Wordology, Golacher

The term French kiss is commonly attributed to American soldiers returning from World War I, who apparently picked up the technique from the adventurous French maidens.


France has never had a word for "to French kiss" until now. The verb “galocher” meaning to kiss with tongues had just been added to the Petit Robert 2014 French dictionary. It is pronounced ga luh shay


It comes from 'La galoche' an ice-skating boot, so the new term plays on the idea of sliding around the ice. Also,  "galosh" or "overshoe" was used for hundreds of years before that, giving galocher a sort of onomatopoeic connection between the sound that galoshes make on a wet street and that tongues make during a French kiss.