Kissee kissee yech!

[lukemg]

Cheers Xog

'And what is this strange female fashion of having tops of dresses that sort of stick straight up? Saw one reather large young female on her way to a club last week looked like the wall in the remake of King Kong.'

It was a long wait but well worth it Xog, that was damn funny and the whole office is looking at me strangely after laughing my head off.

[voron]

Children

Forgot to mention, given the current hysteria in this country, one should never greet a child. In fact, it's best to never be in the same building as one. Should you find yourself confronted with a child, the best advice is to ignore it completely and pretend it doesn't exist, no matter how loud or annoying it may become.

On no account should you ever smile or touch a child. These days that translates as 15 years being a slave to Bubba

[hyperD]

You want to see what it's like in Hungary - traditionally, family members, including blokes, have to do a mafia style kiss on each cheek - even if you've never met them before. Weddings as well - everyone doing "puszi" (kisses). Aaaargh, the whiskers...!

Problem is after a long stint in Magyar, you end up trying to kiss people as a matter of course back in Old Blighty... very embarrassing.

[DirtyOldMan]

I like Ruth Kelly
I really really really like her.
She gives me a nardon whenever I see her.
mmmmmmm

[Lucifer Box]

Women, however, should kiss other women as it's damned good fun to watch.

Unless it's Ruth Kelly.

[voron]

Men should never kiss. Close relatives should be greeted with a firm handshake, and perhaps close friends with a brief slap on the shoulder. Women, however, should kiss other women as it's damned good fun to watch.

[xoggoth]

And what is this strange female fashion of having tops of dresses that sort of stick straight up? Saw one reather large young female on her way to a club last week looked like the wall in the remake of King Kong.

[OwlHoot]

You'd love it here in Belgium Xog, where being invited to a dinner party can mean having to kiss half a dozen strangers, both when you arrive and when you leave, and thats just the women. Yep some of the (younger) men seem to go in for this sort of things as well.

In the last couple of days in London, in different places, I've seen two guys with trousers literally almost down to the top of their thighs at the back, showing their underpants, no exaggeration.

Unless I happen to have seen two weirdos, there's some bizarre new fashion brewing for ultra low-slung trousers, at the back anyway. In fact I seriously wonder how these oddbods I saw managed to keep their trousers up at all.

[OwlHoot]

Why is it that at the end of a social evening you are expected to hug people you scarcely know, like relatives of friends or friends of relatives? If you are related you are even expected to clasp the same sex!

I am willing to make the odd exception, like with my brother who lives in the US and is much older than me and whom I perhaps may never see again (and even then we made a big joke of it in the proper manly British manner!) but generally I hate physical contact unless it's a prelude to a shag.

Am I the only one who hates all this social kissy kissy huggy huggy stuff? IT ISN'T BRITISH!

PS Ghastly over-emotional foreign sorts like Francko are not allowed to give an opinion.

To make matters worse one often doesn't know whether to go for a peck on just one cheek or a Godfather style kiss on both cheeks - The other month I got in a muddle over this with someone and we ended up nosing like a couple of eskimos! Bloody ridiculous.

[Joe Bloggs]

Actually I've got to quite like the kissy kissy since I've been here. I've had the chance to place my somewhat dribbling mouth on lots of nice looking women who probably wouldn't have let me near them with a barge pole back in the UK.

(Unfortunately I've also had to work my way through lots of 'close my eyes and think of England' attempts at air kissing to get to the few nice ones... )

[Chico]

Hugging is a symbol of universal love and trust. I say more hugs and less vitriol

[Joe Bloggs]

"Ghastly over-emotional foreign sorts like Francko are not allowed to give an opinion."

How about expats then?

You'd love it here in Belgium Xog, where being invited to a dinner party can mean having to kiss half a dozen strangers, both when you arrive and when you leave, and thats just the women. Yep some of the (younger) men seem to go in for this sort of things as well.

Perhaps you'd feel better about if everyone was more squishy like the slugs...

[xoggoth]

Why is it that at the end of a social evening you are expected to hug people you scarcely know, like relatives of friends or friends of relatives? If you are related you are even expected to clasp the same sex!

I am willing to make the odd exception, like with my brother who lives in the US and is much older than me and whom I perhaps may never see again (and even then we made a big joke of it in the proper manly British manner!) but generally I hate physical contact unless it's a prelude to a shag.

Am I the only one who hates all this social kissy kissy huggy huggy stuff? IT ISN'T BRITISH!

PS Ghastly over-emotional foreign sorts like Francko are not allowed to give an opinion.