Uh oh, Bill. You've offended Korea.

[Samurai_Jerk]

gateshandshake.jpg

Koreans Slap Bill Gates for 'Rude' Handshake

SEOUL, South Korea - The buzz in town today is this photograph of Microsoft founder Bill Gates' shaking hands with South Korea President Park Geun-hye.
Gates, 57, might have not realized it Monday, but a one-hand shake in Korean culture - and also in Asia - is notably casual, done only when the other party is a good friend, of the same or younger age. Using one hand with the other tucked in the pants pocket is considered rude here, done when one is expressing superiority to the other.

[wagyl]

... in Korean culture - and also in Asia ...

I'm assuming this is just sloppy writing, because, yeah, Asia is a monolithic culture from the Bosporus to the Pacific, from Sinai to Kamchatka, but just out of interest do the Koreans regard themselves as separate from Asia, with categories 'Korea' and 'Asia', like the Japanese do with Japan?

[Coligny]

Using one hand with the other tucked in the pants pocket is considered rude hereANYWHERE, done when one is expressing superiority to the other.

At first I thought it was going to be another of those times where Clinton fall dick first into some locals...

[wagyl]

Using one hand with the other tucked in the pants pocket is considered rude hereANYWHERE, done when one is expressing superiority to the other.

Ooh yeah, missed that point. Trousers pocket, I would take as an affront; but pants pocket ... now that is really taking the piss.

[matsuki]

This is not just a Korean thing. It's an international protocol.

Korea...making mountains out of anthills and finding slights against Korea/Koreans in everything possible from the outside world.

[Samurai_Jerk]

... in Korean culture - and also in Asia ...

I'm assuming this is just sloppy writing, because, yeah, Asia is a monolithic culture from the Bosporus to the Pacific, from Sinai to Kamchatka, but just out of interest do the Koreans regard themselves as separate from Asia, with categories 'Korea' and 'Asia', like the Japanese do with Japan?

Yeah, I didn't know the two-handed Korean handshake was an Asian thing.

Using one hand with the other tucked in the pants pocket is considered rude hereANYWHERE, done when one is expressing superiority to the other.

At first I thought it was going to be another of those times where Clinton fall dick first into some locals...

Yeah, leaving your hands in your pocket is pretty fucking rude but Bill's a techie and he's from Seattle so he doesn't have any social graces.

[sublight]

Yeah, leaving your hands in your pocket is pretty fucking rude but Bill's a techie and he's from Seattle so he doesn't have any social graces.

You can take the nerd out of the computer lab...

[(1VB)freels]

Is he there to BUY Korea????

[gaijinpunch]

Sure, I'll play devil's advocate: Where the fuck is the lady's other hand?

[IparryU]

Sure, I'll play devil's advocate: Where the fuck is the lady's other hand?

+1

[matsuki]

Sure, I'll play devil's advocate: Where the fuck is the lady's other hand?

+1

She's Korean, it goes without question that she is being polite and it need not be looked into

[wangta]

gateshandshake.jpg

Koreans Slap Bill Gates for 'Rude' Handshake

SEOUL, South Korea - The buzz in town today is this photograph of Microsoft founder Bill Gates' shaking hands with South Korea President Park Geun-hye.
Gates, 57, might have not realized it Monday, but a one-hand shake in Korean culture - and also in Asia - is notably casual, done only when the other party is a good friend, of the same or younger age. Using one hand with the other tucked in the pants pocket is considered rude here, done when one is expressing superiority to the other.

The author of this article has a Korean name, probably a Korean American. They need to get their facts straight - at no point in over 10 yrs of working in Japan and Korea did I hear that foreigners must greet somebody by using both hands. While the point out the hand in the pocket is a fair cop, since when do East Asians expect foreigners especially those they are meeting for the first time to greet with both hands? That's ridiculous.

Koreans think it's fine to shake hands the western way - one hand. Especially a foreigner whom they haven't met before. It's the hands in the pocket that are the problem, but it just looks like Bill was momentarily surprised, maybe he didn't expect Park Guen Hye to give a warm welcome or maybe she made a beeline for him and he wasn't thinking. Unfortunately there's a tendency in Korea to run with these kinds of stories and make national issues out of them in the media, parliament and citizens' groups.

It doesn't take much to 'offend' Koreans and yes, they're not the most logical of people as a rule. You just have to think of the recent attempt of Koreans to get a comfort woman statue put somewhere near the Japanese Embassy in Singapore to know that - as the Koreans invaded Singapore alongside the Japanese and joined in the mass executions and abuse including forced prostitution of Singaporean residents both native and western, it's irrational and completely insensitive as well as hypocritical. Of course many Koreans were offended when Singaporeans said, no thank you, no way.

[Taro Toporific]

....at no point in over 10 yrs of working in Japan and Korea did I hear that foreigners must greet somebody by using both hands. While the point out the hand in the pocket is a fair cop, since when do East Asians expect foreigners especially those they are meeting for the first time to greet with both hands? That's ridiculous.

I have to say, that East Asians---thus including the Japanese---expect foreigners to shake using both hands is a FUCKING LIE.

If I were to greet a Japanese female politician by shaking her hand using both my hands, I would be accused of being over-familiar with her.

[Coligny]

Last time I went to my mechanic for an oil change, I was a bit dozing of while waiting when mah usual sales guy came in, he nearly jumped back when I mechanically offered to shake hand... We know dat guy since before we moved to Toyohashi...

[Yokohammer]

There was a guy I knew back in Yokohama who, whenever someone attempted a handshake, would cooly announce "I don't shake hands." Weirdo.

[Russell]

Some people do that for medical reasons. Some kind of rheumatic disease or so...

[Yokohammer]

Some people do that for medical reasons. Some kind of rheumatic disease or so...

That's understandable. But in that case you'd expect them to say "I have a painful joint condition so I can't shake hands" rather than simply "I don't shake hands" like this guy always did. I think it was more of a psychological condition with him. Some kind of OCD, I'm guessing.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

My impression is that many Japanese find shaking hands to be utterly repulsive, which is why politicians put on the Mickey Mouse gloves when erectioneering because they do not want to come in direct contact with the filthy plebs they want to cast their vote for them. (I still have no idea why these gloves are de rigueur when older housewives drive cars...)

[Samurai_Jerk]

Koreans think it's fine to shake hands the western way - one hand.

The author is definitely full of shit overall but it is true that you're supposed to use two hands to be polite when shaking hands in Korea. However, it's not grasping with both hands. You extend your right hand and support your right forearm with your left hand. The same when pouring or receiving a drink (same in Mongolia when giving or receiving things by the way). They definitely don't expect the average foreigner to know that though. I've seen Korean guys greet older Korean men who are higher of the food chain with a 90 degree bow while at the same time shaking hands with one hand and holding their elbow with the other. I guess that's the most formal way to shake hands there. By the way, I've been told by Koreans that you should also give a weak handshake to someone who you're trying to show respect. I fucking hate the dead-fish handshake.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Some people do that for medical reasons. Some kind of rheumatic disease or so...

That's understandable. But in that case you'd expect them to say "I have a painful joint condition so I can't shake hands" rather than simply "I don't shake hands" like this guy always did. I think it was more of a psychological condition with him. Some kind of OCD, I'm guessing.

Yeah, the Canadian comedian Howie Mandel won't shake hands with anyone because of his OCD.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Some people do that for medical reasons. Some kind of rheumatic disease or so...

That's understandable. But in that case you'd expect them to say "I have a painful joint condition so I can't shake hands" rather than simply "I don't shake hands" like this guy always did. I think it was more of a psychological condition with him. Some kind of OCD, I'm guessing.

Yeah, the Canadian comedian Howie Mandel won't shake hands with anyone because of his OCD.

I usually refrain out of courtesy because I don't wash my hands after taking a whizz...(but sometimes I can't resist giving a firm, all-encompassing power shake, depending on who I'm with).

[Russell]

I usually refrain out of courtesy because I don't wash my hands after taking a whizz...(but sometimes I can't resist giving a firm, all-encompassing power shake, depending on who I'm with).

Now I know, I will politely bow for you when I ever meet you in real life.

But they don't know...

And by giving them your hand, you stimulate their immune systems...

That is actually quite a hygienic way to do so, given the alternative...

[Coligny]

That's why cats licks their bunghole ?

[pallidknight]

Isn't it a big deal over nothing? I doubt the Koreans thought Gates was trying to be rude.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I usually refrain out of courtesy because I don't wash my hands after taking a whizz...(but sometimes I can't resist giving a firm, all-encompassing power shake, depending on who I'm with).

Now I know, I will politely bow for you when I ever meet you in real life.

But they don't know...

And by giving them your hand, you stimulate their immune systems...

That is actually quite a hygienic way to do so, given the alternative...

Why does it not surprise me that a northern European can find the scatological hygienic?

[Russell]

Why does it not surprise me that a northern European can find the scatological hygienic?

Don't underestimate the power of feces...

Fecal transplants successful in treating intestinal ailment

An infusion of feces from a healthy person is much more effective than an antibiotic in treating C. difficile, a recurrent intestinal infection, researchers find.

Then again, methinks there was a missed opportunity...

The remedy was made by combining freshly excreted stool from a healthy donor with a pint of lightly salted water. After stirring and straining, the concoction was delivered through a nasal tube that snaked down to the first section of the small intestine, bypassing any opportunity for patients to taste or smell the solution.

The Chinese, of course, knew it all along...

The medicinal use of stool to treat illness dates back to 4th century China, when the physician Ge Hong described fecal solutions for the treatment of food poisoning and severe diarrhea. The remedy was considered a "medical miracle that brought patients back from the brink of death," Dr. Faming Zhang of Nanjing Medical University wrote in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Later, in the 16th century Ming Dynasty, herbal healers prescribed fermented fecal solutions for abdominal ailments, calling the concoction "yellow soup" to make it more palatable.

The Chinese connection alone may be sufficient to prevent the treatment from becoming popular in Japan, though arguably there may be another reason too...

Proponents acknowledge that the treatment has a PR problem.

[yanpa]

The whole "nasal tube" thing strikes me as potentially off-putting.

[Coligny]

I heard this as an ass to ass transfer to restore gut flora after antibiotic overkill...

And now i'm going to watch requiem for a dream... or anything with Jennifer Connelly... strike that and make it everything with Jennifer Connelly...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

I think I'm gonna post the Divine clip again....

[Samurai_Jerk]

Why does it not surprise me that a northern European can find the scatological hygienic?

Don't underestimate the power of feces...

Fecal transplants successful in treating intestinal ailment

An infusion of feces from a healthy person is much more effective than an antibiotic in treating C. difficile, a recurrent intestinal infection, researchers find.

Then again, methinks there was a missed opportunity...

The remedy was made by combining freshly excreted stool from a healthy donor with a pint of lightly salted water. After stirring and straining, the concoction was delivered through a nasal tube that snaked down to the first section of the small intestine, bypassing any opportunity for patients to taste or smell the solution.

The Chinese, of course, knew it all along...

The medicinal use of stool to treat illness dates back to 4th century China, when the physician Ge Hong described fecal solutions for the treatment of food poisoning and severe diarrhea. The remedy was considered a "medical miracle that brought patients back from the brink of death," Dr. Faming Zhang of Nanjing Medical University wrote in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Later, in the 16th century Ming Dynasty, herbal healers prescribed fermented fecal solutions for abdominal ailments, calling the concoction "yellow soup" to make it more palatable.

The Chinese connection alone may be sufficient to prevent the treatment from becoming popular in Japan, though arguably there may be another reason too...

Proponents acknowledge that the treatment has a PR problem.

So you're arguing for the realization of the human centipede?