[Music] it's time now for French connections our weekly look at the intricacies of life here in France and today we're going to focus on a fundamental part of living which can leave foreigners a little bit confused that's what our very own phones nomads love good to see you now if you don't know what that is that is exactly what we're talking about today and it is our explicit unusual it's called levees now that quite literally means the kiss but it is much more than a kiss jeanny family bees to do that bees is the traditional French way of saying hello goodbye and congratulations now for those of you familiar with the show you might be thinking wait a minute they've already talked about that bees which we did in the second episode of French connections back in 2016 but today we're gonna go a lot deeper now first of all you got to know that this tradition dates way back in fact the French have the romance to thank for that bees because there were several different Latin words for several different kinds of kissing for friends for more intimate relationships and bazoom was a kiss that you use to be polite or to show courtesy and that is the root of the word lobby's which is not typically French which might be surprising because people associate it with France but lots of other countries do that bees in Europe as well as in Russia and in other African countries and it's funny because there's an expression in France which is supplicant Bonjour it's a way of saying it's easy as saying hello but actually saying hello with lobby's is very confusing first of all who do you do let bees to now typically you do that bees to friends family and some colleagues we'll get to that later now what if you're meeting someone for the first time well it depends if you're a man meeting a man well then you'll shake hands if you are a woman meeting a man or a woman well here again it depends if you're in a very formal situation say with an employer or an in-law or even your plumber you shake hands but you can also do that these in certain situations French people inherently know the rules to doing the bees but it can be really confusing to people outside of France so to explain the basic do's and don'ts I teamed up with Stephen Carroll from our business desk so these are the of doing levees step 1 make eye contact step 2 take a step forward not too close okay and not too far away just about this distance step 3 put your hand on their arm or their upper shoulder okay I'm gonna go with arm then you move in applying your cheek to their cheek and making a little kissing noise now in Paris you start on the left and then you do two kisses that's really important to know and you don't want to get into one of those very important thing never really kissed the cheek because that's although it's gross and you also have to make a kissing noise because or else it just sounds empty so once again and bueno don't forget practice makes perfect what's really tricky there is that you are giving Stephan two kisses but sometimes you give much more that's right now most people in France give two kisses it must be said but as you'll see on this B's map it can be anywhere between one and four depending on the region over 4 is a trap don't fall into that trap and traditions sometimes are different from village to village so you really have to be careful now another tricky aspect that we mentioned there was which side do you start on in assic as you can see here France is divided once again now you really don't want your bees to turn into a nose bump or even worse an unintentional French kiss so do be careful it can get awkward but rest assured it's even confusing for French people which Kunal's cut I start on the right hey we do four here so I'm missing a kiss it's very confusing so when in doubt just follow the other person's lead now another interesting thing about lobby's is that trends surrounding it have actually evolved over time and here's a fun fact during the 14th century people stopped doing that B's because of the plague now it made a big comeback after the First World War and in the past 20 years trends have changed as well because men are increasingly doing lebih with each other once they get over the awkward teenager says Portia I kiss close friend so guys do these yes a close friend it is a very common sight to see men giving each other the bees here in France but as one of those men interviewed mentioned things can get a little complicated at work well work can be a minefield in geni especially have if you have a lot of colleagues now some say it's just unhygenic and a colossal waste of time because if you spend five minutes a day saying hello and giving that bees to your colleagues well over a year that is two and a half days of your time other people though take it really personally if you don't do that bees it's like you're too cool for school they're gonna be a whole lot of judgment involved there's an election won't I go around and kiss everyone do you it makes more human it's a great way to start the day naturally sometimes people lose in that case we avoid love you felt as though it's nothing contaminated guess three times here there are over fifty women in the office so it's a lot like to go around and say hi to everyone in the morning so I prefer giving high fives why not kids everyday but it worked a friendly hello is enough I'm getting them test you so as you can see the bees can be very confusing if you want to know more about it I recommend a hilarious viral video by the British comedian Paul Taylor you've probably already seen this where he explains some of the pitfalls of doing that bees for instance when you get to a party and you have to do that bees to everybody at the party before you can sit down and have a drink now I find that as confusing and as awkward as it can be the bees is actually one of my favorite parts about French culture it is a lovely part of French culture within reason Florenz gilman i thank you so much for that a very interesting look at how we do lobbies here in france don't forget if you have your own questions about things french so you can always send Flo a tweet at Flo Vilma know