I would like to write again about kissing in Italy. I am a little afraid that someone may have got from my previous post the idea that Italians rarely kiss on the cheeks. No, that's false. For example, if you meet a close relative, you may kiss every day, even if much depends on the person. My mother's mum kiss me everytime we meet, while my father's parents are more reserved and don't kiss me much.
This has a reason: one day, when I was a child, I stopped accepting and giving cheek kisses. I couldn't even see two people kiss. This might have been a reaction against two many kisses (you know, the affectionate noisy kisses that grannies and aunts give to children). Anyway, I went on until 14 years without kissing anybody. Then, I understood this would have been a problem in my life, so I started kissing people on the cheeks. Well, I don't kiss so many people because I am rather shy and don't know many girls (I have never found it easy to kiss male friends; I just kiss my father, grandfather and sometimes my uncles, but not that often), but I enjoy this gesture.
Back to my previous post, when I say that we don't kiss at first meeting, this is the rule: anyway that may happen, but mostly among young people, as cheek kissing is not very widespread among aged people. Personally, when I meet a girl for the first time, I shake her hand or simply say "hello, nice to meet you".
Another point about greeting in Italy is when we join a group of people. We usually don't kiss everybody, unless we are real friends or haven't met for a long time, and, if there are a lot of people, we just greet verbally (Ciao, "Hello", or Buongiorno, "Good morning"). In other countries, by contrast, you are seen as impolite if you don't greet each one of the people you meet (either by kissing or by shaking hands).
The "kissing on the cheeks" topic is far more complicated than one would think, isn't it?
Feel free to leave comments to my posts and to write about customs in your country (even outside Europe).
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1 comment:
Hi. I just started learning Italian. I enjoyed reading your blogs about kissing.
If an Italian woman says to a man, "Only one kiss for you", does it mean something special? Like it's not for greeting?
And this is off the topic, but do Italians use the word "Ecco" as a greeting? I saw an Italian girl gives short comments on blogs, and she often adds "Ecco" at the end. Or just say "Ecco." What does "ecco" mean?
Thanks for your help!
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