I really should be sleeping, but something came to mind...
In modern day it's not uncommon to greet others, especially if you know them well, with a hug or with a kiss on the cheek or something equivalent. It's a friendly, affectionate and socially acceptable thing; the kind of thing you see famous and successful people do on TV. It doesn't actually mean anything, but it's the done thing - I'm sure you know what I mean.
For the most part this works fine. It can be a little bit awkward when someone is very short and someone else is a bit on the tall side, but overall it works fine. Most humans are of roughly the same height.
Enter the Anfylk.
Anfylk is a race in my setting I'm working with and for the purpose of this thread and question you can think of them as hobbits - they're short humans.
They can greet each other in the same way humans do - hugs and kisses on the cheek and all that. The issue arises when a fylk (singular anfylk) greets a human under the same conditions. It becomes awkward. The fylk is a bit too short to reach even if they stand on toes and the human is little too tall and while have to stoop uncomfortably low.
So what's an acceptable form of greeting equivalent to a hug or to a kiss on the cheek between a human and a fylk?
You could potentially ignore the awkwardness and just go with the hugs and kisses, but I'd say that after having coexisted for hundreds of years a better option would have evolved.
I'm thinking that some sort of handshaking would be the most natural option. Perhaps a kiss on the finger/ring - although that kind of establishes some kind of master/servant relation which may not be appropriate.
Did anyone else consider this or do you know somewhere it's been dealt with?
If not, what are your spontaneous thoughts on the matter?
In modern day it's not uncommon to greet others, especially if you know them well, with a hug or with a kiss on the cheek or something equivalent. It's a friendly, affectionate and socially acceptable thing; the kind of thing you see famous and successful people do on TV. It doesn't actually mean anything, but it's the done thing - I'm sure you know what I mean.
For the most part this works fine. It can be a little bit awkward when someone is very short and someone else is a bit on the tall side, but overall it works fine. Most humans are of roughly the same height.
Enter the Anfylk.
Anfylk is a race in my setting I'm working with and for the purpose of this thread and question you can think of them as hobbits - they're short humans.
They can greet each other in the same way humans do - hugs and kisses on the cheek and all that. The issue arises when a fylk (singular anfylk) greets a human under the same conditions. It becomes awkward. The fylk is a bit too short to reach even if they stand on toes and the human is little too tall and while have to stoop uncomfortably low.
So what's an acceptable form of greeting equivalent to a hug or to a kiss on the cheek between a human and a fylk?
You could potentially ignore the awkwardness and just go with the hugs and kisses, but I'd say that after having coexisted for hundreds of years a better option would have evolved.
I'm thinking that some sort of handshaking would be the most natural option. Perhaps a kiss on the finger/ring - although that kind of establishes some kind of master/servant relation which may not be appropriate.
Did anyone else consider this or do you know somewhere it's been dealt with?
If not, what are your spontaneous thoughts on the matter?