The Kiss And Hug Greeting

[baraka]

Please remember it's a very quick cheek tap, not a kiss. I'm always surprised when a foreigner does a fat lip plant on my cheek!

Regarding when the kissing between males started, reading the comments section here
http://weblogs.clari..._entre_hombres/, it seems like the Argentine posters tend to mostly agree it started in the 80's. One comment says it was definitely already started in the late 70's by the younger generation, so that buy mid 80's it was firmly entrenched.

I always thought it was from 100 years ago from Italian immigrants. I saw male-male kissing greetings (same style, one cheek tap on the right) in the south of Italy on a recent trip and assumed it came from there. I guess not.

 

[Ceviche]

Please remember it's a very quick cheek tap, not a kiss. I'm always surprised when a foreigner does a fat lip plant on my cheek!

does not matter. even if its quick cheek tap, their beard beard rubs against my cheek ( albeit quickly) but even then, its not cool!

 

[Dada]

I remember I was scared of it, when I first came across it, many years ago in Italy. I think I ran away the first time Fight or flight response. It had never occurred to me that people actually do hug for other reasons than all that romantic agenda.

What I appreciate about it now is also that this kind of physical contact gives me much better information about the other than a plain verbal introduction or a handshake, on many levels. Nothing rational, I don't know if it has more to do with "smell" or "aura" or whatever, but somehow the experience of meeting the person is more complete.

I mean, look at dogs. They don't bother with etiquette. I wouldn't go that far, of course, but maybe they have a point.

 

[Girino]

I remember I was scared of it, when I first came across it, many years ago in Italy. I think I ran away the first time Fight or flight response. It had never occurred to me that people actually do hug for other reasons than all that romantic agenda.

I have always thought that males from the mafia kiss each other as a sign of fidelity / respect and not because they have feeling for each other. Yes, maybe they are a family, but business comes first.

Kissing and hugging between "normal" people should be a sign of affection, I am against it being a way to greet people in general... otherwise I wouldn't know how to express a greater affection to those very dear to me.

 

[Ceviche]

I don't know how to express a greater affection to those very dear to me.

Try a tight embrace with lot of passion and emotion.

 

[Girino]

Try a tight embrace with lot of passion and emotion.

And we will be falsely hugging anybody what will be left?!
Plus, boobs to boobs is kinda weird, if you ask me.

 

[Dada]

Why falsely. Theres cca 150 shades of a hug. From the frozen dead fish to all levels of affection or eventually passion. In less than a second, you both know.

Truth be said, boobs to boobs feels a little bit like "stubble to stubble" for the boys. Never mind. Still, the kind of hug we can achieve, as good or bad as it is, reveals very much about what we can achieve together in general. Most of the time, it's just polite and nothing more. Fair enough. But in my experience, the better the first hug, the better the rest. And now I'm not talking of pretty boys! I'm thinking of my Colombian roommate, a girl like me. I wish I was lesbian and could marry her, which I'm not. Any party we go, we always like the same boy. We are kinda soulmates, and it showed from moment one. Read: the first hug and kiss.

 

[Ceviche]

Why falsely. Theres cca 150 shades of a hug. From the frozen dead fish to all levels of affection or eventually passion. In less than a second, you both know.

Well said Dada.

 

[Girino]

Why falsely.

Because when a gesture becomes customary, it tends to become a mechanical action with very little feeling behind it. I do it because I am supposed to, not because I feel like to. This is why I am all in favor of keeping intimate gestures for intimate moments.

 

[Crema Americana]

It is sort of fake when you have to greet people you may not particularly like with a kiss... especially in a classroom or work setting where it's a daily thing that is close to meaningless, but if you don't you're seen as rude and antisocial. Greeting with a kiss should be reserved for friends, family, and when being introduced in a social friendly situation. But that's just my opinion.

Also I don't like having to greet coworkers with colds. Often they refrain themselves, but more than once I've kissed someone on the cheek only to be told seconds later they've been sick with a fever the past few days. :mellow: Thank you for that.