Happy & Healthy

1, 2, 3 OR NOT AT ALL?

How do we kiss in 2016

You probably know it. You're at a party where you know some people very well, others a little, and some not at all (not to mention the people you no longer recognize). And oh yes, there are also foreigners present. Then I can tell you that when it comes to the greeting kiss, you have a challenge.

Look. A few years ago, you only kissed the people you knew well in the Netherlands. You did that three times. Don't ask me why, but that's how we did it. Suddenly, the one-cheek kiss for intimates and dear friends. came along. You saw each other so often that one kiss sufficed. Moreover, you showed others that you were ranked higher on the friendship ladder than the three-kiss types.

And there was also the option of a kiss on the mouth that is often used in the TV world. That's really intimate, and it doesn't get more BFF than that. Up to that point, I could keep up fairly well, although I find it quite difficult when I first give a vague acquaintance three kisses and then only one kiss to a better friend. Unintentionally, I do something a bit unkind to that vague acquaintance.

“Even though they stop after two, while I then move on to aim for the last smack on the cheek”

But nowadays, it's also normal to be kissed by people you see for the second time. Or for the first time. That often happens abroad. Although they do stop after two, while I then move on to aim for the last smack on the cheek.

In Paris, they kiss twice in principle, but it can also happen that you get grabbed four times, and Swedish people kiss, but hug instead. Just like Americans, by the way, but they also hug, for example, when you don't know them at all.

I'm a bit lost. I think I'm going to reintroduce handshakes.