Expressions of greeting

Perhaps it is still a bit early for a post on language but there are several things worth noting about some interesting French expressions of greeting. For instance, it is normal and courteous here to say hello and have a good day to all and sundry. This is also true for good evening and have a good evening. In English this is a bit cumbersome but the French language has cunningly solved this problem with the proper use of gender, something with which every French speaker is already well acquainted. So, to say hello you use the masculine Bonjour! And to say have a good day you use the feminine Bonne journée! It's the exact same two words but the gender is different and the gender (in this case) changes the meaning. Same thing for bonsoir and bonne soirée. And in two words you have wished someone a pleasant day or evening and fulfilled the requirements of civility. It's practically the most important French phrases to seem like a competent human being. If you learn nothing else, be sure you know how to say this!

A way to say hello amongst friends is coucou, like the Von Trapp children singing goodnight on the stairs in The Sound of Music. I'm not exactly sure where this comes from, other than the cuckoo bird, or why it is used, as it is rather like saying peekaboo! Goodbye amongst friends is ciao, or ciao ciao which is quite liberally stolen from Italian and frequently used twice in a farewell as if to say: so nice you have to say it twice! Anyways the number of ciaos can get quite overwhelmingly when you're with a group of people!

In Switzerland, or at least in the French-speaking part, it is customary to greet people with three kisses. (Boys don't really kiss boys, but girls kiss girls and boys kiss girls.) The problem is  that when you're a foreigner sometimes they aren't sure whether or not to kiss you, and you never know when to kiss them which leads to awkward hand shakes or more awkward kisses where your heads collide. Anyways if you manage to be welcomed with kisses it is important that cheeks touch and you make kissy noises even if you don't actually smack their cheek. If you become advanced you may even be able to break up your greeting with some well placed smooches. How kiss are kiss you kiss? There also seem to be some unwritten rules for when to not uses kisses. For instance, they are not always used at university. And one kiss denotes a closer familiarity than three. But if you run into someone on campus who you know, as you approach each other you may wish to raise your fingers in the air in a Hunger Games-esque salute to indicate the number of kisses you anticipate giving or receiving. Also for some unknown reason, always go left first.