The local newspaper had a link to this website where you can see a map of France color coded to show how many bises people do. You can even participate by choosing your department and then marking how many bises you do. The most populous departments have 1000 to 2000 votes, but more rural ones only have 200-300.
I think it's really interesting seeing how the number of bises are related (or not) to geography. All of Midi-Pyrénées does 2 bises, except Aveyron which does 3 like neighboring Languedoc-Roussillon. But not all of the region, because the northern departments do 3, but Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales only do 2.
I also didn't realize that 4 bises was so prevalent. I knew it was common practice in Nantes, but I didn't realize it stretched across so much of France. Definitely not something your French textbook covers.
I've always lived in Southern France (Montpellier, Foix, Toulouse), and whether it's 2 or 3 bises, most of the time the other person and I start with our left cheek. This isn't a rule, but I would say it's very common. It does help avoid the wait-which-side-are-we-starting-on back and forth game. But does your region start the bises on the left cheek? Right side first? 50/50?
6 comments:
right cheek, 2 bises. Makes for fun times when we visit family in toulouse!
Poitiers (Vienne) is a 1-bise region but only for people who are really from here, and there are so many students in town that 2 bises tend to dominate. But every once in a while I run into someone who grew up here and they only do 1. You can tell from our little pie chart that we're sort of split in two. I think it's fun!
Around Metz (Lorraine) it starts on the right and in Mulhouse (Alsace) it starts on the left, both only two. If I know someone is from Alsace I try to go for the left, unless they are also trying to adapt to Lorraine-right, so it still ends up awkward, lol.
In Aisne it was right cheek, two bises. Except for the family of my friend, who do four bises once they've met you and accepted you into the family. Not sure where that came from, but it made arriving and leaving take a whole lot longer!
In the FAQ, the person who made the website said he/she thought about adding a question "which side do you start with?" but decided not to because the information didn't seem as important as the number of bises.
The "revue de presse" lists a number of newspapers/magazines that mention the website and it's funny how many of them interpret the data to mean what they want it to mean. The website has also been around for a long time (as I learned based on the news articles).
Ahh I LOVE La Depêche just for these sorts of silly and fun little articles they always have! As we're both from Toulouse, no news for you here. But there's one shop owner with whom we're friendly and I always forget that he's a 4-biser! The result is usually hilarious and awkward. Last time we were there, we did the bise and I was so excited to pet the dog in the shop that i ducked after two and left him hanging! Silly American girl!
On a related note, we've just returned from three weeks in the US and was just meditated on the bise vs. the hug. I have to say, I missed and prefer the bise. Somehow the hug thing that is its US verison seems so much more strange to me. A hug to a new acquaintance seems more intimate than a bise, as Edd remarked. He asked me to demonstrate to him what kind of hug is the "normal" one; as some people really grab you for a tight one and others sort of awkwardly wrap their arms around you without touching you too much.
After all that hullabalu I'm happy to be back in the land of the BISE!
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