Oh, hello.

Nice to meet you.

I'm Jane.

I'm extending my hand in greeting to show you I'm not carrying a weapon.

Okay, that's not why I'm doing it.

But it might be the origin of this modern, polite greeting.

Why do you shake hands to make a deal?

We don't know for sure who started shaking hands, but images of handshakes are included in early art from the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Handshakes are also included in some early works of literature.

Handshakes are generally done with the right hand, and it's thought that because most people are right handed, though I'm not, shaking with your right hand was a way to show that you were not holding a weapon.

It came to be understood as a way to say you were greeting the person peacefully.

When people shake hands after agreeing to a business deal, they're saying, I'm acting in good faith.

But handshakes do have a downside.

They are a great way to spread germs.

Long before germ theory was understood, handshakes probably played a role in spreading germs that led to flu pandemics.

More recently, during the Covid-19 pandemic, people quickly got the message to stop shaking hands and the fist bump or elbow bump briefly took off as a greeting.

Top public health officials have said it's time to stop shaking hands for good because it would reduce the spread of flu every year.

But handshakes do seem to be coming back.

It's one habit that's been very hard to shake.

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