page_title: Greeting
section_title: Other greeting gestures
hierarchical_section_title: Greeting / Greeting gestures / Other greeting gestures
caption_attribution_description: English: Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, right, the Joint Forces Command - United Assistance commander, greets, with an elbow bump, Sgt. 1st Class Roderick Davis, the logistics section noncommissioned officer in charge, 129th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 101st Sustainment Brigade, Task Force Lifeliner, during a visit to the Lifeliner’s area of operations in Monrovia, Liberia, Nov. 6, 2014. The elbow bump is being used throughout Liberia to replace the common handshake greeting to help prevent the spread of disease. Operation United Assistance is a Department of Defense operation in Liberia to provide logistics, training and engineering support to U.S. Agency for International Development-led efforts to contain the Ebola virus outbreak in western Africa. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Mary Rose Mittlesteadt, 101st Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs/Released)
context_page_description: Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. Greetings are sometimes used just prior to a conversation or to greet in passing, such as on a sidewalk or trail. While greeting customs are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship, they exist in all known human cultures. Greetings can be expressed both audibly and physically, and often involve a combination of the two. This topic excludes military and ceremonial salutes but includes rituals other than gestures. A greeting, or salutation, can also be expressed in written communications, such as letters and emails.
  Some epochs and cultures have had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g. greeting a sovereign. Conversely, secret societies have often furtive or arcane greeting gestures and rituals, such as a secret handshake, which allows members to recognize each other.
context_section_description: Adab
  Añjali Mudrā
  Bowing
  Cheek kissing
  Elbow bump
  Eskimo kissing
  Fist bump, in which two individuals touch fists
  Hand-kissing
  Handshake
  Hat raising or tipping
  High-five
  Hug
  Kowtow
  Mano (gesture)
  Namaste
  Pranāma
  Pressing noses
  Salute
  Sampeah
  Tehniyat
  Waving, the gesture of moving one's hand back and forth
  Wai
  Vanakkam
caption: The commander of Operation United Assistance using an elbow bump greeting while combating Ebola in Liberia in 2014
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