Wanna Kiss?

Smooching, frenching, snogging, lip-locking, sucking face, necking, pecking, tongue wrestling, tonsil hockey. Call it what you want, I’m talking about kissing. It’s a strange phenomenon when you consider the mechanics—putting your mouth on another human’s mouth, touching tongues, swapping spit. How the heck did we come up with that? This strange act, when done properly, can make life worth living.  A new book, Kisstory: A Sweet And Sexy Look At The History Of Kissing by Joanne Wannan, explores the history of our favorite amorous pastime. After the jump, ten facts you probably didn’t know about the kiss.

1. The word “kiss” comes from the German word “kussjan.” Does that mean that Germans invented kissing? Wouldn’t have thunk it.
2. The average person spends about 15 days kissing throughout the course of a lifetime. That’s like a full vacation.
3. Making out is a good workout. Engaging in lip lock for one minute burns 26 calories. So hitting the lips for an hour is way more effective than hitting the gym for an hour.
4. Kissing messes with your hormones. A peck on the cheek can raise your hormone levels enough to shorten your life by a minute. A great excuse to shake hands instead.
5. The French translation for the tongue kiss is called “roulant une pelle,” which translates to “rolling a shovel.” Hmmmm ... sexy.
6. In the 1500s in Naples, kissing in public was punishable by death. In all fairness, sometimes I want to kill people who are overdo it in public.
7. The first onscreen same-sex smooch happened in 1922 between two women in Cecil B. DeMille’s silent prison flick,“Manslaughter.” Take that “Wild Things.”
8. Minnesota man Alfred Wolfman holds the record for kissing the most people. In 1990 he smooched 8,001 people in eight hours. Holy Chapstick!
9. College students Matt Daley and Bobby Canciello broke the Guiness World Record last September for the world’s longest continuous kiss. They sucked face for nearly 33 hours. Get it, boys!
10. Kissing is a dirty act. Just one kiss with tongue can transmit up to 278 types of bacteria. Those of us with OCD tendencies should try to forget this next time we get anywhere near a pair of lips.

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