EVER WONDER by Jacque Scott: Pecks and Kisses

Ever Wonder

Pecks and Kisses

Pecks are kisses? I wonder… is that the same as Eskimos rubbing noses or Europeans kissing hands? Let’s see…

The custom of kissing probably started among cavemen who licked each other’s cheeks for salt. And loving snails touch each other’s antennae, cats lick each other, and birds peck bills. Biologically speaking all living things have some form of showing affection. Human beings are no different. They exchange kisses.

But why is it almost entirely a Western Custom? Though Eskimos, Laplanders, and Polynesians do rub noses as a form of greeting, many non-Westerners have viewed kissing as evil.

Evil or not, kissing is here to stay. Even the 1920’s song states “A kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. You see a lot more kisses than diamonds today.

In a more discreet age, a gentleman often bowed to a woman in greeting, but now he is seen kissing her cheek in hello or goodbye. And once upon a time, a goodnight kiss meant the beginning of a romantic relationship, but today it is often a sign of just a good friendship. Men in America don’t often kiss each other’s cheeks, but women can be seen giving each other pecks on the cheek. This kind of ‘kiss’ is like the Prussian ‘dry kissing’ where cheeks are barely touched and there are puckered mouth ‘pops’ into thin air. Hand kissing became common again in Europe in the 1960’s but never had a re-birth here in America. However other forms of kissing did. In fact in the last few decades, public kissing, smacking, and smooching have become almost the norm. We even have the French kiss where a touch of the tongue is said to make the kiss more meaningful.

In a country founded on puritanical attitudes, there is a lot of face-to-face contact. Where does all of this come from? Show business and television can be held responsible for most of the long amorous kisses and embraces thought to be normal behavior today. In the 1920’s, Rudolph Valentino’s long embraces may have been the basis for turning the kiss into an acceptable form of contact between the unwed. Previous to this time, most kisses were reserved for the married and almost married. By 1943, even sweet, wholesome Ingrid Bergman lifted her face to Gary Cooper and said, “Where do the noses go?’

What movies started, TV carried further. TV brought hundreds of hours of kissing into millions of our homes in the form of situation comedies, dramas, and movies. We also were allowed to see kissing included in the everyday lives of the high and mighty at openings, inaugurations, and award ceremonies. Everyday folk saw a lot of kissing and hugging in the lives of the rich and famous and figured it was OK for everyday Dick and Jane.

Of course, there are those who don’t approve of all this social kissing. Some think that it erases the differences between casual friendships and the rendezvous of lovers. Others rush to their Bibles thinking that every peck on the cheek is tainted with sin. They hunt up the damnation of kissing. They point out that most Biblical kisses were between people of the same sex and were used to show peace and reconciliation, except of course for Judas’ kiss of betrayal. But even in the Bible, not all kisses meant mere friendship. From Song of Solomon, we read, “Thy lips O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue.”

But kisses should mean something. I guess I am old-fashioned. Oliver Wendell wrote, “The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer.”

So..… There you have it… A bit about kisses… God bless you.