# French kiss



## Bonhomie

Hi everybody,

 which phrasal verb would better describe the following: You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and give this person a French kiss (no touching, no nothing – only a French kiss).

 *make out* x *hook up*

 Thanks.


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## JamesM

I certainly wouldn't use "hook up". I would assume that meant you had sex with the person if you used that term. "Make out" is usually a little more lengthy than one kiss, French or otherwise.


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## Bonhomie

What if it were only a Frech kiss? No sex.


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## xqby

I don't think there's a phrasal verb for French kissing someone only once.


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## Södertjej

Bonhomie said:


> What if it were only a Frech kiss? No sex.


Just one kiss and then the person goes away? Correct me if I'm wrong but since this is not a very common thing I don't think there can be a special name for it. Except kiss and leave...

Edit: xqby, you read my mind and replied while I was writing this post


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## Bonhomie

Ok, so neither one fits the description.​


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## cuchuflete

A French quickie?  

No.  


Neither fits.


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## pickarooney

I don't see any mention of it only happening once in Bonhomie's posts.
There are dozens, if not hundreds of terms for it and the meanings and uses vary and overlap enormously.


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## Bonhomie

There is a cultural problem here. Here in Brazil, this is not uncommon at all. Teenage boys and girls go clubbing, meet each other for the first time, and may or may not French kiss, chances are it’s going to be just a kiss –  nothing more than that.


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## Södertjej

pickarooney said:


> I don't see any mention of it only happening once in Bonhomie's posts.


Message number 3.

And even if he meant kissing for a long time but "no touching, no nothing no sex" as he explained on messages 1 and 3... I also find it very odd.


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## Bonhomie

Ok guys, at least I now know exactly what "make out" and "hook up" mean.
Thanks.


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## spatula

Here in the UK people take great pleasure in 'snogging'. If you 'snogged' someone, this was a kiss and nothing more (and it would be accepted that this is likely to have been a Frenchie). You _could_ 'snog' your partner, but it's more descriptive of a kiss with a new person.


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## Södertjej

But when you snog you kind of hug as well. I understood Bonhomie said it was just kissing, not touching each other at all, like deliberately keeping a distance between each other. That's what I find odd.


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## spatula

Södertjej said:


> But when you snog you kind of hug as well. I understood Bonhomie said it was just kissing, not touching each other at all, like deliberately keeping a distance between each other. That's what I find odd.


 
Perhaps Bonhomie could clarify this as I don't understand this to be his intention. The only kind of kissing that doesn't involve some form of embrace would be that of the Inuit nose type! I think he just means that it's a locking of lips but not necessarily of any other bodily parts. Hugging isn't sexual so is exempt. I stick by snogging.


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## Bonhomie

Come on Södertjej , 
of course there is touching, when I say “no touching” I mean  fondling.
Spatula you hit the nail on the head.
Thanks.​


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## Loob

spatula said:


> I think he just means that it's a locking of lips but not necessarily of any other bodily parts. Hugging isn't sexual so is exempt. I stick by snogging.


That's how I understood Bonhomie's question, too

I wonder what BrE "snogging" would be in AmE - "necking"?

(I've never understood AmE "making out": it's always seemed to me to be *highly* ambiguous....)


EDIT: Ah, I see Bonhomie's clarified while I was typing!


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## Södertjej

Bonhomie said:


> of course there is touching, when I say “no touching” I mean  fondling.


Ok, I was too literal, I thought no touching was no physical contact at all (except lips and tongues). Snogging is fine then.


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## spatula

We have another expression in the UK; _'to get off with someone'_. When someone tells you they _'got off with someone'_, it requires further detailed questioning to establish if this means just a snog or something more, as people tend to use it differently to describe various degrees of intimacy.

The Australians are, I discovered, into 'pashing' instead of snogging, which I have to say I quite like. The word, that is.


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## xqby

Loob said:


> I wonder what BrE "snogging" would be in AmE - "necking"?


 
"Necking" risks sounding comical; it's not used very often. I think that making out encompasses snogging--it certainly would for me in this context. The problem is that making out may involve slightly more lurid activities as well.


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## Bilbon

I think 'pulled' would be a possible option, though it does have connotations of more than just a kiss in some contexts it is quite commonly used to refer this kind of thing. 

I think Spatula is right, 'get off with' works quite well but I don't really think 'snogging' is used that much, it depends on the age range of the target audience really.


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## Bonhomie

Hi again,​


 what do you think of "play tonsil hockey"? It sounds very American.​


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## liss6565

You would normally say either:

 "You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and get with this person"
Or
"You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and make out with this person"

Both of them imply that it was literally just a french kiss and nothing else, the top one being slightly more collquial.


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## spatula

Bilbon said:


> I think 'pulled' would be a possible option, though it does have connotations of more than just a kiss in some contexts it is quite commonly used to refer this kind of thing.
> 
> I think Spatula is right, 'get off with' works quite well but I don't really think 'snogging' is used that much, it depends on the age range of the target audience really.


 
You're right, _pulled_ is another good one but, as you say, could mean more.  Note the differences in our ages as to why I would say snog!  Not that I go to clubs that often with that in mind..........


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## spatula

liss6565 said:


> You would normally say either:
> 
> "You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and *get with this person*"


 
I'm not familiar with this.  Would you quite simply say, _I got with a guy _to mean kissed? What English do you speak, out of interest?


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## Bilbon

Good point, it depends on the rest of the sentence, if it's made clear that you didn't go home afterwards "pulled" would work perfectly, if it's not then the ambiguity would cause a problem.


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## Loob

liss6565 said:


> You would normally say either:
> 
> "You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and get with this person"
> Or
> "You go clubbing and you meet someone for the first time, and make out with this person"
> 
> Both of them imply that it was literally just a french kiss and nothing else, the top one being slightly more collquial.


So "make out with" doesn't mean "have sex with", then? I must say, that's a great relief. I can now go back and read a number of apparently saucy AmE texts with a more innocent eye....

By the way, when googling on this question, I found this wonderful site: _How to Make Out for the First Time__._ I was particularly struck by the "Tips", including 





> It's important to have good dental hygiene, so brush those teeth well beforehand


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## panjandrum

For a lot more on making out, see Making out (make out)?


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## Bonhomie

Loob,

 that's it!

 "make out" seems to be the best one after all.


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## Bilbon

'Make out' definitely doesn't mean 'to have sex with' I think you're out of the woods on that one.


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## Bonhomie

...and I'd go a little further. "Make out" seems to range from a simple kiss to something more passionate.


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## jdotjdot89

Loob said:


> That's how I understood Bonhomie's question, too
> 
> I wonder what BrE "snogging" would be in AmE - "necking"?
> 
> (I've never understood AmE "making out": it's always seemed to me to be *highly* ambiguous....)
> 
> 
> EDIT: Ah, I see Bonhomie's clarified while I was typing!


 

"Necking" hasn't been used in many decades. Most younger people now probably don't even know what it means, so I wouldn't use that.

"Making out" means kissing--usually with tongue--and doesn't imply anything more than that.

As for comments above, "hooking up" is NOT universally having sex across the whole United States. Where I'm from, it just means the same thing as "making out." I've run into awkward conversations with people from other parts of the country when someone says "hook up" and they think it means have sex and I think it means make out.


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## spatula

Bonhomie said:


> Hi again,​
> 
> 
> what do you think of "play tonsil hokey"? It sounds very American.​


 
_To play tonsil hockey_ (note spelling) is heard in BE too.  I don't think it's quite right for your context as it has slightly comic overtones.  Cool young people who were snogging the face off other cool young people are unlikely to brag the next day about the number of people they _'played tonsil hockey'_ with the night before.  Instead, co-workers at the office Xmas party are more likely to gossip about which of them partook in a game of tonsil hockey!


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## Bilbon

Now I thought it was 'to play tonsil tennis...'


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## spatula

Bilbon said:


> Now I thought it was 'to play tonsil tennis...'


 
God, yes, you're right!  Shows how long it's been......


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## Bonhomie

Ok.
So, one would brag about the number of people he or she made out with, right?​


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## Loob

Bonhomie said:


> "make out" seems to be the best one after all.


It looks like it, Bonhomie, if it's AmE you're after (which I imagine it is)!

Panj, thank you for the link.  It appears that my earlier interpretation of AmE "make out" was fifty years out of date.  I'm even older than I thought 



Bonhomie said:


> So, one would brag about the number of people he or she made out with, right?


Well, I certainly would.


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## Bilbon

To use Spatulas context, you could imagine a lot of cool young people standing around bragging about how many other cool young people they'd made out with the night before. So yes that would work.

If you're after the BE version (i don't know if that's right, I'm new) rather than the AmE version it would be 'pulled last night' it has identical connotations but is more used in Britain I think.


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## Bonhomie

Well, 36 posts later, I think we can "rest in peace".
 
What a journey!


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## spatula

Bilbon said:


> To use Spatulas context, you could imagine a lot of cool young people standing around bragging about how many other cool young people they'd made out with the night before. So yes that would work.
> 
> If you're after the BE version (i don't know if that's right, I'm new) rather than the AmE version it would be 'pulled last night' it has identical connotations but is more used in Britain I think.


 
Sounds right to me Bilbon.


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## spatula

Bonhomie said:


> Well, 36 posts later, I think we can "rest in peace".
> 
> What a journey!


 
I need a cigarette now.


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## Bonhomie

ahahahahahahahah...


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## Hitchhiker

Australia has "pash" or "pashing" which comes from passionate. I think another English word might be "smooch".


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## AngelEyes

This is easy!

_Necking_ really is more than one kiss.

I suppose you could say _making out_, but I'd expect more than just one kiss with this one, too. _Making out_ means you took some time to really get into it.

My first choice would definitely be:

_"When he kissed me, he slipped me the tongue." _

There are variations on this, but this one's good.


*AngelEyes*


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