It’s nearly non existent here in Ireland

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  3. Spain: (in non professional settings) two kisses, one in each cheek, starting from the left. Very common between men and women, women and almost non existing between men. Friends and family may reduce it to a single kiss or a hug.

    Edit: Other countries have pointed it out. It’s not a mouth on cheek kiss, but rather a cheek on cheek plus a kissing sound (if that makes any sense).

  4. Three kisses for female close family/friends. I hate it so I never do it. I’ve mostly seen people over 50 do it, I don’t think it’s very popular among younger generations. It’s a custom I’m hoping will die out.

  5. Where I live now, in Scotland, hardly anyone kisses anyone. Literally only my husband. I don’t even kiss my mother in law (but I sometimes kiss her dog). Although I met an enthusiastic cheek-kissing priest recently, so there are always exceptions!

    I used to live in London, and would kiss my friends and family, and sometimes friends of friends if I met them at a social occasion. Men and women kiss each other, women kiss other women, but men hardly ever kiss men unless they’re related. Nobody knows if it’s one kiss or two, you just have to guess, which is occasionally awkward.

    I have to add that the people I know in Scotland are a completely different demographic, a different social class, to the people I know in London.

    So, like everything in the UK, kissing seems to be regional and class-based.

  6. It’s non-existent in Poland, maybe some women kiss on the cheek as a greeting, but men definitely do not do that because of obvious reasons.

  7. I don’t think I’ve kissed anyone who wasn’t a romantic partner since my Grandmothers died. I used to give them a single kiss on the cheek. But I don’t think even kissing your Grandmother is ubiquitous over here.

  9. America we might kiss family on the cheek. A wave for everyone else since the pandemic we don’t even shake hands anymore. We just kinda awkwardly wave.

  10. American here. When I studied abroad in France, I didn’t know that cheek kisses were more for the effect- the practice was pretty widespread. When I met a bunch of French students, however, I was full on kissing all their cheeks for a solid week before somebody clued me in

  11. Generally you don’t. Some couples or (grand)parents with small children do do it, but that is mostly at home. Hugs are the way we run things.

    We also don’t have that kissing family and close friends like some other places do. My parents have a friend from such a country, and it is always really awkward when she pulls me in for those cheek kisses (I barely even know her, and she just goes right for it anyway)

  12. Two kisses, one on each cheek.
    Between woman, and woman with man.
    Man don’t usually kiss between themselves. It’s usually a harty handshake or a handshake with a pat on the back.
    Unless they’re related, like father and son usually kiss.

    In professional setting it’s usually handshakes overall.

  13. Not a thing in Finland.

    At most you say hello but you rarely touch, maybe a bro handshake or a hug if both of you are drunk.

    When you walk past someone, you nod downwards, (or nothing) if it’s someone you know, you nod upwards. That is how Finns communicate when they don’t have time for conversations

  14. Norwegian here. I’d feel wildly uncomfortable if someone kissed me as a way of greeting.

  15. Do not touch eachother. Businesspeople over 45 get to shake hands. Friends may hug. No smooching under any circumstances.

  16. In France no one can agree on it, but people from my town are probably the ones who do it right.

  17. In Belgium, at least in French-speaking part, it is quite common. Men and women, friends and family. Sometimes with unknown person too, if they are friends of friends. Hand shake is the norm if no kisses.
    On business level it will be more hand shakes.

  18. I feel it’s used when greeting someone who is very close to the person you’re really close with, so parents/sposes/siblings of my best friends, my parents’ best friends etc. Something between a handshake and a hug. Only between two women or a man and a woman (not like Breznev), left to right cheek, not real kissing, just kind of brushing your cheeks against each other. I wouldn’t say it’s super common, to an extent I think it’s a generational thing (more common in the 40+ category than 20+), might be also regional (I’m from the south-east).

  19. Kissing exists in Romania, mostly between people that have known each other for quite some time and especially between relatives. Most common is between women, women and men, between men is a bit more uncommon, but not weird especially if their are relatives. The rule is one kiss for every cheek. The kiss is followed by a hug too (╯▽╰ )

  20. It’s like a cheek-cheek touch with just the sound of a kiss, two kisses so one for each cheek, this is very common even with people you barely know but not a thing with people you don’t know, we would use the handshake for that.

  21. Between 2 and 4 kisses on cheeks depending on where you live, mostly with females but with close male friends/family members too. Not anymore with covid though.

  22. Two kisses between friends & acquaintances, everyone kisses everyone (women+women, men+men, men+women) usually though it is just touching cheeks with a kiss sound. Men normally only kiss women if they are friends, otherwise it may be seen rude and ungentlemanly.

  23. We like to act as if we were Italians, while being socially awkward like Germans. So, the pandemic has been a great excuse to stop the kissing alltogether.

  24. None, if your not related.

    Germans just shake hands in professional settings as a first greeting, after that just nods of acknowledgement.
    bro fist or a quick hug, under friends. Family is different. Cheek kiss or longer hug.

    When I first visited france for school exchange at 13 years old, everybody at school did the kiss greeting in the morning before class. Took ages until all 20 girls were through with greeting eachother. Plus there was us, the exchange students, awkwardly standing there and tolerating it. 🙂

  25. I know other Germans have said it doesn’t exist, I grew up in an area with a huge population of immigrants from Turkey and in these areas it’s definitely a thing! 2 kisses, stating on the left. Girls to girls only.

  26. Handshakes for strangers and hugs for close friends and family. Varies from family to family, of course.

  27. single cheek on cheek kiss with female friends (guys with girls and girls with girls) and two two or three cheek on cheek kisses with female family members

  28. Handshake with people you meet for the first time and in business settings. Two cheek on cheek kisses with people you know in casual settings. Two mouth on cheek kisses with family and close friends.

    That applies to all genders with the small differentiation in recent years that two males sometimes may prefer a handshake rather than two kisses when then don’t know each other well.

  29. 2 kisses, right cheek first, then left cheek; that’s between women or women and men. between men usually a handshake

  30. Kissing? You don’t touch them with a barge pole! Seriously, most Latvians don’t even do handshakes. Sometimes we smile at our friends.

  31. Absolutely confusing in Germany and severely depends on where you are.
    No kisses, just hugs, 2 kisses, three kisses, just smile and wave -> all of these options are available the hard part is to figure out what the person across from you is going for.

    Kisses as greetings between men exist but are rare, men greet more through hugs or handshakes that pull you in for a backpat. Again, depends where you are and differs widely even within the same region.

  32. Portugal:

    – informal context you greet people with 2 kisses, starting from left to right, even if you’re meeting the person for the first time

    – in a work environment there are no kisses

    – people from posh areas only use one kiss to greet

    This last one creates some funny situations because when you are in these areas you never know whether people greet with one or two kisses and there’s always someone being stood up

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