French kiss
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A French kiss or snog is a kiss, usually romantic or sexual in nature, in which one participant's tongue touches the other's tongue and usually enters his or her mouth.
It is referred to colloquially as: soul kissing, tongue kissing, tongue wrestling, pash, hooking up, getting in with, busting slob, mugging it up, making-out, macking on, snogging, slipping the tongue, popping tongue, sucking face, swapping spit, deep kissing, pulling, slug wrestling, tonsil tennis, tonsil ping-pong, french kiss x20, tonsil hockey, meeting, scoring (Republic of Ireland), meeting (Northern England and Ireland), getting (Australia), meeting (Ireland), Pontang[citation needed], going with, Frencher (Québec) and frenching. An older name[citation needed]for 'French kissing' is cataglottis, from cata (down), glottis (throat). In French, it is simply embrasser avec la langue (literally, to kiss with the tongue) or the slang version rouler une pelle (to roll a shovel), or "rouler un patin" (to roll a skate [as in ice-skate, or roller-skate]).
French kissing stimulates the lips, tongue and mouth, which are all areas very sensitive to touch, and the practice is considered to be pleasurable, highly intimate, and sexually arousing. Unlike other forms of kissing (such as brief kisses in greeting or friendship), episodes of French kissing may often be prolonged, intense, and passionate. 'French kissing' as a public display of affection is typically discouraged in many parts of the world.
Studying animal behavior, Thierry Lodé[1], an evolutionary biologist, argues that the French kiss has a real function: to explore the sexual partner's immune system via the saliva. Initiating the sexual desire, the French kiss allows the partners to avoid inbreeding (see also sexual conflict)[citation needed].
The exchange of saliva in a French kiss may increase the chances of catching an orally transmitted disease such as human papillomavirus.[2]
Notable public 'French kisses' include that shared by music icon Madonna, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera at MTV's 20th annual Video Music Awards on August 28 2003 [3]. The 1994 Chinese film Impetuous Fire caused controversy amongst some Chinese viewers for a kiss between Chinese-American actor Tim Chang and actress Sandy Wu.
[edit] Origin
French kissing does not necessarily stem from France, however in France it is just referred to as 'kissing'. The term French Kiss is cited in Private Lindner’s Letters: Censored and Uncensored of 1918:[Citation Needed]
So I have decided to become a linguist. Being able to read French fluently and speak it wretchedly, and to speak German connectively but not to read it at all, I am taking up Luxembourg, which is a wonderful blend of the two, a sort of laison [sic] between tongues. (Not to be confused with French kissing.)
[edit] References
- ^ Thierry Lodé La guerre des sexes ches les animaux, 2006 Eds Odile Jacob, Paris, ISBN 2-7381-1901-8
- ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54B61920090512
- ^ Sarah Warn (September 2003). "VMA's Madonna-Britney-Christina Kiss: Progress or Publicity Stunt?". afterellen.com. http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/TV/vmakiss.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-23.
