Comments on: french kissing

By: Blogging in Paris

Blogging in Paris — Sun, 26 Dec 2004 09:20:58 +0000

Les bises /(French) kissing
I

thoroughly enjoyed this post by Céline Graciet, a French born translator who lives in England. It reminded me so much of episodes when I was in the UK or in the States and had trouble deciding whether I should shake hands with people, give a h…

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 16:05:31 +0000

When I went on sabbatical to Aix-en-Provence, my daughter went to lycee. The kissing thing was a little different than what she was used to. With 35 kids in a class, it was a major part of the day. We worked out some of the math involved in kissing here:

http://harbaugh.uoregon.edu/Papers/Kissing.pdf

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 16 Dec 2004 00:25:57 +0000

In the 18 months since I started dating my Monsieur Grenouille, over here in San Francisco, I have amused myself by watching all of my international friends, both male and female, European and American get very used to and at ease with greeting us both with a couple of little bisous each.

By: Penta

Penta — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 23:42:57 +0000

Coming via A Fistful of Euros…

I must say, I now feel lucky I’m blind.:mrgreen:

By: Marquise des Anges

Marquise des Anges — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:18:29 +0000

Hello, petite anglaise,
I lived in Paris in the seventies and eighties
and have been, since then, reduced to the German provinces. I enjoy your blog immensely.

To add to the general confusion: I remember a poshy and slighty snobbish (male) friend telling me that more than 2 bises were characteristic of “province” or, worse, “paisants” and that, generally speaking, the less bises, the higher on the social ladder. He of course just kissed ONE cheek once, which has its own charm.

Looking forward to more comments on France and the French!

By: deeleea

deeleea — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 20:40:05 +0000

La Bise (so much more elegant in french, don’t you think?) Has even become de rigeur in Australian culture… even here on the Norther Beaches where surf rules … Too bizarre..

After some embarassing false starts I now tend to hold back and let the other person make the move… that way we don’t end up colliding… Of course, to do so probably has all sorts of bad mannerly connotations but I have neither the black eyes andnor the embarassed awkward greeting with him who I got too close for comfort with by mistake …

By: A Fistful of Euros

A Fistful of Euros — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 20:22:14 +0000

Cheekshake
Lèvres rougesToday, la petite Anglaise, one of the weblogs I found out about because it was nominated as best expat blog for the 1st afoe European blog awards, deals with the complexities of interpersonal courtesy in France, partcularly la bise….

By: ViVi

ViVi — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 20:01:57 +0000

My favorite thing is when someone I just met continues on to 3rd and 4th kisses, and then they say “It’s four kisses here in France!” I want to say “If you’re not related to me, it’s no kisses back in the states!”

By: petite

petite — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:30:10 +0000

chninkel

if the scanner was still hooked up to the computer and not languishing under the bed, I would have scanned our school photo circa 1981 showing ‘Hunter’ and a bespectacled and moody petite anglaise aged 9.

Start begging. Maybe I should add a paypal button and post the picture once a suitable bribe had been paid?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 18:42:40 +0000

I live with a Spanish girl and when her parents came to visit for the first time, her father just stood there expectantly. It took me over a minute to realise that i was expected to kiss him! Needless to say, it was embarassing for all of us!

I got more used to the kissing thing when i was dating a half Algerian half French man, but i still got a bit jealous when he exchanged kisses with his female friends!