glad-hand
verb phrase / noun phrase

- being very friendly to people you have not met before, as a way of trying to get an advantage

(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)

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ORIGIN

Old English glæd (originally in the sense ‘bright, shining’), of Germanic origin; related to Old Norse glathr ‘bright, joyous’ and German glatt ‘smooth’, also to Latin glaber ‘smooth, hairless’.

The first known use of glad-hand was in 1895.

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Presidential Glad-Handing

In the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked the island nation of Haiti, former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush established a fund to help the victims. Both men flew to Haiti to see the devastation and like all good politicians to do some glad-handing.

The locals, many of who were now homeless, turned out in mass to greet, get a glimpse of and perhaps even shake hands with the two former presidents. As they worked their way through the crowd, Bush was seen furiously shaking hands when all of sudden, he wiped his hand on the back of Clinton’s shirt!

Whether Bush’s hand was dirty or just sweaty from all of the glad-handing, no one will ever know. It’s doubtful that anyone had the courage to inspect Clinton’s shirt to find out.

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SIDE NOTE

The informal phrase “glad eye” is rather different, meaning an inviting or seductive glance, as in the phrase “give (someone) the glad eye”.

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SYNONYMS for glad-handing

back-slapping, greet and meet

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Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“Because of Covid, don’t expect any GLAD-HANDING in the run-up to the US presidential election.”

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