Yo Bro!

You gentlemen are strange creatures.


Hahahahahahaha, in the nicest possible sense, of course.


Today, I have a pink hat firmly on. No man-goggles. No seeing it from your point of view. I am all-woman, oestrogen, warts and all :-)


I was at a gym yesterday. No, not a New Year's resolution as such, just normal routine :-)


I was highly amused by a sighting of two men greeting each other.


They were two muscular guys (I think the term is 'beefcakes'?)
And no, I most definitely wasn't ogling.


I wasn't!


They were in my field of vision, OK?


The only reason I spotted the rippling pecs and bulging biceps is that they had somehow crossed over into my direct field of vision. I had been looking straight ahead, minding my own business, in a 'tunnel' of my own making and all...


Honest!


:-)






Anyhow, despite being of different races, they greeted each other with 'Yo bro'.
I didn't think they were genetic brothers, no :-)


Then they did this inverted handshake thing, and then whilst maintaining this handshake, they 'bumped' right shoulder to right shoulder. I could hear this bump, frankly it seemed painful, but these guys didn't seem to feel any pain. Manwhile I was wincing.


And they did all this in like, 3 seconds, all without eye contact.


They then parted company as each went in search of some weights to pump.










This is not the first time I have seen men greet each other in a way that makes me want to laugh out loud. It is so cute to watch (at least by a woman).


Are you men amused at the way women greet each other?


Come on, fess up! We won't be offended :-)




Perhaps a description of how I greet my own best friend may help.


I hadn't seen her for about two months.


I met up with her recently. As I spotted her among a crowd as she made her way towards me at our appointed venue, I immediately noticed she was wearing new boots.


Maintaining eye contact as she approached me, we hugged so tightly I couldn't be sure how legal it was :-) We maintained this hug for well over a minute.


Then I stepped away to admire her new boots for the best part of two minutes, then she looked me over and complimented me on some random feature of my physical being (I forget what). Then we hugged again, and stroked each other's shoulders/arms/backs in light touches whilst taking past each other at the rate of a thousand words a minute...




Hahahahahahahahaha!


If anyone thinks I am exaggerating....


I am not.


I describe it exactly as I recall it.


But it does sound like a caricature of women's greeting, doesn't it?




The thing is, it feels so good.




Do you guys get this sense of 'it feels good' when you do your 'fist bumps' and 'chest bumps' (like the basketball players do) and your inverted handshake greetings?


To you, is it necessary for it to 'feel good'?
I can tell you that from this side of the fence, we definitely do it for the 'feel good factor'!


:-)






I love forms of greetings. They are my guilty pleasure.


In some parts of the world, a simple 'hi' just won't do. People spend a good ten minutes just saying 'hi'. I kid you not.


I once watched a documentary where two women were timed just exchanging simple pleasantries. It took just over eight minutes. Eight minutes!


It went something like this:


How are you?


Good, how are you?


Great. How are the kids?


They are fine. How is your husband?


He is well, how is your Mum? Has she recovered from her operation yet?


Oh yes, she is walking again now. And the party? How's that coming on?


Oh, yes, she is looking forward to it. We haven't got the cake yet. She says she's too grown up now to have a cake with thirteen candles on it...


And so on.


After everyone had been accounted for in the greeting, then they started talking about what they had actually met up for.


Hahahahahaha, so amusing...








I understand the need to keep your distance even when you are greeting your nearest and dearest, gentlemen. It is something I admire, because I cannot do it myself.


But do you feel the need to be like this in all your close encounters with your fellow fellas? Is this some code of manhood or something?


My friend and I regularly invade each other's privacy. We have no real boundaries.


I 'get' that a lot of men would recoil in horror at that. I understand.


What happens when a rather tactile woman hugs you like she would a fellow female?
Would you tolerate it ('well, she's just a female, she's not dangerous afterall, besides it's rather nice' :-)
Or do you hate it when this happens ('get off me, woman!')


Please do share!










What do you think of the Obamas' 'fistbump'?
Is this a normal 'form of greeting' between a couple?
Or is it a case of 'whatever floats their boat'?


Why do basketball players jump up and bump chests?
Is this a 'beating my chest, but even better if my buddy does it for me' thing?
We women could never do this. It would be a physically painful experience :-)
Even for the less endowed among us :-)


But we sometimes do the 'bump hips' thing.
I have never seen men bump hips - why is this?
Could a man explain this to me?






Anyone use the 'rub noses' form of greeting?
Is it cute or infection-prone? :-)


What about the kiss on the mouth between parents and children?


Why is a 'firm handshake' a good thing?


Tell all about your preferred (or not!) forms of greeting!


Not sure why this interests me, but it does :-)