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French Kiss

Posted by ESC on March 26, 2003

In Reply to: French Kiss posted by al on March 26, 2003

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: : : : who knows what is the origin of the term "french kiss" ????

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: : : : Thanks!

: : : First a general answer from the archives:

: : : FRENCH - The prejudice that anything French is wicked, sexual, and decadent has let Frenchmen in for more than their fair share of abuse in English. Many such expressions date back to 1730-1820, the height of Anglo-French enmity, but some are current and others go back even further." From the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997).

: "French Kiss" is an obsolete term for what the hyperpatriotic Americans now call a "Freedom Kiss":>

FRENCH KISS - "a passionate open-mouth kiss with tongues caressing. This term has probably been in use since World War I, but became extremely popular with teenagers during the late 1930s." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).

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