BROADCASTS.com

Listen to a new episode of Speak English Now Podcast, your favorite material for practicing your spoken and heard English. You will also learn about lifestyle and culture, language, vocabulary, and how to improve your English more effectively.

When was the last time you saw people shaking hands? I can\u2019t remember either, maybe in a movie.

Hi, I am Georgiana, your English teacher and founder of\xa0SpeakEnglishPodcast.com. And I am here to help you\xa0speak English fluently with no grammar and no textbooks.

Today, I will talk about\xa0different ways to greet someone\xa0while avoiding physical contact as much as possible.

And with\xa0mini-story, you will\xa0improve your fluency. I will ask you many questions that you will need to answer right away. It\u2019s like\xa0speaking English with another person.

The situation has changed quite a bit since last year. It has impacted the way we interact with other people drastically.

Nowadays, instead of shaking hands, we tend to wave from a distance.\xa0

Today we will look at\xa0some ways of saying hello\xa0that have become popular over the last year.

Let\u2019s start!

1. Elbow bump.

The idea is to use your elbow to touch the other person\u2019s elbow. The elbow is the joint we have in the middle of each arm.

I consider this kind of greeting a bit absurd since you end up making physical contact in another way, but you avoid contact with your hands.

However, it is easy to touch your elbows with your hands. For example, you might touch your elbows when crossing your arms. So, it\u2019s better not to have any contact at all.

2. Saying hello with your feet.

Yes. I\u2019ve seen some people use their feet to say hello. And it looks strange, but the first time I saw it, I thought it was hilarious. The idea is to make each other\u2019s feet collide.\xa0

I guess it\u2019s safer than the elbow bump, but it requires some skill to stay balanced.

For a couple of seconds, you need to stand on one foot. So perhaps for older people, it\u2019s not the best idea.

3. High five from a distance.

See, this seems more logical to me. You raise your right hand and pretend you are high-fiving. There is no contact whatsoever.\xa0

However, imagine you will greet someone, and you high-five in the air, but the other person doesn\u2019t and stares at what you\u2019re doing. It\u2019s a bit embarrassing.

4. Military-style salute.

As you can imagine, it is the typical salute that militaries give. Although we do it in a more relaxed and less abrupt way.

When I greet someone on the street, I raise my hand and say, \u201chello.\u201d I do it quickly, and it\u2019s more natural that way. I don\u2019t like the elbow or foot greeting.

Before I move on to the next section, go and get the transcript of this episode at\xa0SpeakEnglishPodcast.com/podcast

Do you know how you can help me? You can\xa0share\xa0the\xa0podcast\xa0with your friends and family. And tell them to go to\xa0SpeakEnglishPodcast.com\xa0to get my\xa0free mini-course. That would mean a lot to me. Thanks.