Anyone have any idea why we call an open-mouth kiss involving the tongue a “French” kiss, and what do they call that kind of kiss in France?
I’m going to guess it’s because in the U.S. we think of the French as oo-la-la naughty. A “French letter” is slang for, I believe, condoms.
French kissing is also called “soul kissing,” by the by . . .
The version I heard is the term came back with US soldiers returning from France after WWI.
Merriam-Webster dates the expression to 1923, which is in a similar time frame to Padeye’s explanation.
I agree with Eve on the origin. Besides French letter and French kiss, I’ve also heard “the French way” for oral sex, “French postcards” for pornographic pictures, “French pox” for syphilis (though the french blame it on the english) and, of course, “pardon my french”.
Of course, the French call it baiser chez les anglais (to kiss like the English), except of course for the Quebecois, who simply use the verb frencher.
A French letter is une capote anglaise (an English cap).
Oh, right. Pardonnez mon anglais!
Mrs. O, who is an avid Civil War reenactor (I tag along sometimes - it’s kinda fun) has a packet of “French envelopes”. Now I’m not entirely sure if these are actually period-correct in material and manufacture, but they are indeed condoms. Never heard of “French letter” myself, but then again I hadn’t heard of “French envelope” either until about a year ago.
Simplement mes deux centimes.
A bit off-topic, but I remember an episode of Picket Fences in which kissing without tongue was called “Yugoslav kissing”. (The Bosnia-Serbia war was still raging when the episode aired.) Did the script writers just make that up or is kissing without tongues really called “Yugoslav kissing”? I’ve never heard or seen that expression used except in that one episode.
Just to throw out a semi-relevant factoid…I heard one time on TLC that it was the Romans who invented “French” kissing. Can’t confirm that, but neat bit of info.
movie quote from The Last of the Mohicians
“the french are to busy making love with their faces to fight”