# Greeting - Saludar



## MarX

Hello!
Hola!

I've read through the cultural forum guidelines, and I'm sure that my question is not against them.
One may have some doubt about love and romance, but this is about greeting, including friends.
There was another thread about PDA, but I've learnt over the time that WordReference is about being specific, and the other thread is simply too general.

How do males greet each other in your country or any other places you know?
Cómo se saludan los varones in tu país o otros lugares que conocés?
If it involves kissing, could you please specify how many times?
Si se besan, por favor especificar cuántas veces.

-I heard and read many times that it's normal in the Southern Cone (Uruguay, Argentina, Chile) for men to kiss each other once on the cheek.
Oí y leí muchas veces que es normal en el Cono Sur que los hombres se dan un beso en la mejilla.

-In Germany it's normal to shake hands. Not doing it may even seem impolite. Good friends hug each other.
En Alemania es normal darse la mano. No hacerlo puede parecer incluso grosero. Buen amigos se abrazan.

-In Indonesia, guys either say hi and just wave, or shake hands, or hug if they're friends.
En Indonesia, los chicos o dicen hola y saludan con la mano, o se dan la mano, o se abrazan si son amigos.

-In France, at least where I've been, good friends kiss each other twice on the cheeks.
En Francia, por lo menos donde estuve, buen amigos se dan dos besos en las mejillas.

Thanks for your participation!
Gracias por tu participación!

Regards,
Saludos,


MarX


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## avok

In Turkey,

Men kiss men on the cheek, but if the occasion is formal they just shake hands.

These are some other greetings I have experienced:

- while I was back at college, there were some French students (the Erasmus students) the first day, I got to know them; the second day, they (including males) started to kiss me on the cheek, we were not even very close. (I dont know maybe I am too cheeky ) But we were all university students and it was all informal.

- my Brazilian male friends never kissed me and I could not kiss them. I found this a bit weird.

In Turkey, it is done twice, one kiss on both cheeks. While I was in France I saw that some French people kiss each other for 3 and even 4 times.


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## mgwls

Hi,

In Argentina, males that don't know each other too much or that are in a formal context usually shake hands and greet orally.
If they get acquainted with each other or have a closer relationship they normally kiss each other in the cheek once.

But, anyway, it wouldn't be strange if in an informal situation two men that didn't know each other beforehand kiss each other in the cheek the first time they meet or, on the contrary, that two men that have been friends for a long time never have a close physical contact.

Saludos


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## ascension

In the United States men never kiss each other. They will usually shake hands, but this is more likely when they do not see each other very often. For someone you see frequently, such as a classmate, an oral greeting ("hey what's up," if you're a student) is most common.


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## lady_luck

In India, men will either shake hands(formally) , or fold thier hands (both formally adn traditionally and for elders) and in very close friends, they will just hug!

The traditional greeting is 'namaste' (hindus) and 'sat sri akal' (sikhs)


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## Orreaga

AudKaem said:


> In the United States men never kiss each other. They will usually shake hands, but this is more likely when they do not see each other very often. For someone you see frequently, such as a classmate, an oral greeting ("hey what's up," if you're a student) is most common.



This is not entirely true. In certain ethnic communities this custom of kissing is maintained. Also, it is not unusual for adult sons and grandsons to greet their fathers/grandfathers with a kiss. And some gay men who are friends will greet  each other with a hug and kiss. Many heterosexual men who are friends will greet each other with a hug if they haven't seen each other in a long time.


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## Grop

In France - no matter if you are really good friends, it is also true about colleagues for instance - men shake hands. Kissing occurs when women greet each other, or a woman and a man.

It is not exactly kissing (unless among good friends or family): it is a cheek-to-cheek contact, our lips not touching the other person (what we kiss is the air ). The number of times we do that depends on places (twice in my place).

In my place men who are good friends (not just colleagues) may kiss instead of shaking hands. However there is no rule about this: I have good male friends that I kiss, and good male friends that I shake hands with. I think men in other parts of France may be even less confortable with kissing each other.

(There are times when it is easier to kiss as greetings are warmer, on birthdays or New Year's for instance).

To friends I generally say goodbye the same way as I greet them, but with colleagues saying goodbye is enough.


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## federicoft

In Italy good friends kiss each other twice on the cheeks regardless of their gender. 
In fact it is not even a kiss, they just touch on their respective cheeks, and lips actually kiss the air.

A hug it is perceived as a much more intimate gesture, and it is not common unless you didn't see your friend for a long time.

In more formal contexts people just shake hands and say hello/goodbye, or they just greet orally. 

EDIT: I wrote this before reading the above reply. As you can see Italy is quite similar to France in this respect.


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## Outsider

In Portugal, the normal form of greeting between men or teenagers is a handshake. Children are an exception; you will often see little boys be kissed by close relatives, though mostly when they are still very young, unless the relative is their father.

I'm under the impression that a few generations ago it used to not be uncommon for men of the same family to greet with a kiss. At least, I have witnessed, as Orreaga said above:



Orreaga said:


> [...] adult sons and grandsons to greet their fathers/grandfathers with a kiss.


But around here even this has been growing less and less common.

In some circumstances, men may also greet by hugging or patting their backs: close friends, business partners or politicians in formal ceremonies... Usually this involves only one arm at a time.


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## ernest_

In Spain male friends never kiss each other. Most of the time, they shake hands. There are two types of shake, the normal one and the "friendly" one that is used only between mates, which is sort of instead of holding the other person's whole hand you just hold his thumb (hard to explain... I have found a picture to illustrate this, is just like in arm-wrestling). It's embarrassing because you never know which type of shake the other person is going to use, and if you do a friendly shake and the other a normal shake, it doesn't work well.


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## MarX

Thank you very much for your replies so far! 

It seems that kissing (or touching the cheeks) among males is a Mediterranean thing (except Spain), because I've also seen many Arab guys doing it. 
Any input from the Balkan?

Answers from other countries are of course always welcome!

Greetings,


MarX


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## avok

ernest_ said:


> ...the "friendly" one that is used only between mates, which is sort of instead of holding the other person's whole hand you just hold his thumb (hard to explain... I have found a picture to illustrate this, is just like in arm-wrestling).


 
This looks like an Afro-American shake to me rather than Spanish


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## Vale_yaya

Grop said:


> In France - Kissing occurs when a women greet each other, or a woman and a man.
> 
> It is not exactly kissing (unless among good friends or family): it is a cheek-to-cheek contact, our lips not touching the other person (what we kiss is the air ).


 
Same thing in Ecuador, between women, it's only "one kiss" if you can call it a kiss because women just "kiss the air" as you said. I guess it is like that because it takes forever when it's a large group of people that you're greeting. Sometimes I just say "kisses to everybody" and I just do a gesture with my hand.
But with men is different, they would ONLY kiss (on the cheek and only one kiss) if they're really really REALLY good friends, very close, or father/grandfather to a child (sometimes on the cheek, sometimes on the lips NOT always it depends A LOT on the age of the child). Otherwise they shake hands, they usually hug (with one hand or both if they are friends or they've met before). Or they hold hands hard and sometimes "they have a way" by their own to say hi. 

Once I was with my friend (male) and we were introduced "this lady" (from Somalia), and she wouldn't shake her hand with him. What the male who was with her told us is that her religion wouldn't allow her to shake hands with a male. I think she was "musulman", but I can't assure that. I found that very interesting!!!.


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## sokol

In Austria men don't kiss when greeting - ever.

Except (probably) if they belong to other cultures, but I haven't seen this in public (so far), or in case of one of our government leaders meeting someone from another culture where not kissing (between men) would be seen as offending: most memorable among these once were the men-to-men-kisses between our statesmen and the ones from the USSR.

Greeting usually is with or without handshakes: both exists, and there's not even a clear line to draw when to shake hands and when not (not even that it were more usual in rural countries rather than cities): it is more a personal thing.
For example, in northern Upper Austria hand-shaking once was considered obligatory and therefore, by the young, isn't done at all anymore if they don't want to look like they were old-fashioned.
On the other hand, in Vienna even many of the young still use the handshake when meeting in private (on the street, when meeting in a bar, etc.) while at the workplace hands are not shaken, usually, except on first reconaissance probably (will depend).

As for the Balkans, I have been in Slovenia and Croatia (not very often) and I haven't seen men kissing there anywhere, anytime.
Also there lives a huge community of "Ex-Yougoslavs" in Vienna, and I can't remember having them seen ever kissing each other in public (men, of course, as this is topic here).


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## pickypuck

I wouldn't say "never" for Spain. At least in the south, it is something I've seen between close friends. And on TV, you can see many male singers and actors greeting each other with two kisses.
About the arm-wresting greeting, I've experienced what ernest_ says a couple of times and it's really embarrassing.

In the family, kissing each other is a very common thing.

Greetings! (only handshaking ones ^_^)


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## tvdxer

MarX said:


> Hello!
> Hola!
> 
> I've read through the cultural forum guidelines, and I'm sure that my question is not against them.
> One may have some doubt about love and romance, but this is about greeting, including friends.
> There was another thread about PDA, but I've learnt over the time that WordReference is about being specific, and the other thread is simply too general.
> 
> How do males greet each other in your country or any other places you know?



If they're friends, and the greeting is in an informal context, probably just verbally.

If it's in a more business-like environment, or they're meeting each other for the first time, probably with a handshake. 

As for hugs, it's pretty unusual for two men to greet each other that way in my country.  However, it's not rare for a man and a woman, even if not in a relationship, to hug, but I would recommend avoiding that for those not very familiar with American and local cultural norms.

Kissing is generally not accepted as a form of greeting, except perhaps for family members.  The whole kissing on two cheeks thing is viewed as very European here.


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## Gwan

In New Zealand, two men would never kiss (unless, as with the exceptions pointed out for America above, they were from another culture, gay etc. etc.). A Maori tradition is the hongi, which means rubbing noses. Elsewhere, that's sometimes called an Eskimo kiss. If the men were strangers/business acquaintances, handshakes would be usual.
For women, sometimes women/women and women/men kiss on the cheek, or hug, sometimes it's handshakes, or sometimes you just say hi. It's always a bit awkward because there's not really rules, and sometimes one person is going for a hug and the other kisses as well, sometimes they kiss on both cheeks, sometimes just one... 
I went to kiss a male acquaintance goodbye on the cheek the other day and missed and accidentally got his neck. That was awkward!


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## Grop

tvdxer said:


> As for hugs, it's pretty unusual for two men to greet each other that way in my country.



I think I have seen it in Massachusetts, but that was farewells, not everyday greetings.


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## mirx

México:

Males would just great verbally if they are good friends or are in a way acquainted, this happens in informal environments.

Male kids are expected to kiss their parents, uncles, and grandparents until puberty, from then onwards only father and grandfather are to be greeted with a kiss, even in adulthood. This depends a lot from family to family and perhaps geographical location and background also have a part on this.

Adult males do never greet each other with a kiss, except for the cases mentioned above, or if they are openly gay.

It is expected in all environments and situations for men and women to greet each other on the cheek one time, if they are common acquaintances, verbal greeting is the norm. Women would greet each other once or twice depending on the level of hypocrasy.


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## javier8907

In Spain, as far as I've seen, men and women kiss each other in the cheek twice -so do women between them- when being introduced. Apart from that, it's rather normal to repeat the ceremony when you haven't seen that person for a week or two, but not if you see them every day. Men only shake hands with men when introduced, and shake hands or hug (patting each other on the back and may'be clashing their breasts -some teenagers-, but not as softly as a one would hug a woman), depending on their uses, and how close friends they are. I've never seen the hugging in big cities such as Madrid or Barcelona, I suppose that only the "extended handshake" is used there. Anyway, I've never seen two men kissing as a greeting, except, of course, they're family.

I haven't observed the use in rural areas in the Basque Country, but I think that many times people don't get properly introduced, so this ceremony doesn't take place -nor do the following. Anyway, I wouldn't expect to see people shaking hands there, just greeting verbally -sometimes in very exotic ways- or hugging strongly -men.


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## Katuka

MarX said:


> I heard and read many times that it's normal in the Southern Cone (Uruguay, Argentina, Chile) for men to kiss each other once on the cheek.


 


Hi MarX: 
At least in Chile, that doesn't happen (never). 
Regards,
Katty


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## bb008

Hola 

En Venezuela, por lo general los hombres no se besan entre sí, sólo se saludan con un apretón de manos, una palmadita en la espalda o un fuerte abrazo. La única manera que veas un hombre besar a otro, es que sean padre e hijo o hermano con hermano, uno que otro mejor amigo, y no siempre, se vería muy extraño. Tengo una experiencia, un amigo no tenía padre, por circunstancias de la vida, y el padre de su mejor amigo cuando lo veía simpre lo saludaba con un beso y eso a él le tocaba en lo profundo del alma (es decir que le hubiese gustado que fuese su padre que lo hiciera). El machismo en nuestro país está muy arraigado, pero lo dicho anteriormente refleja la necesidad de un simple gesto de cariño y por qué no de un beso, mi padre besaba a mi hermano y nunca lo ví mal, pero todavía tenemos una sociedad machista que ve con muy malos ojos un beso entre hombres y muchos todavía tienden a confundir ese gesto.


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## Grux

MarX said:


> It seems that kissing (or touching the cheeks) among males is a Mediterranean thing (except Spain), because I've also seen many Arab guys doing it. Any input from the Balkan?



I think russian men kiss each other, too. Three or more times.

In Spain, as other foreros said, kissing among heterosexual men is very strange unless, maybe, if they are a father and his son.


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## xqby

ernest_ said:


> Most of the time, they shake hands. There are two types of shake, the normal one and the "friendly" one that is used only between mates


 
This was actually true here too for a while. When I was in high school (2000-2005) it was popular to just swipe your palm over the other guy's palm (often more like a slap than anything), make a fist, and then bump knuckles together. This could be awkward if one of you tried to grab the other's hand in a normal handshake while the other pulled it away. It went back down in popularity in recent years though, and I pretty much exclusively use the normal handshake now.


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## Grux

ernest_ said:


> There are two types of shake, the normal one and the "friendly" one that is used only between mates, which is sort of instead of holding the other person's whole hand you just hold his thumb...



I think in Spain this kind of shake was imported from USA, through TV, movies, etc.


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## Hakro

How do males greet each other in your country or any other places you know?
In Finland males usually shake hands, or if they are good friends they may only wave hands or just nod.
 If it involves kissing, could you please specify how many times?
*Absolutely never, unless they are gay!*
 In Germany it's normal to shake hands. Not doing it may even seem impolite. Good friends hug each other.
Shaking hands is normal but not absolutely necessary. Hugging between male friends or even between family members is very rare; it may be accepted if you haven't seen your friend/brother/father for a long time.


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## Mahaodeh

In Iraq and the Levant, kissing is usually used is specific cases: when someone is traveling or just arrived from a trip abroad, in celebrations such as Eid, in congratulations such as someone's wedding and in condolences. Otherwise, you have the "warm handshake" where each one holds the right hand of the other with his right hand and puts his left hand on the upper left arm of the other, usually for over a minute while exchanging verbal salutations; and the "formal" hand shake that is similar to the European one except that the grip is usually firmer.
 
In the GCC states (Gulf Cooperation Council) sometimes men can touch each others noses with their nose (to avoid the actual kiss) or kiss each other's shoulders (not sure why, maybe also to avoid kissing faces) but I don't know how often and in which cases.
 
Women kiss much more often, usually twice or three times on each side; but in most cases it's just touching cheeks and the kisses go in the air unless there is a very close relationship and/or a real occasion. Men and women don't kiss unless they are first degree relatives.


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## swift

This is a great thread, MarX.

How do males greet each other in your country or any other places you know?
In Costa Rica, the way men greet depends on how close the relationship is:  classmates shake hands, or just wave and say "¿Todo bien?". Good friends may shake hands and hug. Colleagues just shake hands, unless they are buddies -then, they hug.

In Belgium, friends shake hands and hug.

If it involves kissing, could you please specify how many times?

Men do not kiss each other in Costa Rica, not even friends.

In Belgium, friends kiss each other once on the ckeek.


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