How do you interpret a kiss on the forehead?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This didn’t happen to me, but I was talking to a friend from France about the different meanings of hugs between France and the US. By some circuitous route I can’t fully remember, the subject of forehead kissing came up, and I could think of a lot of possible meanings that could be inferred there. The two most likely to my mind are

  1. After a date and the girl wants to be polite while showing she’s not interested in going further, and

  2. A symbol of a long goodbye between two people with a strong relationship, usually familial or (explicitly or implicitly) romantic.

But then there are other possibilities… some friends of mine have a weird habit of using it as a part of their humor repertoire (don’t ask - I run with a very idiosyncratic bunch), and then other times my roommates and I use it as a part of our repertoire of affection.

So across cultures, cliques and individuals, what exactly does a kiss on the forehead mean? Hell, let’s expand it to include any areas on the face besides the lips.

2

Bad aim/needs glasses.

You’re five years old.

You’ve been placed on the “friend list”.

3

Helps to heal a headache (like boo-boo kisses)

A sweet way to show someone you are thinking about them when they are busy doing something else.

Sometimes it can be like a benediction, a blessing.

Sometimes it’s a bit dismissive.

4

I am 6’1" so it probably means the person is a good basketball player if they kiss me that way. The only people I kiss on the forehead are my daughters so it means something sweet and parental to me.

5

Any usages we know of unique to certain people? What about other parts of the face - the difference between kissing on the cheek in the US versus in France or in, I dunno, Morocco?

6

Sometimes you’re sharing a really emotional moment with a partner where it would seem weird to kiss on the lips. Like if he’s grieving. I remember this particular moment, the evening of his father’s funeral. Everything was over and we were back at his mom’s house with his uncle and aunt. My boyfriend and I went into the kitchen to make some tea, and all of a sudden we heard his mother break down in tears in the living room. She had been so strong throughout the rest of the day. It was a really painful moment and we turned to each other, and he held me, seeking comfort. A kiss on the lips seemed inappropriate in those circumstances. He gave me a long kiss on the forehead.

7

It’s the kiss of death.

It’s the least likely place to confuse person into thinking you like them. Next time just say goodbye or shake hands.

8

I’m only aware of using it to see if the other person has a fever. Now, if you’re bald, it’s kinda like a kiss on the cheek, which of course has many shades of meaning depending on context. (I’m used to the “thanks, you’re so sweet” version.)

9

All of the above.

It can be even more intimate than a kiss on the lips (like HazelNutCoffee’s), or it can be very not-intimate (like when a friend gets the wrong idea and you dodge a lip kiss and plant one on the forehead to make a point.) What it is, it seems, is devoid of sexual invitation.

But of course, it can mean that, too, since humans are perverse creatures who can make anything sexy!

10

At my wedding, my Brazilian wife asked me to kiss her on the forehead instead of the lips. She said it was something about respect.

I had never heard of this, but that’s what I did.

This was a couple of decades ago.

11

A mark of genuine affection.

12

No joke, some of the hottest early X-Files moments were Mulder and Scully’s forehead kisses.

I agree with a lot of you that they’re entirely dependent on the circumstance – they can be very sweet and tender, they can be paternal, they can be friendly, they can be condescending, and they can be expressions of passionate-but-repressed-soulmate-love a la Mulder and Scully.

13

Yes, I’ve always taken it to mean “you are never going to have sex with this person.”

14

Affection, but not lust/love.

15

+1.

16

SWMBO is just the right height to snuggle up into my shoulder and get all comfy. When she does, I will give her a smooch on the forehead.

17

It’s a nonsexual sign of affection. Which doesn’t mean you couldn’t use it on someone you do have a romantic relationship with. It’s sort of like a kiss on the cheek. In my experience, a lady friend who is romantically interested in you will frequently “miss” when she kisses you goodbye and hit your neck rather than your cheek.

I’ve seen people use a kiss on the forehead or the cheek as part of their humor repertoire. Especially if the joke was mildly at the expense of the kissed. Sort of a, “Don’t worry I still think you’re awesome, it was all in good fun,” type of thing.

18

Funny, I was thinking more “Where do you get these wonderful toys” as a humorous thing. Kind of overacting “you are so awesome” for humor.

Anyways, I’m tall enough that I do a lot of forehead kissing of romantic partners - sometimes you want to kiss someone, and you don’t want to break the embrace, you know?

19

I kiss my baby sister and my best friend from college on the forehead when we part. It’s a close but not romantic thing. In the latter case, I used to kiss her on the (closed) lips, but (for reasons left as an exercise for the class) we stopped that when she got seriously involved with the guy she eventually married.

20

“You are never going to see me naked.”