Greeting
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Greeting is a way for human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) to intentionally communicate awareness of each other's presence, to show attention to, and/or to affirm or suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. As with many forms of communication, greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship; the phenomenon as such exists in all known human cultures, though. 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.
Greetings are often, but not always, used just prior to a conversation.
Some epochs and cultures had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king.
Secret societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.
