Don’t Let Us Rub Your Nose in It, but . . .

Here’s one myth you can kiss goodby:

Eskimos do kiss; they don’t rub noses, says anthropologist Bill Jankowiak, an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The rubbing-noses myth probably developed out of the method of kissing practiced by societies from the South Sea Islands, up through Alaska and the Siberian side of the former Soviet Union, he said.

A man in one of those cultures kisses by putting his mouth over his beloved’s mouth and moving his mouth back and forth, which might give the appearance they are rubbing noses, Jankowiak said.