21 - Polite Expression

The main purpose of such greetings has far exceeded their original intent in meaning, becoming less of a kind way to refer to someone and more of a medium of familiarity, as such greetings become uniform over cultures, it now stands as a signifier of familiarity. 

Take the typical American greetings and polite expressions - actions such as the handshake or the wave, as well as phrases such as “how are you?” and “What's up?”. It is now basically ingrained into our heads of the responses, that being to usually reciprocate the feelings of the guest and to just reply benign phrases like “good.” Such an interaction is typical in our environments, mainly to show that we come from similar environments or thought processes. An answer that goes against the grain often results in a less comfortable air in the relationship, as it signifies a break in cultures or environment. 

If I were transported to a country like Spain, for instance, it will be obvious that I would be foreigners to the typical environment the residents lived in. Perhaps one will see the dazed and confused person I will be and will first respond with a “hello!” (I at least know enough Spanish to respond to this). After the hello, the Spaniard will come up to my face and try to kiss the cheeks, to which I will recoil from such advances. It clearly indicates an unfamiliarity that may break that short relationship from ever forming. While some of these greeting may only really pertain to closer individuals rather than strangers, the principal still stands – the greeting is shown for familiarity, not for genuine discussion. 

This can be further extended to many forms of greetings, such as the hand rituals two friends may share, or the hand signals those of a clan or group may use to distinguish members. When you break such actions down to a simple form, a tinder to a discussion, it comes together. It all comes down to a test of familiarity, a quick lock to a potential relationship. 

When I mean that the greeting may be extended to other forms, I mean it! Memes are just another visual that can quickly test one's familiarity to the environment. Is a meme funny or do you get the reference? It could be another bond in progress.