Kiss

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Kiss (from Old English cyssan “to kiss, from coss “a kiss”) occurs when one’s lips touch another person or thing. This learned behavior has roots in animal grooming behavior.

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Uses of the kiss

In Western culture, kissing is a common way to show affection between people of close acquaintance, offered as a greeting or a goodbye. These kisses can be on the lips, on the cheek or in the air near one’s cheek (common in European and Latin American countries).

Kisses are also used as an expression of romantic affection or sexual desire. These kisses are accomplished on the lips with a great deal of intensity for a longer period of time than a kiss between acquaintances. French kissing (the use of tongues) is a more passionate form. Kissing may be used to display reverence or subordination (like kissing the ring of a king or a pope). They can also be done for the sake of proving one’s superiority. Kisses don’t have to occur on the lips only. Eskimo kisses denote the rubbing of noses. A butterfly kiss consists of people fluttering their eyelashes upon one another’s. Kisses can be blown from one person to another, often across a crowded room.

Although common in Western society, kisses do not exist in all cultures.

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Famous kisses

  • Longest kiss: Tel Aviv, Israel, April 5, 1999 between Karmit Tsubera and Dror Orpas. 30 hours 45 minutes.
  • Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
  • ”Kiss me Hardy!”: Said to be the last words of British naval commander Horatio, Lord Nelson.
  • In Sleeping Beauty, a romantic kiss is used by a man to awaken and breathe life into a female. In The Matrix, this role is reversed when Trinity kisses Neo, bringing him back to life.
  • The Kiss, a painted work by Gustav Klimt.
  • The Kiss (Le Baiser), a sculpture by Auguste Rodin.
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