Is French Kissing Actually French?

Most people remember finding out about the idea of “French kissing” as a kid and reacting with total disgust. You couldn’t understand, at the time, why someone would willingly subject themselves to that. Of course, kids also feel the same way about coffee and going to bed early, so what the hell do they know? Most adults are regularly playing tonsil hockey, and if they aren’t, they’re going on dates to try to fix that.

But my question is, did the French really invent the open-mouth kiss, and if they didn’t, why do they get all the credit? This could be another misleading attachment of “French” to something unrelated, like with fries, or Stewart. 

The answer, it turns out, is… sorta. They certainly didn’t come up with it, but they are somewhat responsible for bringing it to America — and weirdly, not on purpose.

It’s a story based less on France’s sexual prowess and more on America’s general sexual terror. It seems that during World War I, while fighting overseas, U.S. servicemen shacked up with French women. While doing so, they had their minds blown when they found two tongues in their mouth. When they returned home, American women who expected the usual chaste pecks from firm lips were suddenly finding out how the French did things, and the kiss retained the nickname of the “French kiss.”

Talk about love and war.