In the Loire et Cher, the school I attended had 20 people in each class (me + 19 others). In that region of France, a greeting comprises 4 kisses - 2 on each cheek. The practice is that boys shake hands with boys. Girls and boys kiss. Girls and girls also kiss. So, every morning, before class had even started, I exchanged 76 kisses with my classmates.
In Paris, the practice is 2 kisses - one on each cheek. Even then, that was 38 kisses every morning (assuming 20 paxes in my class). Of course, the kiss is not mouth to cheek. It is cheek to cheek and then one makes this kissing sound the moment cheek touches cheek. Did you ever wonder why perfumes originated from France? Did you ever wonder why Grasse in France is the global centre of excellence for perfume making? See... when you kiss your friends every morning, they can smell you. So, it is important to smell good. Therefore, a French woman is only half dressed without her perfume. Something is missing from her ensemble.
In France, men shake hands with men. Men kiss women. It takes 1 man with Covid19 to spread it to 19 others, whether by kissing women or by shaking men's hands. So, it really is not surprising that Italy is hit by a tsunami of Covid19, and France discouraged kissing to stave off H1N1.
In Singapore, we don't have this habit. If Singaporeans would only refrain from broadcasting their sneezes and coughs, the disease should not spread. Unfortunately, even though Singaporeans don't kiss each other to say Hello, we somehow believe that ShareMyAirSnot is friendly and chill.
We cannot blame it on the Romans. We can only blame ourselves.
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