About This Quiz
It can be a sign of love, grief or respect worldwide. Kissing is a natural act that gives millions of people physical and psychological satisfaction, but where did it originate? Why does it make us feel good?Anthropologists report that 90 percent of the people in the world kiss.
Bonobo apes kiss one another frequently. They kiss to reduce tension after disputes, to reassure one another, to develop social bonds and sometimes for no clear reason at all. This supports the theory by some researchers that kissing is instinctive.
Anthropologists theorize that rubbing noses or cheeks with someone, commonly known as an Eskimo kiss, grew from people smelling one another's faces much the way animals do.
Advertisement
The Indian epic poem "Mahabharata" describes kissing on the lips as a sign of affection. The "Mahabharata" was passed down orally for several hundred years before being written down and standardized around A.D. 350.
The Romans had three different categories for kissing; a savolium was classified as a deep kiss.
Kisses were used to seal legal and business agreements in ancient Rome. This is probably the origin of the idea of a letter being "sealed with a kiss."
Advertisement
The holy kiss was part of Catholic mass until 1528. In the 13th century, it was replaced with a pax board, a board the congregation kissed instead of kissing one another.
The orbicularis oris is the muscle running around the outside of your mouth that allows for the basic kiss. It changes the shape of your mouth while you talk, and it puckers your lips when you kiss.
About two-thirds of people tip their heads to the right while kissing. Scientists believe this preference starts before we're born, when we tilt our heads to the right in the womb.
Advertisement
Mononucleosis is often called "the kissing disease" because it is carried in saliva and can be spread through kissing.
An 1896 film by Thomas Edison featured the first kiss ever recorded in a motion picture, fittingly named "The Kiss."
The Bible describes Judas Iscariot identifying Jesus Christ to his enemies by kissing him. Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus, who was then arrested and crucified.
Advertisement
On the show "Star Trek," Captain Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Lieutenant Uhura (played by Nichelle Nichols) shared the first interracial kiss shown on U.S. television.
After kissing a painting by Jo Baer on display at an Oxford, England, museum, Ruth van Herpen was ordered to pay $1,260 in restoration costs to remove her lipstick mark. The kissing bandit struck in 1977, so we expect the restitution cost would be even higher today.
During a one-minute kiss, you could burn 26 calories. Time to revamp your workout routine!
Advertisement
Plant a smooch on the Blarney Stone at the Blarney Castle in Cork, Ireland, and you'll have good luck -- in the form of the gift of gab.
The average person will spend two weeks of his or her life kissing, but no word on whether there's a chapped lip correlation.
Mick Jagger's lips are so famous they have their own Facebook page. A lipstick imprint of a kiss he made sold for $1,600.
Advertisement
Studies show a partner who kisses goodbye before he or she leaves for work averages a higher income than those who don't depart with a smooch.