Where does handshake collide?

The automated exchange of control messages by which two machines open a connection and agree on its parameters before any real data flows: each side announces itself, confirms it heard the other, and settles on starting values so both ends are synchronised. The Internet standard for the Transmission Control Protocol, RFC 9293 (Eddy, 2022), specifies the classic three-way handshake, in which a request, a matching acknowledgement, and a final confirmation establish a reliable link. Here the referent is a scripted negotiation between programs over a wire, not a greeting between people or a payment to a departing worker.[1]

Unit

One completed message exchange that opens a connection

Recovery means

A failed or half-open exchange is timed out and retried, or the connection is reset and reopened

Measured by

Observed by capturing the control packets and checking the setup sequence, its timing, and its success rate

The physical greeting in which two people clasp and briefly shake hands, and the social information that clasp is read to carry: grip firmness, duration, eye contact, and completeness all feed the impression each person forms of the other. Chaplin, Phillips, Brown, Clanton, and Stein's 2000 study Handshaking, gender, personality, and first impressions trained raters to score handshakes and linked a firm handshake to more favourable first impressions and to certain personality traits. Here the referent is a human greeting act and its meaning to onlookers, not a negotiation between computers or a severance cheque.[2]

Unit

One clasp-and-shake greeting between two people

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Rated by trained observers on grip strength, duration, vigour, eye contact, and completeness of the clasp

A large discretionary payment or benefit granted to a senior executive on leaving a firm, whether retiring or being dismissed, over and above what any contract strictly requires: the sums are set as the person departs and can be very large. Yermack's 2006 study Golden handshakes: Separation pay for retired and dismissed CEOs measured these payoffs for chief executives and asked whether they reward past performance or reflect weak board oversight. Here the referent is a financial transfer tied to the end of an employment relationship, not a computer setup exchange or a physical greeting, even though the phrase borrows the image of shaking hands on the way out.[3]

Unit

One separation payment to a departing executive, in currency

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Quantified from company filings as the cash and benefits granted at departure, relative to pay and firm performance