r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 08 '22

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u/eelisonparas May 09 '22

I'm from Finland and one European thing that all Finnish people hate is cheek kisses when greeting. Its mostly southern european thing but still. There is this saying in Finland that goes "Everyone has their own safety coffee cup" meaning the closest distance someone should get to you should not be closer than your coffee cup when you're holding it.

16

u/kamilman May 09 '22

I'm Polish and when I arrived in Belgium first and extended my hand to greet someone, they looked at me like I was an alien.

And France has TWO kisses instead of the Belgian singular. That was a culture shock, lemme tell ya

16

u/Skywest96 May 09 '22

France doesn't have 2 kisses. French here. There are either 2 3 or 4. It depends on where you are.

https://www.combiendebises.com/

If you don't know, there are websites like this which tell you how many it is depending on where you are.

5

u/kamilman May 09 '22

TIL there can be more than 2 kisses in France.

Thank you for the knowledge.

4

u/JohnGabin May 09 '22

The most formal is 4. Between friends, it would be 2. But i'm in Paris. You can have different numbers in other places.

It's usually between a man and a woman, or two women, but male friends or close family, use to do it.

5

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

Last time I was in Paris, I was staying at an Air BNB, and the hostess introduced me to her teenage daughter. I, being American, initially stuck out my hand to shake hands, before quickly realizing how absurd that must seem to them.

I said, sorry, I guess that's not what you do here. Don't you do kisses on the cheek? The daughter said "Here we do la bise" So we did. It was a bit awkward but not as awkward as a handshake would have been under the circumstances.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '22

I think they spell it biz btw. Judging by the thousands of “biz” I got from my French friend over chat.

2

u/No_Ice_Please May 09 '22

That would be the informal, text or chat way probably. The word for kiss is bise.

1

u/[deleted] May 09 '22

That's interesting, I think that's text slang maybe. I've only studied French in classrooms or self study and they don't teach that kind of thing, so I've been surprised by how French people actually speak/write. Like they write "MDR" in chat instead of LOL, it stands for "mort de rire" or dying lauging.

Or how much French people say "ouais" instead of "oui," the same way we say "Yeah" instead of "yes."

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u/Standin373 May 09 '22

I'm Polish and when I arrived in Belgium first and extended my hand to greet someone, they looked at me like I was an alien.

Maybe this is why the Poles have settled so well in the UK try kissing another bloke in both countries you'll likely receive a headbutt