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When a person shakes your hand then scratches your palm what does it mean?

When a person shakes another person's hand and says "nice to meet you," do they mean it or have they already formed an opinion of the person that makes that statement a lie?

  • I bring this up because I see it all the time. Handshake, "nice to meet you" and on to the next thing. I always wonder if our brains just process this meeting in the exact same way all the time or if there's actually some behind the scenes thought that goes into it.

  • Answer:

    I personally think it's some kind of conditioned response we've developed in social situations. By repetitively replaying the same scenario with different people in a social setting, it is almost like an automated process. You do it without consciously thinking about it.

Satyanarayana Shanmugam at Quora Visit the source

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It's a idiomatic expression and a custom I use whenever I meet a new person, whether I actually think it's nice to meet him or not. That doesn't necessarily mean that, when I say it, I'm not happy to meet the other person. If you always assume that, you'll be wrong much of the time. You'd be better off assuming that you can't tell whether or not I'm actually happy to meet the person. If you want to know my real feelings, you'll have to use other information besides the fact that I've engaged in a standard greeting.

Marcus Geduld

It has become a standard routine nowadays where a handshake must be followed by nice to meet you. It's like the mind has set this, where the words just automatically pops when you shake hands.

Dhashayini Vikram

It's the dance, and a huge part of moving successfully through daily life is predicated on knowing the steps to the dance.  Consider for a moment that we consider people who can't do this dance "autistic" and to one degree or another, "disabled."  Some of them, particularly at the Asperger's end, are actually far more honest than many of us.  But they are not socially successful.  And they will not be successful at work that requires social skill. The world is difficult at times.  We require lots of social lubrication <> alcohol to move smoothly through our day.  I say, "nice to meet you" to my BF's ex, and I might just as easily say, "stay away," but our society means we will be in the same room for 8 hours on Christmas day, and how does real honesty help in this situation?  Moving parts require lubrication.  "Nice to meet you" is a sign that both sides of the exchange came equipped with oil cans.

Karen Tiede

It is simply an expression that is the equivalent of saying, "Hello." When you meet someone for the first time, you really don't know if it is "nice" or not.  In fact, most of the time, you have no prior knowledge about the person you're meeting.  I wouldn't take the words too literally. An enthusiastic "____ has told me so many good things about you!  It's nice to finally get to meet you." would convey a more literal meaning/message.

Garrick Saito

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