No kissing please, we're German: Etiquette group calls for ban on workplace greeting
A German etiquette group has called for a total ban on work colleagues kissing one another in the office, claiming a peck on the cheek is a form of 'terrorism'.
The German Knigge Society - which translates as etiquette or correct behaviour - said the practice has flourished in offices in recent years.
Women kiss men, men kiss women, usually once, but sometimes twice in the way of the French.
But in a society with more rigorous rules than most, sensibilities have become deeply offended.
Germans can go their whole working lives referring to the person next to them in the formal 'Sie', instead of 'Du', and kissing has become something of a threat to the accepted order.
At school, they are taught to keep a respectful distance when greeting a stranger, to shake their hand and to bow the head just ever so slightly.
Now the Knigge Society has ruled on the issue of office kissing and says it must go.
It claims it has reacted after worried callers who have enquired over recent months about what to do if someone should attempt to kiss them in a greeting.
Hans Michael Klein, chairman of the group, said: 'This is valid immediately. There should be no kissing, at least not in the office.'
Mr Klein said enquiries had flooded into his offices from varied cities including Berlin, Munich and Duesseldorf.
'The suspicion for many remains that there is, or may be, an erotic component to the kissing,' he said.
'Kissing simply gets on the nerves of many at work. It is a form of terror.
'In business the handshake is considered the correct greeting ritual. Stand apart from one another approximately 60cm and shake.'
Any closer, he said, would injure a 'socially defined distance zone'.
He added that while he had respect for the French habit, and that in Russia where men also kiss each other in greeting, this was not the German way and it was an affectation of the 'Schickimicki' set - or the 'in-crowd'.
一个德国的礼仪团体呼吁全面禁止办公室里同事间互相亲吻，他们声称亲脸蛋是一种“恐怖主义”行为。
德国克尼格协会（克尼格翻译过来是礼仪或得体行为）称近年来办公室里亲吻的风气日益风靡。
女人亲吻男人，男人亲吻女人，一般亲一次，有时会按法国人的方式亲两次。
但在一个有着更多严格条规的社会，人们感觉受到了严重冒犯。
德国人可以在整个工作生涯中都用正式的“您”而不是“你”来称呼身边的人，而亲吻则成了对公认秩序的一种威胁。
在学校里，他们受的教育是和陌生人打招呼时要保持一定的距离，握个手、轻轻点头致意就可以了。
现在克尼格协会已经针对办公室亲吻下了规定，说要力扫这一风气。
最近几个月，很多心怀担忧的人来电询问如果有人要以亲吻的方式打招呼该怎么办。该组织称已经对此作出反应。
该组织的`主席汉斯?迈克尔?克莱因说：“此规定即刻生效。至少在办公室里不该亲吻。”
克莱因说他的办公室接收到了来自柏林、慕尼黑、杜塞尔多夫等多个城市的大量询问电话和信函。
他说：“很多人怀疑的还是亲吻时存在或可能存在性爱的成分。”
“亲吻让很多正在工作的人心烦意乱。这是一种恐怖行为。”
“生意场上，握手被视为恰当的问候礼仪。站在离对方约60公分的地方握个手。”
他说，再近一点就会破坏“社会接受的安全距离区”。
他还说，尽管他尊重法国人的这一习惯，也尊重俄罗斯男人间打招呼时互相亲吻的习惯，但那不是德国人打招呼的方式，在德国这么做是附庸风雅。
Vocabulary:
etiquette: 礼节；礼仪
peck: 轻吻
get on the nerves: 使心烦意乱
affectation: 假装；做作
Schickimicki: <德语> trendy（时髦的）
in-crowd: （熟人结成的）小圈子；（熟知内情的）小团体。在本文中指的是“时髦人群”。
