# French Kiss

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 2, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369 "2003-02-02T21:51:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tanais2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@Tanais2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanais2)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/1 "2003-02-02T21:51:49Z")

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I have had this question on my mind for quite some time, does anyone know why a kiss with tounge is called a French Kiss. i’ve also heard it is called an “English” kiss in France, is this true and why? Thanks,  
TPC

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**Author:** ![Jiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5fc32e/32.png) [@Jiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jiminy)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/2 "2003-02-02T21:59:39Z")

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Yes, it’s true, why, I’ll let some other person answer that

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**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/3 "2003-02-02T22:18:48Z")

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I’m pretty sure that its because the English called anything considered “dirty” french, as an insult. The french kiss was considered dirty and improper; thus, it was called a “french” kiss. I’m sure the same concept was behind the French calling it an “English kiss.” France and England have been constantly at war in the past, and so were not particularly fond of eachother.

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**Author:** ![DemonSpawn52](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f17d59/32.png) [@DemonSpawn52](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn52)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/4 "2003-02-02T22:28:37Z")

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There was a thread on this just a little while ago. From it, I learned that Syphilis was called the French disease.

I also noticed in the movie Gangs of New York (which takes place in 1862), there is a scene where one character is touching a prostitue, and another character says (or something similar) “watch it. That broad is Frenchified.”  
She says “no, no, I’m clean”

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/5 "2003-02-02T22:54:04Z")

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The thread from a week ago about this same thing is [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158444&highlight=french+kiss](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158444&highlight=french+kiss)

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-kiss/152369/6 "2003-02-02T23:05:24Z")

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Since this has been discussed so recently, I’ll close this thread and direct further comment to the earlier thread, linked to above.