Kissing friends and stuff...

[rich p]

... not a Christmas snog although ....

I mean the reasonably new British habit we have adopted from the continent whereby we kiss friends of the opposite sex hello and goodbye. It even stretches to people you've only just met, in the bolder amongst us.
Waddya think? Too Frenchy, too gushy, too middle-class? I have to confess that I like nothing more than a double peck from a friend or even a relative stranger ( although I draw the line at stranger relatives).
The even bolder amongst us may manoeuvre the kiss interface to encourage the lip to lip contact although it's best to only do this with closer friends.

Do you favour the polite wave, firm handshake or are you willing to throw yourself into a continental frisson?

 

[Flying Dodo]

Even if we don't want the Euro, we should embrace the continental way.

Although I'm pleased you didn't give me a kiss the other week Rich, so I won't hold it against you.

 

[derrick]

Did not think it was new, been doing it fror the last 30 odd years, may be even longer,i ain't french bit of German thou.

 

[theclaud]

Look out everyone! Rich has got himself a shed load of cheap mistletoe and is on the lookout for a bit of festive frottage. The old pervert.

 

[Flying Dodo]

That's OK - I was quite happy with all the kisses from the young ladies.

 

[JtB]

The custom of two pecks, one on each cheek has been around for years in Britain (maybe that’s because my wife is Spanish), but what is recent is this custom of “manly hugs”.

 

[Night Train]

I occasionally allow a peck on the cheek from very few people.
Otherwise if we kiss, especially on the lips, then there needs to be a mutual hope or a consideration of furthering the relationship to intimate levels.

 

[Fnaar]

I kissed a woman on both cheeks recently, then her husband took me aside and gently explained that butt cheeks were out of order.

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'm a kisser, always have been, even kiss my customers. Man hugs are so passe dahling, man kissing Italian/French stylee is where it's at ... Pucker-up!

 

[snorri]

Can't cope with this kissing nonsense myself, unless it's ....wot Night Train said.

 

[Archie_tect]

Daft lot!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

On the town in Sweden last week I got a peck on the cheek (face) from one of our General Managers

He was scandinavianned at the time, mind you he'd have to be!

 

[ComedyPilot]

I prefer handshakes for the men, and hugs for the women.

All this arty-farty kissy/luvvy/dahling stuff is pretentious bollix IMO. You see actors and 'celebs' doing it all the time, and you just know they're doing it for show, as opposed to really meaning it. The general public copying it just shows how we are easily led and manipulated by the media.

Nowt like a good hug, or a proper man's handshake.

 

[rich p]

Look out everyone! Rich has got himself a shed load of cheap mistletoe and is on the lookout for a bit of festive frottage. The old pervert.

I'm so transparent!
I even deliberately book myself onto crowded commuter trains.

 

[Arch]

Look out everyone! Rich has got himself a shed load of cheap mistletoe and is on the lookout for a bit of festive frottage. The old pervert.

OT, but you've done there the opposite of what the morning newsreader does on Look North.

A shed load is what comes off a lorry in an accident, A shedload is lots... While mistletoe could be a shed load, I suppose, I guess you mean lots.

She always announces a 'shedload' of bricks or whatever...

Back on topic, I'm too clumsy to go delicately aimed kisses, I end up headbutting or similar. A hug for closer friends, a wave for less close friends and colleagues, and a handshake for more formal connections.