Pashing, lip-locking, snogging, tongue wrestling (ugh!), whatever you call it, kissing it one of the best things about falling in love with someone new.
So with this in mind, here at Lovestruck.com we thought we’d look into the subject and found these weird and wonderful facts:
1. Kissing style originates in the womb, according to New Scientist, with two-thirds of all kissers tilting their heads to the right.
2. In a kiss you use 146 muscles, including 34 facial muscles, burning 64 calories per minute. Great, extra Jaffa Cake anyone?
3. A first kiss can make or break a relationship. People who say kissing someone new felt “just right” are not going mad. Kissing allows us to find someone we are genetically compatible with.
4. According to the University of Tokyo, our affinity for kissing apparently comes from an ancient rat called Eomaia Scansoria, which lived 125 million years ago. These rats rubbed noses to test pheromones and signal sexual desire.
5. The insulting phrase ‘Kiss my ass’ dates back to at least 1705. Who knew?
6. On July 16, 1439, King Henry VI banned kissing in England, to stop the spread of disease. Why didn’t they teach us that in history lessons?
7. The science of kissing is called philematology and people who make a career out of this are named osculologists.
8. Whether you’re having a proper smooching session or just peck your other half on the cheek, the average person spends 20,160 minutes of their lifetime kissing.
9. In February 2013, a Thai couple broke the Guinness World Record for the longest kiss. It lasted 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds, smashing the last record by 8 hours. (No word on if they got loo breaks but we’re hoping so.)
10. 400,000 people kiss the Blarney Stone in Ireland every year for luck. It has been dubbed the most “unhygienic” tourist attraction in the world.
11. A survey showed that a woman kisses an average of 17.5 men before settling down, while a man kisses 24 women. Interesting!
12. Like fingerprints and snowflakes, no two lip impressions are the same.
13. Pucker up people! According to scientists men who kiss their wives in the morning reportedly live five years longer than those who don’t.
What do you make of our little kiss list? Any other weird kissing facts that you know of? Tell us @lovestruck