Polish men used to charm females the world over through their gallant custom of kissing their hands, in fact that was long viewed as a Polish hallmark.
Its popularity is now visibly decreasing. I wonder what younger women feel when they are greeted in this way nowadays. The two-fisted feminists probably yank their hands away in disgust, (patriachalism, feudalism, sexism, gender discrimination, bla-bla-bla!!!), but what about normal lasses?
My lassie likes it. I did it in Tesco yesterday and I feel that it causes no offence to normal people. After all, love is more desirable than contempt.
Well, kissing hands is sweet, cute and everything, as long as the kisser is in close relationships with the kissed. So, if my boyfriend, husband or just a guy I'm flirting with does it, it's OK. But in case of a stranger or nearly stranger, it's just disgusting. It makes me feel like running to the bathroom and washing my hand immediately, so I'm very happy this custom is fading away. I don't want any contact with random people's bodily fluids...
Polonius, imagine you meet some guy and he kisses your hand. Would you feel comfortable with it?
So, if my boyfriend, husband or just a guy I'm flirting with does it, it's OK. But in case of a stranger or nearly stranger, it's just disgusting. It makes me feel like running to the bathroom and washing my hand immediately, so I'm very happy this custom is fading away.
A stranger might become your boyfriend, husband or lover one day. Don`t put him off by running to the bathroom.:):):):):)
Polonius, imagine you meet some guy and he kisses your hand. Would you feel comfortable with it?
If a woman like you kissed my hand, I would feel very pleased. My wife much less. :):):)
Polish men used to charm females the world over through their gallant custom of kissing their hands,
I thought this was european custom, not polish, but I would think it was just a gentleman gesture and no one would take offense unless offense was given along with the hand kissing gesture.
It's my understanding that women control this practice in that the way she extends her hand indicates whether she expects a shake or a kiss. A man who twists her hand to kiss it would be a jerk. It's less bad to limply shake a hand extended for a kiss but again, the woman is supposed to decide which greeting should take place.
If the custom is going out of style, it's because of the choices of women, men have nothing to do with it.
Also, the man is supposed to bend at the waist and meet her hand, not yank it up to his kisser. And IINM he's not really supposed to physically kiss it, but rather lightly lip smack a centimeter or two from her hand. If he does touch her hand the lips should be closed, there shouldn't be any transfer of bodily fluids to the back of the lady's hand.
It's my understanding that women control this practice in that the way she extends her hand indicates whether she expects a shake or a kiss.
well maybe if your brought up in this environment.
hand kissing is still around, but I dont think its made out to be such a big deal as described by polonius..
I think its a nice gesture. like I said, I think its mostly in europe.. and its more common there.. women dont pull away in disgust, femists or not, hand kissing has nothing to do with why women fight for a right to vote.. thats way off.. but anyways.. I think your prob right on how its supposed to be..
Also, the man is supposed to bend at the waist and meet her hand, not yank it up to his kisser
Correct. And I always was taught that lips should not even touch the hand. Anyway, when I was a child, my grandmother usually took me to tea-room on Saturday afternoon and I had to meet her friends, same age or even much older. I was greeting them by hand-kissing and they were so "ooohh he's so polite... he's so cute... and this and that." :-)
Strange how things change with the time. Now at the age of 38, I kiss a woman everywhere except on the hand...
I have a wonderful memory. I go to Poland as a volunteer to teach conversational English to children and teens. This past summer I went with students from Siedlce to Zakopane. I had a week before the next language camp would start so rode the bus all the way back to Siedlce with the teens. The plans were to drop me off at a hotel right along the highway. We arrived in a thunderstorm. The bus driver manuvered the bus so that I would alight under shelter. When I got to the front of the bus to leave I told driver thank you very much and good bye in Polish -- I don't have the courage to try to right that correctly. I was very humbled when the driver kissed my hand. Please know he was not a stranger. He had spent the entire two weeks with us in Zakopane as well, but at the same time we had only greeted each other and never even had a conversation, obviously due to my poor Polish!
I like hand kissing. I sometimes kiss my bfs hand too and he thinks thats very funny, but hey this is the age of equality. Cheek and air kissing is another minefield, do you do one, two or even three and should you make contact or not? Obviously its different in every culture, but a tricky issue.
Yeah, the face kissing thing is a major minefield for me. Back home girls I know well would get one kiss on the left cheek and a hug. Over here on my birthday I got 3 from my manager...and it was slightly awkward cos I didn't really know how many I was going for...so I was kind of hesitant inbetween seeing if she was going again, then i got into the rhythm and it stopped.
Gallant, hand-kissing Polish enlisted men and officers swept more than one Scottish lass off her feet when they were stationed in Scotland during WW2, and many mixed marriages resulted. Local lasses found Polish boys far more charming and chivalrous than their cold-fish Scots coutnerparts.
The custom isn't unique to Poland, really. It's just very dated and has only much more recently lost significant popularity among Poles. It's cute in a way, I suppose, with someone one is dating or with whom one is being very formal or even silly. Much like prostrating oneself before an authority figure or informally bowing, it's very much waned in popularity. We should recall, too, that as a habit, it wasn't done hundreds of years ago either. Instead it's something that developed only a few centuries ago. It may make a comeback -- who knows? -- maybe when we're all less concerned with where her hand has been or where his lips have been earlier.
older generation of Polish males kiss woman's hands, younger generation prefers a hand shake... a hand-kiss from a strange man makes me smile and blush...but a hand-kiss from a bf makes my heart melt even more...
Yeah, the face kissing thing is a major minefield for me. Back home girls I know well would get one kiss on the left cheek and a hug. Over here on my birthday I got 3 from my manager...
Oh, I don't know, when I was in Poland some fellows kissed my hand on several occasions--one time when I was thanking some dinner guests-turned-musicians at a farewell dinner (I taught English, we had a fun night eating and drinking and dancing on our last night, NOT with the students), the other was when I was with some friends in Warsaw and we met some students who showed us around. When we said goodnight all the ladies got a little peck on the hand. And these were students. And I wasn't even in Poland all that long.
In general, I found the men much better behaved and more "chivalrous" then men in the States. Even the high school students we were teaching would open doors for us, stand aside and let us go through doorways first, etc. Sure, I consider myself a liberated American woman, but there's nothing wrong with some courtesy every once in a while.
