In “From French kissing to French knickers: Why do we call anything a bit dirty ‘French’?,” a feature article that came out in the May 31, 2013 issue of the
Telegraph.co.uk, Dr. Brooke Magnanti (formerly known as Belle de Jour3) reports that the French language has admitted into its lexicon a verb for “French kissing.” But she’s none too happy with the choice of word: “Sadly, they have not preserved the ‘French’ in the kiss, choosing instead
galocher—to kiss with tongues—which sounds a bit too close to ‘galoshes’ for my liking, which are something a bit like Wellington boots, only they go over your shoes instead of in place of them, and is very definitely Not Sexy.”
Even so, Dr. Magnanti says that the admission of
galocher into the French lexicon is cause for some celebration: “Now from the Champs-Elysees to Calais, our Gallic cousins can finally adequately describe a rite of passage that has enchanted teenagers since the dawn of time, and/or the dawn of teen literature.” And she’s glad to know that French kissing is still a style of kissing that is and will always be reserved exclusively for those we lust: “If old Gaul was divided into three parts, so too is the perfect French kiss: the tender parting of the lips, the first tentative meeting of tongue, and the unhinging of the jaw to remove food from the back teeth.”
Read Dr. Brooke Magnanti’s “From French kissing to French knickers” in the Telegraph.co.uk now!
