Page:The Kiss and its History.djvu/187

Rh to this, the old-fashioned Danish hats with prominent brims were called Kiss-me-if-you-can. We have a modern variant in the Salvation lasses' Stop-kissing-me hat.

In France, during the last century, there was a colour of the name of Baise-moi ma mignonne, called in England "heart's-ease": Look-up-and-kiss-me, Kiss-me-at-the-garden-gate, Kiss-me-ere-I-rise or Jump-up-and-kiss-me.

The verb "to kiss" is often used in a figurative sense, e.g., the Italians say of one who likes drinking, "He kisses the flask" (Bacia il fiasco); the Germans say of mean people, "They kiss the farthing" (Den Pfennig küssen); the English too speak of a penny-kisser.

This figurative meaning is not, however, confined to jocose expressions and phrases; on the contrary, it occurs perhaps more frequently in serious prose.

Our whole life, lived in love to our neighbour and nature, is nothing more than one long kiss.

Kaalund somewhere says: