Hugs
To hug or not to hug? And how?
Dear Friend,
I never really had hugging type friends in high school until I joined KEY Club, and those people I only saw occasionally. When I cam to college, I began to realize that hugging can be a really big deal! If you don’t hug somebody in the right way, they can get really offended.
Now, I don’t particularly like touching people in the first place, and people that know me well know that I generally freak out if someone touches me if I can’t see them.
Hugging is a different matter, though, because it’s used so commonly as a greeting these days. However, until recently never sure what type of hug I’m supposed to do with who…
So for those of you that are as confused as I am, I made a list of the types of hugs and the appropriate times, places, and people for them.
With love,
Kim
Kim‘s Guide to Socially Correct Hugging
1. The friendly hug
This is the most common hug, the one where you hug someone with both arms but hold on for no longer than 1 or 2 seconds. An appropriate hug.
2. The “tap-tap” hug
In the “tap-tap” hug, you lean in with your upper body only. The only part of your body that should be touching the other person’s body are your hands, which should be innocuously be tapping the person on the back.
I use this for the majority of my own personal hugs.
3. The one-armed hug
The one-armed hug is almost as good as the “tap-tap”, except you run the risk of people thinking you’re trying to put your arm around their shoulders. Do this with people you’re semi friendly with.
Sometimes you can combine the one-armed hug with the “tap-tap” if one arm is full of stuff.
4. The hug from behind
The hug from behind is strictly restricted in my book. This should be banned from all eternity.
5. The hump-hug
The hump-hug is one of the most fun hugs to do, but you can only do it with really close friends. It’s generally used as a good-bye hug or a morale-booster hug.
Most of the time, it doesn’t involve the arms at all.
If in doubt, always use # 2.
Do you ever have problems with hugging?
