"Hollywood Kissing"

Its an arba custom to greet their fellows as such. it is not limited to Saudis, but the entire middle east rather.

Men kissing as a greeting is a middle east custom, but in Saudi ( and other GCC countries)it has special way as Rbogie described.

you gotta be careful, ive even seen dudes walking while holding hands out here! lol

looool yeah it's very confusing at times! Even with women it's like I don't know when they want to stop. Sometimes its 2 kisses then sometimes its 5 and sometimes it feels like a million! (never-minding the awkwardness when one person still wanted one more kiss and the other pulls away...EEEK)

I guess it's an arab culture thing, I'd rather shake hands and move on. I'm kind of dreading going back to work (in a school) on the first day since I'm sure everyone will be doing that kissing thing.

But what bugs me is th fake kissing part. In Italy and in Russia men kiss on both cheeks. I mean lips to cheek.
Not kissing in th air like fake Hollywood kisses. If you re gonna kiss then kiss on th cheek on th forehead or on th eyelids whatever.

i usually stand still through the whole process and let the other guy choose which cheek 2 kiss first

however it is...it's still two guys kissing and HHWW (holding hands while walking).. need I say more?

You've obviously never been to San Francisco or NYC. Be glad if all u see is holding hands. In those cities u have to get used to male tongue swallowing nd not look like ur disgusted.

Well San Francisco and NYC aren't really reputed to be conservative so they get passes.. lol

well SanFran is the Rainbow capitol of the world! im no homophobe but seriously gay ppl shouldnt be allowed to practice PDA even if it is a cultural thing!!! if you wanna make out with another dude, do it in the privacy of your gay home (pun-intended)!!

If you're gonna ban PDA, let's ban it for everyone. 

I'm an equal opportunity denier.

Speaking of gay I meant to mention something about your Avatar. I think if anyone saw th two Harold nd Kummar movies they'd laugh at th concept of Neil Patrick Harris being th womanizer that his character is reputed to be. Talk about 180 degrees from their screen character!

rbogie wrote:

But what bugs me is th fake kissing part. In Italy and in Russia men kiss on both cheeks. I mean lips to cheek.
Not kissing in th air like fake Hollywood kisses. If you re gonna kiss then kiss on th cheek on th forehead or on th eyelids whatever.

it's annoying as it is i hope it will never get real!!

Once on each cheek. I can accept that. Sort of a French Foreign Legion gettig a medal thing. I just think the kissing the air looks like something from "Legally Blond".

Greeting with kisses happens only on special occasions or when you meet someone that you haven't seen in a long time. Besides it's only between close friends or relatives.
It's not really kissing ! I mean I don't put my lips on my friend's cheeks, just cheek on the cheek and pretend it. if the man is too old I would kiss him on his head; now this shows more respect to old men. 

It's not exclusive on the middle east but the entire arab world, Even in Algerian and Morocco.
[Moderated: off-topic]

It's just an old culture of Arab men for greeting men,it means respect & regards but it doesn’t refer to an " orientation " at all, also it's not used by all Arab men.

You need to know about it well if you are willing to do it. It's usually:

1- Once a touch of your right cheek on his; tilting your head a little left.
2. Then tilt your head right and touch the left cheek 3 or 4 times.
3. Every touch accompanied with a kiss sound.
4. The right hands must be kept shaken.

Things may get REALLY wrong if you don't know well

Once I was part of a group who went to see a big-shot Saudi just to convey our sad feelings for her mother's demise. Like everyone was doing, I also TRIED it (for the first time ever)
Confused, I tilted my head at an unexpected moment and my lips touched his..........Ooops!

One of my friends along later commented making a hell lot of fun of me. "You must have realized the sensitivity of the occasion, why the hell did you need to start french kissing?".... LOLZ

Ok, I am going again....

but...........LOLZ

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

its culture of people in middle e

come on guys, its a saudi custom. holding hands not considered weird here. the people here love their customs and I respect that. I can choose to do it or not. Just leave them alone as they also may not understand some foreign customs. let us be tolerant as long as we do not harm each other by our action and words. more understanding of each other can promote peace. criticizing a culture may not be looked upon as a friendly gesture.

this thread made my day lol hollywood kissing hahahaa  i never thought about it seemed  fake kissing up to the moment you brought it up well since im a native saudi  who experienced both west and east  lived a great  part of my life in canada   i would totally feel your  point of confusion here  how could a man kiss another on cheeks and still considered normal well it actually defers  depending on which part of arabia you relate to for instance in UAE mostly and some  parts of KSA  greetings take place by kissing noses  others by slapping your own chest  hard  similar to the bowing in the japanese heritage   ..  the other thing  for me is im used to the fake kissing thing as u named it and i dont even feel awkward afterwards but the holding hands is an issue  for me i hate i dont feel comfortable with it

In the UAE (like eskimos) men touch noses rather than kiss.

gashead wrote:

In the UAE (like eskimos) men touch noses rather than kiss.

ewww.. I think that's worse than the fake kiss since you can't fake a noserub!

It is all about culture.....some may see it strange(or has some sexual meanings), and others may see it in different angle. At the end, it is all about "Respect" and higher level of warm greeting. 

Personally as an "Arab Man", I am one of the persons who does not like kissing (both men and women) at the time of greeting....it can be a gentle hug only if i wanna make it "warmer"

TheLegendLeads wrote:

You need to know about it well if you are willing to do it. It's usually:

1- Once a touch of your right cheek on his; tilting your head a little left.
2. Then tilt your head right and touch the left cheek 3 or 4 times.
3. Every touch accompanied with a kiss sound.
4. The right hands must be kept shaken.

Things may get REALLY wrong if you don't know well

Once I was part of a group who went to see a big-shot Saudi just to convey our sad feelings for her mother's demise. Like everyone was doing, I also TRIED it (for the first time ever)
Confused, I tilted my head at an unexpected moment and my lips touched his..........Ooops!

One of my friends along later commented making a hell lot of fun of me. "You must have realized the sensitivity of the occasion, why the hell did you need to start french kissing?".... LOLZ

Ok, I am going again....

but...........LOLZ

HAHAHAHA!!! now this is funny

Alliecat wrote:

gashead wrote:

In the UAE (like eskimos) men touch noses rather than kiss.

ewww.. I think that's worse than the fake kiss since you can't fake a noserub!

I totally agree

OMG ,, all OF U SO CALLED EDUCATED PPL HOW U CAN do a joke with one of the oure and real culture of world ,,, either is culture of u me and any nation we have to respect for all , im not an arab but its most wonderfell culture od arab land where by symbolic kisses they r showing and expressing their brotherhood and equality in the nation ,,,, and touching nose is showing the realtion and level of equalty as well.

desertlifestyle wrote:

touching nose is showing the realtion and level of equalty as well.

Your reasoning is distorted.  Equality means EQUAL.  If you are equal, there aren't levels because .. you're equal. Comprende?

Alliecat wrote:

desertlifestyle wrote:

touching nose is showing the realtion and level of equalty as well.

Your reasoning is distorted.  Equality means EQUAL.  If you are equal, there aren't levels because .. you're equal. Comprende?

haha Alliecat when you said Comprende? I looked at your Avatar. And I can tell the expression on the cats face is the same as when you said ..Comprende?

agent47 wrote:

haha Alliecat when you said Comprende? I looked at your Avatar. And I can tell the expression on the cats face is the same as when you said ..Comprende?

LOL  very astute of you--you're RIGHT!

I suggest putting the "Comprende?...." tag next to the kitty Avatar.

agent47 wrote:

I suggest putting the "Comprende?...." tag next to the kitty Avatar.

Actually, we can't. It's not English

LOL!! @ "Hollywood Kissing"

borntobemild wrote:

you gotta be careful, ive even seen dudes walking while holding hands out here! lol

lool its all ok here there is nothing wrong in that here

me tow:P

it,s free kissing
how want
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

borntobemild wrote:

well SanFran is the Rainbow capitol of the world! im no homophobe but seriously gay ppl shouldnt be allowed to practice PDA even if it is a cultural thing!!! if you wanna make out with another dude, do it in the privacy of your gay home (pun-intended)!!

and im sure they think the same of hetero kissing

you area a sad person

Freshlikesushi wrote:

borntobemild wrote:

well SanFran is the Rainbow capitol of the world! im no homophobe but seriously gay ppl shouldnt be allowed to practice PDA even if it is a cultural thing!!! if you wanna make out with another dude, do it in the privacy of your gay home (pun-intended)!!

and im sure they think the same of hetero kissing

you area a sad person

Inappropriate behavior is inappropriate behavior, regardless of hetero or homo. 

Story:  I'm in Rome, on the metro, it's extremely crowded and I'm standing about three inches away from a young guy and girl who begin some heavy making out.  JEEZEEEEEEEEEEEE! 

I noticed that the moment they have some time to kill, Italians don't get on their mobile phones (like the rest of the world lol).  No, they begin kissing! (Happened in line to buy tickets at the Duomo in Florence, too LOL).