Kiss

Kiss audio micro-course (transcript)

Three short podcasts about “Kiss”. Listen with the interactive player.

Podcast 1 — Introduction & meaning

Narrator: Kiss. A noun and verb. Pronounced /kɪs/.

Narrator: Kiss comes from Old English cyssan, to kiss, from a Proto-Germanic root shared with Old High German kussen and Old Norse kyssa. It is an ancient word — present in English from the Old English period — and its longevity reflects the universality of the gesture it describes. The ultimate origin of the Proto-Germanic root is uncertain, which is fitting for something whose precise social and emotional meaning has varied so greatly across cultures and time.

Narrator: The kiss as a gesture carries an extraordinary range of social functions. A formal greeting kiss — the cheek-to-cheek air kiss or the pressed cheek — is distinct from a familial kiss on the top of a child's head, which is entirely distinct from a romantic kiss, which is distinct again from a kiss on the hand as a formal courtesy, from the liturgical kiss of peace in Christian worship, from a Judas kiss — a betrayal performed under the guise of affection.

Narrator: The number of greeting kisses varies precisely and importantly across European cultures: one cheek in England and Scandinavia, two in France and Germany, three in parts of Switzerland and the Netherlands, four in some regions of France. Getting this wrong — offering one where two are expected or moving to kiss the same cheek twice — produces the mild social collision that has become a staple of intercultural comedy.

Narrator: Kiss as a noun extends beyond the physical gesture. A Hershey's Kiss is a small teardrop-shaped chocolate confection. In correspondence, X represents a kiss — the origin of X as kiss is attributed variously to the cross of Saint Andrew as a mark of sincerity, or to the resemblance of crossed lips. Kiss of death, kiss of life — the word extending into idiom at both extremes.

Narrator: Kiss. One of the oldest words in English, for one of the oldest human gestures — and still the most versatile.

Speaker A: The number of kisses in a greeting is something nobody explains and everyone gets wrong at some point when travelling.

Speaker B: The two-kiss greeting in southern England, the one-kiss in the north, the three kisses in some European contexts. An unwritten code with real social stakes.

Speaker A: The pandemic and the handshake — the kiss greeting was apparently the one social custom some people were not sorry to see temporarily suspended.

Speaker B: The handshake and the kiss both being physical protocols with significant hygiene implications that we normally disregard for social reasons.

Speaker A: Kiss of death as an idiom is perfectly constructed — the thing that appears friendly but is actually the end of something.

Speaker B: The Judas kiss as the original reference. Betrayal signalled through the gesture that conventionally signals affection or loyalty.

Speaker A: The X for kiss in written correspondence is one of those conventions so embedded that almost nobody thinks about its origin.

Speaker B: Several competing theories about X as kiss. The most plausible being that X was a literate person's authenticating mark — a cross — and kissing the cross made the oath solemn.

Speaker A: The butterfly kiss — eyelashes against a cheek — and the Eskimo kiss, rubbing noses, as culturally specific variants. Though Inuit rubbing noses is actually a different gesture called a kunik.

Speaker B: The assumption that all cultures kiss being a form of cultural projection. The nose-press as greeting in Maori and Polynesian cultures having a completely different meaning.

Speaker B: Build a Next.js the neuroscience of kissing and its biological functions for a neuroscientist — documenting the brain chemistry and evolutionary biology of kissing, reviewing oxytocin, partner assessment, and kissing neuroscience, generating a kiss neuroscience biology framework, and producing a kiss neuroscience evolutionary biology guide.

Speaker A: Kiss neuroscience documented with biology analysis so researchers explain both the chemical exchange — how kissing transmits taste, smell, and tactile information that facilitates partner assessment through major histocompatibility complex odour cues and testosterone transfer — and the oxytocin release: how kissing triggers oxytocin release that reinforces pair bonding through the reward circuitry.

Speaker B: Design a Django the cultural anthropology of kissing across societies for a cultural anthropologist — documenting how kissing as a greeting and affectionate gesture varies across cultures, reviewing cultural anthropology, non-contact greeting, and romantic kiss cultures, generating a kiss cultural anthropology framework, and producing a kiss cultural anthropology guide.

Speaker A: Cross-cultural kissing documented with anthropology analysis so researchers explain both the greeting variation — how the number of greeting kisses varies from one to four across European countries with precise regional rules — and the non-kissing cultures: how anthropological research identifies many cultures including Japanese, Chinese, and many African societies in which the romantic kiss was not traditionally practiced.

Speaker B: Create a Svelte kissing in art and literature from antiquity to the present for a cultural historian — documenting how the kiss has been represented in art and literature through history, reviewing Rodin, the Klimt Kiss, and poetic tradition, generating a kiss art history framework, and producing a kiss art cultural history guide.

Speaker A: Kiss in art history documented with cultural analysis so scholars explain both the iconic sculptures — how Rodin's The Kiss and Klimt's The Kiss represent different approaches to the romantic kiss as artistic subject — and the literary tradition: how the kiss from the Song of Solomon through Shakespeare's sonnets to modern poetry has served as a concentrated image of desire, tenderness, and the crossing of the boundary between self and other.

Speaker B: Build a Vue the X symbol and kiss in written communication for a linguist — documenting the origin and use of X as a symbol for kiss in written communication, reviewing written conventions, digital communication, and informal orthography, generating a kiss X symbol linguistics framework, and producing a kiss X written communication linguistics guide.

Speaker A: X as kiss documented with linguistics analysis so researchers explain both the historical accounts — how the X or cross as an authenticating mark in early written documents was associated with the solemn act of kissing the cross — and the digital diffusion: how X and O as kiss and hug have spread through text messaging and digital communication as part of the affective register of informal written language.

Speaker B: Develop a React Native the kiss in diplomacy and formal protocol for a diplomatic historian — documenting the role of kissing gestures in diplomatic and formal protocol, reviewing the royal hand kiss, diplomatic greeting, and protocol history, generating a kiss diplomatic protocol framework, and producing a kiss diplomatic formal protocol guide.

Speaker A: Diplomatic kiss protocol documented with history analysis so researchers explain both the hand kiss — how the formal kissing of a sovereign's hand or ring was a gesture of fealty and respect in European court protocol — and the modern protocol: how diplomatic greeting kisses are specified in formal protocol guidance with national variations creating occasional diplomatic awkwardness when leaders from different kissing cultures meet.