{"id":18360,"date":"2019-10-25T12:40:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-25T12:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18360"},"modified":"2019-10-26T06:35:22","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T06:35:22","slug":"which-cheek-and-how-many-in-france-and-beyond-a-kiss-isnt-just-a-kiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/which-cheek-and-how-many-in-france-and-beyond-a-kiss-isnt-just-a-kiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Which cheek and how many? In France and beyond, a kiss isn’t just a kiss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathieu Avanzi<\/a>, Sorbonne Universit\u00e9<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In the English-speaking world, friends and family generally greet each other with a wave, handshake or hug, depending on their degree of intimacy. In France and other countries, however, the kiss is more common \u2013 not on the lips, but a symmetrical brush of the cheeks.<\/p>\n

The image is well known in world culture and is a part of everyday life in much of Europe, but the ritual can seem impenetrable to the uninitiated. Would you kiss someone the same way in Marseilles as in Madrid? Which cheek should you present first? And how many kisses?<\/p>\n

For my upcoming book, \u201cDo You Speak the French Language(s)?\u201d<\/a>, I collected information about how French is spoken via an online system<\/a>. It allowed me to identify the prevalence and range of a number of regional expressions, including the classic \u201cpain au chocolat\u201d versus \u201cchocolatine\u201d debate<\/a>: In English, one simply says \u201cchocolate croissant,\u201d but the question is trickier in France. There\u2019s also the vexing question of how the French refer to a pencil<\/a>, not as simple as you\u2019d think.<\/p>\n

To better understand the question of how one greets a friend or family member with a kiss in Europe, I decided to map it.<\/p>\n

Greeting with a kiss isn\u2019t just a \u2018French thing\u2019<\/h2>\n

First things first, while many Anglo-Saxons believe that kissing as a greeting is unique to France, the practice is common in a wide range of European and Latin countries, as well as Russia and certain Arabic and sub-Saharan nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its origin is unknown, though there are many theories. Is it a ritualized form of ancestral behavior, like sniffing each other for recognition, or is it an emotional one arising from childhood? There\u2019s no consensus among historians, anthropologists and other experts of human behavior. The ritual appears to date back to antiquity and has known highs and lows throughout modern human history. Sometimes it was encouraged, other times forbidden.<\/p>\n

The question becomes even more complex when one tries to understand contextual factors<\/a>. There\u2019s the event itself (saying hello, goodbye, wishing someone a happy new year, etc.), and then there\u2019s the relationship between the people involved (it was long reserved for family members<\/a> and those of the same gender). Kissing between men<\/a> was once stigmatized, yet is common in certain contexts and some Slavic cultures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For the past 15 years or so, this ritual has been a regular subject of online debate. Some of the discussions are about how many kisses one should give. In France, the question first cropped up in 2003 with the appearance of the website Combiendebises<\/a> (\u201cHowmanykisses\u201d). The greeting also inspired a popular video from British stand-up comedian Paul Taylor, \u201cLa bise.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n