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Shake On It When's the last time you put 'er there?

By David Doran

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Many historians believe the tradition of shaking hands began inmedieval Europe, where a person (typically a man) would offer anewly met stranger his right hand to show it held no weapon.

The handshake has since evolved into the polite greeting we knowtoday, but a recent study conducted by Dr. Allen Konopacki of theIncomm Center for Trade Show Research in Chicago indicates thehandshake is far more than a simple gesture--it's actually thebeginning of a relationship.

With the help of a group of students, Konopacki conducted anexperiment in which a quarter was left in the coin return of apublic telephone. If a stranger took the coin after using thephone, a student would walk up and ask whether the person had seenthe quarter. The result? Sixty percent of the 75 people asked liedto the students and said they had not seen the quarter.