Bastille Day

Bastille Day is coming up this weekend. If you want to impress your friends while drinking wine and eating crepes on July 14, here's a bit of trivial for you. While we have lots of things to thank France for — crepes, lingerie, our inferiority complex — the French kiss is not one of them.

What we call French kissing, the French call baiser avec la langue (kiss with tongue) or for slang patin (ice-skating shoe). Like a figure eight, I guess?

While it began appearing in conversation during the 19th century, it took off in the early 20th century when it first appeared in the World War I book Private Lindner’s Letters: Censored and Uncensored of 1918. "I have decided to become a linguist," he wrote. "Being able to read French fluently and speak it wretchedly, and to speak German connectively but not to read it at all, I am taking up Luxembourg, which is a wonderful blend of the two, a sort of liaison between tongues. (Not to be confused with French kissing.)"

In fact if we're going to credit anyone then it probably should be the British and American soldiers of World War I. Upon returning home from continental Europe, they showed their wives and girlfriends what they learned and called it a French kiss.

Currently coveting a French country kitchen? I'm not surprised! A kitchen invoking the French country feel is charming and rustic. Its mantra is "loved in and lived in." There's no better day to share the look than Bastille Day — the French National Day. Interested in the details of what makes a kitchen French country? Read more!

Fireworks cracked over the Eiffel Tower in Paris last night. Bastille Day, celebrated every year on July 14, commemorates the storming of Bastille and the unofficial start of the French Revolution. We commemorated the event by checking out famous French hotties and learning about the origin of the French kiss.

• The Soup Nazi reopens his famous first location and considers reality TV. — Wall Street Journal
• How to shuck fresh clams to serve on the half shell. — New York Times
• The prestigious Michelin Guide arrives in Chicago this Fall. — Chicago Tribune
• Vegetable tempura made easy. — Los Angeles Times
• Summer's ripe for enjoying cold-brewed iced coffee. — San Francisco Chronicle
• Resourcefulness is the secret to successful lunchroom cooking. — Washington Post
• Ring in Bastille Day with French favorites ratatouille and clafoutis. — Boston Globe

Source: Flickr User ArtBrom