Greeting (also called accosting) is an act of communication in which human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. While greeting customs are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship, they exist in all known human cultures. 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.
Written English
By convention, formal letters in English commence with the salutation "Dear" followed by the name or title of the recipient. If the name or title of the recipient is unknown, then it is conventional to write "Dear Sir," or "Dear Madam," or where the sex of the recipient is also unknown, "Dear Sir/Madam," or "Dear Sir or Madam" is used. In other forms of written communication (such as fax or email), or in informal messages the salutation is often absent or replaced with a personal variant.
Gestures
Bowing
Cheek kissing
Eskimo kissing
Fist pound, in which two individuals touch fists
High-five
Pressing noses
Handshake
Hand-kissing
Hat raising or tipping
Hug
Kowtow
Namasté
Roman salute
Waving, the gesture of moving one's hand back and forth
Wai
Hitler salute
Voicemail greetings
Voicemail greetings are pre-recorded messages that are automatically played to callers, when the voicemail system answers the call. Some voicemail systems allow for different greetings to be played to different callers.
