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Leandro_tami Posted 21 years ago
Culture

Kisses in society.

How do you react when you meet someone you don't know? Do you shake hands or kiss her/him? And what about if you meet a friend, or a relative?

The 'standard rules' in my country are: if you meet a stranger, you say Hello or Hi and then you shake hands (if the stranger is of the same sex than you) or give her/him a kiss on the cheek (if her/him is of the opposite sex).

In the case of a friend, we usually give kisses on the cheek in both cases. In the case of special friends or relatives you could give her/him a hug.

ps. I couldn't avoid the "her/him" thing. How can I say this without having this problem?
  

Top answer

compared to what you mentioned anyway. Strangers, yeah same as where you are, a simple greeting and handshake. Friends, well, mostly its handshakes, if you know them pretty well, then maybe you'd hug.

  • compared to what you mentioned anyway.
  • Strangers, yeah same as where you are, a simple greeting and handshake.
  • Friends, well, mostly its handshakes, if you know them pretty well, then maybe you'd hug.
  • Kissing is usually (not always) reserved for intimate relationships.
  • Hope it helps
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30 Answers
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In Australia at least, we tend to be fairly distant I guess...compared to what you mentioned anyway.

Strangers, yeah same as where you are, a simple greeting and handshake.

Friends, well, mostly its handshakes, if you know them pretty well, then maybe you'd hug.

Kissing is usually (not always) reserved for intimate relationships.

Hope it helps
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And what about the Russians? I've heard it's common to say hi with a kiss in the mouth. I find this hard to believe, but who knows?Emotion: wink A
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In Turkey, If we meet someone who we dont know him or her say hello and shake hands.
but if we meet with a friend of us we give a kiss.
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In England we are now at the point where some people do and some people don't. Which leads to great confusion and awkwardness when someone who does meets someone who doesnt!

Hand shakes are generally reserved for more formal introductions nowadays.

However, I also have a fair amount of contact with a Nigerian community within England and they are mad on shaking hands! Everyo
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In the United States, it is almost unheard of to kiss a stranger. Generally, at first introduction, it is a hand shake (male or female).

As for close friends, a hug is suitable except from a male to another male, then it's usually back to a hand shake. If it is family, a hug is good for any gender.

This is a general rule, but there are exceptions.

Have a great day!
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Hi,
In France it seems that it is as most of your countries. If we don't know we shake the hand, and if it is a friend, most of people kiss each other. and if you just meet a friend in the street, it could be just a hello. I also think that all depend of the relationship between people. I don't kiss my best friend, I don't know, this isn't my cup of tea.

For ericupsman, I have t
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I'll never forget once someone got really mad at me because of this kind of cultural problems. I wanted to kiss someone but I felt so shy because I didn't know how this would be interpreted he took it so wrong that he didn't speak to me for ages.
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hi everybady

At my countray Yemen ,if you meet your friend you must say hello and handshake. sometimes you'll kiss him if you don't see him long time . that is between men but if you are man and meet woman don't handshake him but if she is from your family you can handshake and kiss him only .

have a nice day

ambitious from Yemen
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In china, kisses are never seen when we meet someone else. even beween very close friends we usually shake hands only. if you hug someone else, it means the relation between you and her/him are very very close and you didn't see her/him for a long time,but no matter how close you and her/him are, a man can't hug a woman if you are only friend. even beween lovers we can seldome see them kiss each
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Hi!
I'm a native Russian girl and I must say that it is not at all common to say hi with a kiss. Only very good friends behave like that but it is impolite to greet women and girls with a kiss if you are a man!

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