Time Essay: THE GREAT KISSING EPIDEMIC

There are many variations. A classic: the perfectly executed "air kiss," often performed by two women who dislike each other, who wear makeup they don't want smeared and who both resemble Bette Davis in her middle years. They approach, incline the planes of their cheeks. Three to four inches from contact, they close their eyes in a split-second transport of fraudulent bliss, and smack their lips minutely upon nothing, as if releasing little butterflies. A somewhat rarer treat: the "hair tangle," which requires a tall, long-haired woman and a shorter man; woman inclines...

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