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Simply put, this is when a character kisses another character farewell, but refuses to admit it's romantic, blaming the influence of a foreign nation.

In a lot of Anime or Manga, when a female 'American' character leaves to go back to Eagle Land because she wants her beloved to be happy, or for some other reason, and has not yet told him that she likes him, she will give him a passionate kiss farewell—and then deny that it was romantic by claiming that "That's the way Americans say goodbye."

This is, of course, utter nonsense. The American way of saying goodbye to a platonic friend is a handshake, a wave, a hug or at most a peck on the cheek.

While some countries do use the 'goodbye kiss', it is almost always on the cheek (or one on each). But in a manga, the only foreigners who claim that mouth-to-mouth is a proper farewell are called American. In American films, such a kiss goodbye is usually attributed to Europe.

Examples of Foreign Farewell include:


Anime and Manga[]

  • In the Ai Yori Aoshi anime, Tina Foster does this to Kaoru before going back to America.
  • Kamichama Karin: Micchi gives Karin a "Shut Up" Kiss once, but later claims it was "just a goodbye peck!" He's half-english.
  • In the manga, Challengers, Kurokawa kisses Tomoe as he's leaving on the train. When they meet again, Tomoe asks him if it was because he had an American step-father at one point. Kurokawa grudgingly says yes, the kiss was just an American goodbye.

Film[]

  • Parodied in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Elsa Schneider french-kisses Indy and tells him it's "how we say goodbye in Austria". Right afterward, Vogel tells Indy, "This is how we say goodbye in Germany," and punches him in the face.
Cquote1

 Indy: I liked the Austrian way better.

Henry: So did I!

Cquote2


Live Action TV[]

  • In Friends episode "The One with all the Kissing", Chandler gave his (secret) girlfriend Monica a kiss as he left her place; then they both realized what he did, so he quickly kissed Phoebe and Rachel, too. When this happened for a second time, Monica claimed that it was probably a "European good-bye thing he picked up in London".
Cquote1

 Rachel: That's not European!

Phoebe: Well, it felt French.

Cquote2


Real Life[]

  • Kissing on the lips really isn't romantic in some cultures, and is only often a display of affection towards family or very close friends.
    • It used to be almost like a trend in certain parts of Germany for girls to kiss on the lips instead of the usual hug and kiss on the cheek. It seems to have passed lately, but even back then, nobody ever did the same with a girl and a guy while claiming it's not romantic.
    • Also, if you kiss an aquaintance or friend on the mouth as a way of goodbye (or saying hello), prepare to get weird looks/beaten up/slapped. Even family members don't kiss each other on the mouth in most of Europe, people.

Theatre[]

  • Ali Hakim in the musical Oklahoma gives Ado Annie what he calls a "Persian Goodbye" (dipping her back into a kiss) in front of her new fiance Will Parker, and when Ado Annie asks for another Persian Goodbye, her fiance surprises her with an even more dramatic "Oklahoma Hello".
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