Have you ever been mid-tonsil tennis and found yourself wondering "Why exactly is it that they call it 'French Kissing'?"
French kissing is what most of us acknowledge to be kissing with tongues, passionately and open-mouthed. The kind that is not appropriate to perform in front of your in-laws, parents or colleagues, and probably best left to when in private or at the very least in front of the Trevi Fountain in Rome or the Eiffel Tower.
But what makes this style of kissing so very different to a quick peck on the lips or a slow, lingering, closed-mouth kiss? And why has it been named after the French? Is it simply because the French are more passionate creatures and we stole their kissing style?
The most widely accepted explanation is that American and British servicemen in France during World War I were struck by the more passionate way French women kissed. When they returned home, they introduced 'French kissing' to their partners and lovers.
According to HuffPostUK, the term simply came to describe a more passionate style of kissing and named it after the French due to their sexual nature and Paris' reputation for being the 'City of Love'.
Writer Sheril Kirshenbaum, explains in her book, The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us, that “French kiss” entered the English language around 1923.
Kirshenbaum believes that they helped popularise the practice of tongue-kissing after returning home from Europe. As a result, French kissing appears to have become more common after World War II.
Unsurprisingly, the French do not refer to kissing with tongues French kissing, they just call in kissing, they didn’t even have their own official term for this typeof kiss until 2013, when the slang word 'galocher,' AKA 'to kiss with tongues,' appeared in the Petit Robert dictionary.
So there you have it, not only do they have impeccable style, effortless hair and makeup and a seductive accent, French women were also the original creatures of the sexiest way to kiss. And now we can go forth and French kiss, thanking our overseas comrades for bringing the style into our lives.
