In Germany I give everyone I know a cuddle. Men get a few pats on the back. Women are kissed on each cheek, normally in an unexpected order-I always get it wrong.
In England I'm English.

Happy to know you cuddle in Germany.
The next step Joe is to be tactile in England.
You can do it. I believe in you.

Indeed Brisket! I'm going to the football on Saturday. I shall make sure that I stand up in the New Holgate end and cuddle all my friends as they arrive. I may even become a trend setter.

I say hello... I'm not a fan of being tactile

me and my best friend "mwah mwah"  each other - only in a jokey way, and really exaggerate the mmmmmwaaah

I handshake strangers but I'm guilty of mwah mwah to my children....

Mwah...

          .....mwah



mwah



MWAH!

Same....

Daughter and hubby get a kiss hello and goodbye, but generally I just say hello, I'm not tactile either

My family (Mum , Stepdad , Hubby , Grandpa etc) get a cuddle

Everyone else gets a terse Hello

The forum doesn't seem to be overrun with touchers.
It is awkward when one person is a toucher and the other is not. That terrible feeling when someone touches you in a rather more touchy way then you would like.
A bit shuddery!
One sort of touching I don't like is the type you get in queues.
Bus queues or shop checkout queues. People in your space - first you feel their bag, then the person. Uggh!
Generally I do like touching. Although I don't think I have ever done a both cheeks mwah mwah.

I think greeting someone with a handshake (especially with men) shows good manners. Don't like all this high-fiving or touching knuckles.

Nothing wrong with greeting someone with a kiss or a hug - but air kissing?  Pffffft

Liverpoollass  - I agree with every single word. 

Daughters and close friends are greeted with a kiss/hug or both. I don't do the air kissing though

I kiss the kids.... and hubby.  Occasionally I will grab my mum and give her a kiss on the cheek, but apart from that I will do virtually anything to defend my personal space zone.

Most of my friends and wider family know now... when a mass goodbye is underway, I slip to the back of the group... and when everyone else is done... the members of the other group all just laugh & say "bye then!" to me!

When I was pregnant everybody used to try & touch me... even strangers in the supermarket....    ((shudder))

I air kiss my bottles of Bolly.

Depends on who it is. Can range from a handshake to a smack in the mouth.

I had some mad woman come up to me in the Co-op and put her hands on my tummy when I was pregnant. I went mental and told her if she didn't get the feck away from me with her mentalness I'd lob tins of beans at her head.

Hugs and kisses are kept for my family and close friends but I never do air kissing.
I really don't like it when aquaintances or strangers invade my personal space.

oooh... spooky.. twas in the co-op that I had my bump molested.   I was at the till and some woman who was with her oldish mum.. and a bloke (dunno whose partner he was... it was hard to tell)...   the woman zoned in on me and stuck her hand on the top of my bump...   I froze in shock... & kept thinking "shit.. do I know you.. who are you".   She was rambling about how she loved pregnant women and couldn't help but touch the bump...

she was then going "you're the same aren't you mum"... so the mum then puts her hand on me.... but her hand was below the tummy button...   it was at this point I unfroze... jumped back and left the shop - completely freaked out!

My dad tried to touch my bump a couple of times too...  and much as I love him..  I wanted to run for it then too.  

Thats how I became proactive in avoiding being accosted... learned to predict when someone was gonna home in on me!

That could be me...i usually slip out with a 'See ya later'

Why do people think thats ok?

I often see the Mwah Mwah fake kissing in American shows / movies that tend to mock shallow, upper class, contemporary culture. Although, equally fake, are the reps that i have to deal with most days who shake my hand at the end of an appointment as though we had just shared a major life changing experience.

Touching a pregnancy bump is an old custom which is classed as good luck....

And save the snogging for the Voddy....

I didn't mind people touching my bump. A family member who's wife was pregnant had a well good feel one night as he wanted to feel the baby moving about and it didn't bother me at all.

is it not part of the old custom to ask first... or at the very least introduce yourself?

What if I'd just been fat?

I don't know Ditty, I've never been accosted by strangers....

I'm very tactile bordering on sexual harassment.

shhhhhhhhhhhh.....  That's between me and the Stolli.

If I dont see someone for a long time sisters brother etc I always greet then with a cuddle, when friends visit I always cuddle them when they are leaving the same with my sons daughters grandchildren

So  - apart from ~Cosmopolitan~ and the vodka  -
nobody here appears to do "air kissing."

I do.... it's weird - there's some people it feels ok with

I'm not a tactile person though ...... I think it's the way our culture has developed.  For instance I have a friend (that's not very tactile either) that I only see 2 or 3 times a year.  Ten years ago when she arrived at the door I'd greet her with a smile ... when she arrived at New Year we hugged and did the mwaaah thing .....it's just what you do now.

I have to say when my MD did it with me when coming back to work after the holidays I was a bit taken aback though

I'd cuddle Marge!  

No air kissing from me, it's either a kiss or not a kiss or a cuddle or not a cuddle nothing in mid air

Does it come from not wanting to ruin your lipstick?

I worry more about the stubble.

I find that... when faced with insistent air kissers.... turning slightly and licking their cheek will deter them from doing it again!

You will rip your tongue on the stubble!