In honor of The Kiss, here are some fun facts about locking lips:
- On average, people spend 336 hours of their lives kissing.
- The word “kiss” comes from the Old English word cyssan, which came from the proto-Germanic kussijanan or kuss, which is likes based on the sound kissing can make.
- A light smooch on the cheek uses two muscles, while making out can use up to 34 facial muscles.
- Common chimpanzees kiss with their mouths open, but not with tongues. However, bonobos, arguably the most intelligent of primates, do kiss with tongues.
- A good kiss triggers the release of the same chemicals in the brain as race car driving, ski-diving or running the 100-yard dash!
- According to studies, kissing on a regular basis can improve circulation, perk up skin, combat tooth decay and cure headaches.
- The average woman kisses 29 men before she is married.
- Men who kiss their girlfriends/wives before going to work tend to earn more than those who don’t.
- The longest kiss in film history, at three minutes and five seconds, was between Jane Wyman and Regis Tommey in the 1941 movie “You’re in the Army Now.”
- Using an “X” to symbolize kiss (as in “XOXO”) dates back Middle Ages. In the late fifth century in Ancient Rome, people who could not read were allowed to use an “X” as their signature. To make it official, they would kiss the X. In time, the “X” would come to mean “kiss.”
- Like fingerprints and snowflakes, no two lip impressions are identical.
- 66 percent of couples turn their head to the right when kissing.
