When greeting my family & close friends we all kiss & hug hello & then again goodbye. It's a quick peck but we make a point of kissing everyone at a party for eg. to make a point of personally greeting each other. My American fella tells me that he thinks this is nice the way that we do this. He tells me that Americans are uptight about personal space & someone kissing them & that they may think it weird if I was to greet his close friends this way. Is this true? I'm not talking about strangers but very close friends & family. Would you think it strange if a close friends girlfriend greeted you this way when you met her? Do any of you kiss your family hello or your friends when greeting each other?
2007-01-03 20:58:56 · 11 answers · asked by punkvixen 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
I'm Australian but was born in England
2007-01-03 21:04:51 · update #1
But in general, if I kiss people hello, they will be a little taken back in the least? I feel so impersonal NOT doing it... feels so strange and business like
2007-01-03 21:12:03 · update #2
I am an American and I don't think of it as weird. I think it's kind of nice. However,most Americans I have been around think it is weird or otherwise do not greet one another in such a way. Hugging is becoming commonplace, but kissing hello is still considered to many Americans to be a romantic gesture rather than a greeting. I have some friends who do kiss hello, but they aren't American. It is common around my relatives, especially during family reunions. I think the reason so many Americans think it is weird has more to do with cultural practices and "space". I personally like it, though I almost never do it because I am afraid of being charged with harrassment.
2007-01-04 10:32:06 · answer #1 · answered by liker_of_minnesota 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Are Americans freaked out by a kiss hello?
When greeting my family & close friends we all kiss & hug hello & then again goodbye. It's a quick peck but we make a point of kissing everyone at a party for eg. to make a point of personally greeting each other. My American fella tells me that he thinks this is nice the way that we do this. He tells me that Americans are uptight about personal space & someone kissing them & that they may think it weird if I was to greet his close friends this way. Is this true? I'm not talking about strangers but very close friends & family. Would you think it strange if a close friends girlfriend greeted you this way when you met her? Do any of you kiss your family hello or your friends when greeting each other?
2014-10-09 18:32:11 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rarely.
It's mostly among women and between women. Men are more formaly.
I hate to say it, but this trend probably comes from women. Women view kissing as a more serious intamacy and heavy kissing as a prelude to sex, hence they are extremely discrimanatory about who they kiss because they don't want to lead people on and don't want to make a sexual committment through casual contact.
The unofficial "rules" of dating generally disuade a kiss on the "first date" but generally it is expected to occur by the second or third date or the relationship is cancelled, usually by the girl.
Guys will generally not do outtings with girls on a habitual basis if kissing does not become involved and then, eventually, sex.
Hence the approach.
In many countries men kiss, such as in the Blatic states, whereas in America it's considered homosexual among men, but not necessiarly among women.
I am told that in some foreign countries after meeting a man and spending only a few hours with him some girls will boldly offer sex as if they were asking if he'd like a second cup of coffee.
While the American male it ready to get up and go on an instant notice, a bold move like this would often induce some shock and trepidation, but wouldn't keep him from doing it.
Few, if any, girls in America would ever take such an approach. America is based on Baseball, the national sport and the relationship goes up to bat, makes first base (kissing), second base (top), third base (bottom) and home run (sex) and as with baseball it takes weeks to play that many games and get up to bat.
One has to realize that while America is and has always been as sexually active as almost anywhere else in the modern world, the so called Victorian Morals have kept it in the closet. Films with sexual content that screened on Swedish, German and possibly English TV in the 1970s were not allowed to screen in Theaters in America in that same time frame.
Cohabitation was considered morally taboo in the 1950, shocking in the 1960s, distrubing in most of the 1970s and today it is more popular than marriage.
2007-01-03 21:30:43 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
My American family greets each other with hugs and kisses. I don't think it's weird.
2007-01-03 22:00:20 · answer #4 · answered by Globetrotter 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Keep it up. My husbands sister & husband came from NY a couple years ago to visit, my 1st time meeting them, You should have seen my face when they kissed me on the cheek as a hello gesture. As time when by I thought how nice it would be if everyone was that friendly. So it really only made me wish I wasn't quite so uptight.
2007-01-03 21:08:23 · answer #5 · answered by North of Heaven 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
properly me in my opinion i'm surely British American yet i think of there are lots of germs and viruses floating around i've got faith gentle via no longer kissing and loving up on human beings i do no longer understand. additionally i grew to become into raised that way. yet i'm very very affectionate with my better half and family individuals.
2016-10-06 10:17:40 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily all the time. It all depends on where you live. Probably if you live up north, then yeah, you will find some people who are uncomfortable with it. I live in Florida where it's filled with Hipanics and everyone is comfortable with kissing each other on the cheek. I think it's nice, some people don't. It all depends on where you live.
2007-01-03 21:08:25 · answer #7 · answered by CandyLipsAzn 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Unless I get the sense that it isn't accepted, or told not to, I always kiss the females in my life when I see them, when we depart, and sometimes to tell them that I love them. But men, forget it. The last time I kissed my father was 1972. It's just a man thing and my father supports it as well.
2007-01-03 21:04:40 · answer #8 · answered by Awesome Bill 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I was raised in a hug and kiss family, but my in-laws and their side of the family are so anal they freak out just to be touched.
2007-01-03 21:07:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
how funny, i thought the same thing when i came here where are you from I'm from puerto rico and we also greet our friends and family with a kiss
Americans are uptight
2007-01-03 21:02:55 · answer #10 · answered by revolution 3 · 5⤊ 2⤋