Re: An end to hugging?

On Monday, in article <48pervFlcjufU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx "Jim Webster" wrote:

"Derry Argue" <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:48omtnFl2v2iU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Could the threat of bird flu put an end to the relatively recent American
and Continental practice of people, usually complete strangers, hugging
each other on the slighest pretext?

This seems to be a relatively new phenomenon. Being a "mature" person, I
find it threatening and rather alarming.

Personally, I don't like being hugged by complete strangers. But there are
exceptions.

I was at a friend's house the other day when I suddenly realised, out of
the corner of an eye, that someone was bearing down on me. Like an
accomplished matador, I side stepped and, too late, recognised my host's
wife as she went sailing by. Like a shark on the attack, it seems she had
closed her eyes for the final embrace, not noticed I had moved, and went
whizzing off into the next room. I felt quite embarassed -- but also a bit
relieved.

What does the group think? Is it acceptable to decline to be hugged on the
grounds that hugging is not bio-secure?

Derry
(Eternal bachelor)

I suspect it depends whether the hug is social or medicinal.
But I can see the Eternal bachelor aspect of it, and why you might possibly
feel hunted ;-))

I sometimes move in circles where hugging is commonplace.

I sometimes feel I don't move fast enough.

I think I still have an unused disposable suit (intended for crop
spraying purposes) left over from my farming days. But Greenpeace-mode
hugging seems somehow inadequate, even insulting.


--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"I am Number Two," said Penfold. "You are Number Six."
.

Relevant Pages

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  • An end to hugging?
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    (uk.business.agriculture)
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