Does anyone remember the foot shake?

In the spring of 2020 you saw people on the streets and more often on the Internet who, in greeting, bumped their mostly shod feet with the insides.

Most of the time it looked like a misunderstood polka.

They stared down so as not to miss the other's foot and tried to keep their balance on one leg.

So it's no wonder that this didn't catch on.

On the other hand, it has become more common to pull out an elbow and bump against the other person's.

And since hip-hoppers, athletes or Barack Obama are no longer just putting out their fists in a friendly way, the “ghetto fist” has also become mainstream.

Less cool, but very warm-hearted, is a gentle bow of the head, in which the hands are put together at chest level: Namasté.

Novina Göhlsdorf

Editor in the features section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung

  • Follow I follow

    The idea of ​​not touching each other beyond what is known as one's own household and of shaking hands, kissing cheeks and hugs has made us creative and eager to learn.

    Nevertheless, the unavailability of familiar repertoires created strange situations.

    If you resorted to one of the alternatives born or dug up in the pandemic, it was often awkward.

    But in these moments of prevented contact, everyone involved tried to circumvent the restrictions as dignified as possible.

    Everyone seemed to agree that they would get closer if only they could.

    Rules triumphed over norms.

    About new insecurities

    However, the situation is now more complicated. Some are fully vaccinated, others have recovered. Due to the lower incidence rates in Germany, it no longer seems so dangerous to get closer to each other again. This leads to new types of uncertainty. If you meet friends, some of them spread their arms and head towards you unchecked. Suddenly you have been hugged, lips or cheeks pressed against cheeks. If one side does not proceed in such a determined manner, uncomfortable scenes sometimes arise in which both of them prance around hesitantly and not very gracefully. After the third wave it is more uncertain than during the first who still wants or is allowed to do what. The rules have been softened, old norms are more effective again, but have lost their clarity.

    Suddenly one can sense that one's own reluctance to touch can be perceived as impolite rejection - as it was before the pandemic. But how valid are such courtesy expectations? And will we ever again shake hands or hug each other without being afraid of the breath of the other person and the invisible milieu on their palms? The “order of contact”, as the sociologist Gesa Lindemann calls it, installed to protect against infection, has been inscribed in the body. Lindemann expects that people outside of the family circle will continue to be perceived as a threat and will be kept at a distance.

    Perhaps the current uncertainty is not just due to health considerations. Knowledge of the virus has increased awareness of the course of greeting and farewell rituals and of the physical contact involved. He now stands out, not only as someone who may make you sick, but also as someone for or against whom you can decide. As someone you may not even appreciate. Even before the pandemic, some felt the ritualized and therefore natural body contact to be unreasonable and the Covid-related hygiene regime as liberating. This does not only apply to Harald Schmidt, who recently said in a video conversation with the FAZ: “No handshakes, no hugs, no kisses left and right. The government is finally doing something for me. "A friend,who constantly had to shake hands because of his job fears the return of the handshake because he never liked this prescribed closeness to strangers. A friend is happy not to have missed any more or less airy kisses for a year and a half.