hugs and kisses
Submitted by Dirk Gently on January 21 2000 at 20:00:03
In reply to Here is a thought... Submitted by Compassion on January 21 2000 at 03:07:52
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It's not only the Mediterranean-types who kiss instead of shaking hands! Offering the kiss of peace as a greeting to friends and relatives is quite common in Slavic countries. (I'm not sure what the custom is in continental Africa.) A cyber-acquaintance of mine moved recently, and part of his move involved finding a local church. He is not of Mediterranean or Slavic background, but he finally settled into an Antiochian Orthodox church (so called because the primate is the bishop of Antioch). In order to stave off the otherwise-inevitable kisses, he would literally keep people at arms' length by shaking hands. Yup, he's a North American! On the other hand, I've become quite comfortable with kissing cheeks, so much so that when I met up with an old friend who has immersed himself in Russian language and culture, my first instinct was to go for the kiss. When he stuck his hand out, that threw me and made me realize that we were both WASP by upbringing... Dirk |