Just my quick two cents…
In the Boy Scouts of America, the official Boy Scout handshake is with the left hand.
The reason for this, or so I’ve heard, is because Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scouts acquired the tradition from the Zulu tribes of Africa. It was a Zulu tradition to shake with the left hand because your left hand was your shield hand. So, to shake a man’s hand, you literally had to lower your defenses. Makes sense eh? Gains a man’s trust when you put down your shield.
Ofcourse, I suppose since we don’t carry around shields these days, the tradition just went out of style.
clueful? What the H is going on in here? I leave for two minutes to go grab a bageldog (hot dog & chili encased in a bagel shell, straight from the vending machine to the microwave to my mouth, MMMMM) and I found dubious english words being used in the forum! :mad:
That was a typographical error, not a hideous neologism. A Google search for “bagel dog” will show that it’s available for many student lunches, and probably coming soon to a school near you.
I’m sure some naysayers also told the Earl of Sandwich that he was crazy, but his detractors ended up eating their words.
P.S. I was notably unimpressed by Clueful Industries’ website.
I suppose I should get back to the OP. G_Jordan, to give you an example of the difficulties Cecil Adams faces when writing his articles, let me point you to this article:
Of course, if you’re carrying a shield in your left hand, then you’ve probably also a weapon in your right. Personally, I’d take it as a greater sign of trust if the other fellow let go his sharp pointy thing (presumably the origin of European dextrous shakes). He can keep his shield if he likes.
My guess on the BSA handshake is that it’s just a way to be different… It also originally invloved an intertwining of little fingers. I mean, it can’t very well be an Official Boy Scout Handshake if it’s just a straight right hand-to-right hand shake like everyone else uses.
I don’t remember an intertwining of little fingers. This is the Scouts, not the Masons. The explanation I always heard was a muddled version of two knights having weapons in right hands so shaking with left, but Scouts use the left because it’s the hand closest to the heart. Interesting to learn there are other explanations. I suspect you are right in one respect, that it was done to be different.
Arnold, the page you link mentions “Woodcraft”. The proper name for Scoutmaster training now is “Woodbadge”. I do not know if this is an error on Foster’s part, or an older version of the name, or Seton’s name for the training program that Baden-Powell copied.
