Quit the kissing habit

Quit the kissing habit

Lebanon’s health minister warns the public against kissing hello.

April 29, 2009 4:36 by Dana El Baltaji

The Lebanese Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh warned the nation against the national custom of kissing hello in a bid to curb the spread of the swine flu, reports Reuters.

“If you visit someone, don’t exchange kisses… Let’s stop the social kissing habit,” Khalifeh told a news conference on Tuesday.

The Lebanese customarily kiss three times on the cheek when greeting each other.

The minister also suggested keeping children with the flu at home, and avoiding unnecessary travel to countries with confirmed cases of infection.

To be fair, he’s right. Kissing isn’t a good idea when a deadly virus is threatening to bring the world to its knees.

What makes his statement blog-worthy is the way he said it. It sounds funny, patronizing, ridiculous and logical all at once. Almost as though he knows the Lebanese public will laugh at him.

According to reports, they did.