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?