Anybody who has ever worked in the US knows what I mean by the corridor nod:
You are walking down the hall and you see a coworker or acquaintance.
You nod, maybe say “How’s it going” in passing. Neither of you break stride.
That is unpossible here. At least with those attuned to the culture.
There is a much more formulaic greeting ritual, for lack of a better word.
If it is the first time you have seen this person today:
- Stop.
- Shake hands.
Handshakes here are not like handshakes in the US.
Man-to-man, it is a firm clasp. No real shaking, just a clasp.
And then there is the cheek kiss. Men here will do the 2 cheek air kiss while clasping hands. This is taking a great deal of getting used to for me. I remember the first time this happened to me with a man. Boy, taken out of context that could be problematic for my political career.Anyway..
It was awkward. I am getting better at it, but I just know I am gonna “go left” when I should go right and headbutt someone and break his nose.
Woman-to-Woman, it is kind of a limp clasp, again with the 2 cheek kiss.
Man to woman is more problematic. The woman has to be the initiator of any contact. Do not attempt to shake her hand unless she puts her hand out first.
I remember when I learned that lesson: I met an Egyptian woman and stuck my hand out. A look of confusion and embarrassment came over her face and she barely stuck her hand out. At that point I realised I had screwed up. I took her hand very lightly and gave it a slight squeeze. It was like grapsing a dead fish. Whee.
After all that comes the:
- Ezaik? (How are you). This is INVARIABLY answered with
- Al Hamde-le-lah. Which loosely means thanks be to god. There can be a “Kwaize”, which means “OK”, followed by the Al Hamde-le-lah. But most times, the “ok” is dropped and the response is just “Al Hamde-le-lah”.
- Repeat in the other direction.
- How was the weekend, or whatever
- Then, depending on the frequency of seeing this person, another round of air kissing and a
- See you soon, Insh’allah
If one knows a lot of people, it can take a significant amount of time to walk a block or down a busy part of campus.
It is one of a myriad of reasons why everything takes longer than one would think.
2 replies on “The “corridor nod” is not acceptable here.”
I don’t know if I could survive a workday without the corridor nod. How do you handle people you don’t really know but have passed in the hallway a bunch of times? In the US those people are perfect candidates for the corridor nod.
The formal greeting seems to draw a clear line between people you know and people you don’t. Do people you frequently pass end up promoted to “formal greeting” people? Seems like before you know it, you wouldn’t be able to walk anywhere. But, I guess you’ve made a lot of friends.
People have closer bonds in Egypt, though I don’t the credentials to make such a statement.