French Kissing Finally Gets Defined In France

Despite the popularity of the term “French kissing,” France didn't officially recognize the term until 2013. The French had several other terms to describe the act of kissing with tongues, and now, for the first time, there's a single French word for it: “galocher.”

One of several new entries to the just-released 2014 edition of France’s “Petit Robert” dictionary, galocher is a new verb defined as “to kiss with tongues,” reports the Associated Press, noting that France and its culture have long been connected to the ways of love.

Laurence Laporte, from Dictionnaires Le Robert, said, “We always had many expressions to describe 'French kissing,' like 'kissing at length in the mouth,' but it's true, we've never had one single word.” As for the exact origins of French kissing, AP cites the popular belief that the term was brought to English-speaking countries by World War II soldiers returning from Europe.

Laporte said galocher was used in the popular lexicon prior to its inclusion in the French dictionary. Galocher has its origins in the noun “galoche,” which refers to an ice skating boot; the new term hopes to capture the action behind the term or, as AP puts it, “the new term riffs evocatively on the idea of sliding around the ice.”

The other new words added to the “Petit Robert” include entries related to food, nutrition and technology -- fricadelle (meatball), itinérance (roaming) and texter (texting).