a soft handshake it happens so quickly that I am not able to adjust mine to be appropriately soft; and that means firm shaking Americans will steamroll through international societies because we've been taught to do the American Firm method! Yikes....we can offend even when we don't mean to!

Lastly, I wonder how many of our readers got through that little bit of analysis... Don't call the Gmamas light weight thinkers! ~ Judy

And even worse, Judy, is when you’re using a firm handshake, and that person is using a bone crushing hand spasm grip. Ouch! ~Pat