Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In Brazil, we got so much hugging. It was great. But, depends on culture. Like someone mentioned, I wouldn't want my banker, realtor or neighbor hugging me, in general. Reserved for more personal relationships here in America I guess.
I don't know, maybe it has gotten more common because of Covid. Too much time spent not being able to meeting others and now we are all desperate for human contact?
I hug folks I’m close to (and/or haven’t seen in awhile). As to why, obviously, a hug can convey support, friendship, empathy, comfort, love, brotherhood, consolation, whatever.
That said, relative to professional or casual contacts, we shake hands or fist bump. I think hugging is socially awkward and/or unwanted outside of personal relationships and boundaries to specific scenarios.
"Do you need a greeting that's somewhere between a formal handshake and a too-intimate kiss? In these cases, an air kiss, in which you brush cheeks and kiss the air near someone's cheek, is a good display of social decorum."
"When my editor pitched this story, she said that recently a lot of her friends have inexplicably started trying to air kiss her when they greet her — and she doesn't know why. To get to the bottom of this phenomenon, we talked to Lizzie Post, spokesperson for the Emily Post Institute and co-host of the Awesome Etiquette podcast. Unfortunately, there's no black-and-white answer for why people might try to air kiss (or cheek kiss) you — it depends a lot on the social cues they grew up with and how they were raised. But there are ways you can make things less awkward for both of you."
I like hugging but I'm fine with whatever another person is comfortable with. The sexual subculture that I'm part of is so intense on consent rules along the lines of "no touching anyone, or their stuff, without permission" that it includes social hugging. They encourage people at community events and activities to ask "hug?" before going in for one. In practice though, most of us just hold out our arms and hesitate for a beat to give the other person a chance to say, "oh, no thank you" if they are not feeling it.
I remember a lot of hugging going on among my friend groups when I was a teen and young adult in the 90s, too. But we had one friend who let it be known that she did not like to be touched and was not into hugging. We all respected that.
I just had a crew of movers load up a bunch of stuff from my house and move it into storage in the state I'm moving back to, and one of the movers hugged me after I gave them all a generous tip. He was very sweaty but I didn't mind. He seemed like a very nice older man. One time I was having a terrible day and locked myself out of my vehicle, and had to call AAA to get someone out to let me in. In the past, I'd had situations where it took hours for someone to arrive to help me so I expected I was going to miss whatever thing it was I was trying to get to on time...I don't remember what, but I was stressed. As I said, the day had already sucked. And a guy showed up super fast and got me sorted out and I was so grateful. I asked him if I could give him a hug. He looked at me like I was a weirdo but then he was like, "heck alright, I'll take a hug." He was a rather large black man and maybe it was not so common for little white ladies to be like, "can I hug you? You just saved my day"... Whatever, I was just going with how I was feeling in that moment. If he'd said no, I'd have told him, "hey that's all good but just - I appreciate you!"
For me it's just all about being socially graceful about it whether people are yea or nay on the hugging. I don't mind either way.
The day was when you never saw people hug each other except from a long absence from one another or a close family member at a funeral or something like that. Then when the middle east started to become shown on TV I noticed a lot of arabs hugged. It was strange to see men hug but now one sees it often in America. Both men and women hugging. Is hugging a trend or what? I personally don't care for it from anyone. Its like a hand shake that can mean nothing. I mean a person would really have to love someone to hug them I would think. But if they are just friends why hug.
It is an expression of joy at seeing this person, here, whom you like very much, and the hug comes spontaneously. And returned with joy as well. Love is not something unique, it is expressed in many ways, and its natural expression is joy. Which makes you hug the object that made you joyful.
I like hugging but I'm fine with whatever another person is comfortable with. The sexual subculture that I'm part of is so intense on consent rules along the lines of "no touching anyone, or their stuff, without permission" that it includes social hugging. They encourage people at community events and activities to ask "hug?" before going in for one. In practice though, most of us just hold out our arms and hesitate for a beat to give the other person a chance to say, "oh, no thank you" if they are not feeling it.
I remember a lot of hugging going on among my friend groups when I was a teen and young adult in the 90s, too. But we had one friend who let it be known that she did not like to be touched and was not into hugging. We all respected that.
I just had a crew of movers load up a bunch of stuff from my house and move it into storage in the state I'm moving back to, and one of the movers hugged me after I gave them all a generous tip. He was very sweaty but I didn't mind. He seemed like a very nice older man. One time I was having a terrible day and locked myself out of my vehicle, and had to call AAA to get someone out to let me in. In the past, I'd had situations where it took hours for someone to arrive to help me so I expected I was going to miss whatever thing it was I was trying to get to on time...I don't remember what, but I was stressed. As I said, the day had already sucked. And a guy showed up super fast and got me sorted out and I was so grateful. I asked him if I could give him a hug. He looked at me like I was a weirdo but then he was like, "heck alright, I'll take a hug." He was a rather large black man and maybe it was not so common for little white ladies to be like, "can I hug you? You just saved my day"... Whatever, I was just going with how I was feeling in that moment. If he'd said no, I'd have told him, "hey that's all good but just - I appreciate you!"
For me it's just all about being socially graceful about it whether people are yea or nay on the hugging. I don't mind either way.
I hug the woman who cleans our house. The last time was when she was going for her ctizenship test and i gave her a goodluck hug.
i just attended my 50 year high school reunion and hugged everybody i met and only one lady seemed put off by it and i would have thought she would be the most receptive .. i hug people i have`nt seen in a while .. even my ex from 40 years ago .. ha ! a shoulder bump ..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
