Greeting someone has become something of a social minefield. Victoria Marston tackles the question on everybody’s lips: to kiss or not to kiss?
A KISS on the hand may be quite Continental, but what of a kiss on a cheek? Or even—mon dieu!—multiple kisses? What started as the preserve of the French, artistic types and the lovies among us has swept our nation and left us all in a state of confusion and social awkwardness. Just how are we supposed to greet one another these days?
‘A kiss may ruin a human life,’ said Oscar Wilde. A little dramatic for our purposes, perhaps, but a miss-kiss can definitely cause a shaky start to a meeting. The crux of the issue is, certainly, uncertainty.
First and foremost on this list of uncertainties is the basic dilemma of whether or not we should kiss the individual before us at all—wouldn’t a handshake be more correct? DebrettÕs attempts to shed some light on the situation thus: ‘As a general rule, don’t kiss people you don’t know. Don’t kiss colleagues. Do kiss close friends and dates. The key is to make your actions clear to avoid embarrassing confusion.’
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