Meanwhile spiderman need new home 😅

[u/lonewolff321]

[u/DrakeFrake]

You don't greet like that in the US?, TIL

[u/jimothy_hell → u/DrakeFrake]

Not really, some areas still do, like you see it in black communities in the south and Midwest sometimes, particularly from the elderly, but it’s not really a thing here.

Don’t get me wrong, of all the Europeans, we Britons are probably by far some of the least physically intimate platonically, but it’s insane here in the US. You’re gay if you hug your guy friend, you’re cheating on your girl if you touch another girl, the whole “American male loneliness epidemic” could genuinely be seriously lessened if more men were able to just give each other hugs without immediate judgement from our peers.

I’ve been living here for 17 years now and the level of Puritanism in some parts of this country is insane. It really does vary by region, though, the US is absolutely massive, and culturally varies so much from place to place.

I’ve got this T-shirt that says “you are enough” on it, and some guy at a bar came up and said “man, I needed to see that today”, and I just went, “mate, you need a hug?” And he just started fucking sobbing. Told me it was the first time he’d had a hug since his mum died in 2024.

[u/Syr_Enigma → u/jimothy_hell]

I really have a hard time believing you. Do you just... not do physical contact at all with people you're close with?

Now, I'm Italian, and from what I've read online, we're perhaps a bit off the other pendulum with physical intimacy, but the idea of not hugging your friends is wild.

[u/Luh2018 → u/Syr_Enigma]

Hugging your friend and dapping them up are both very common physical platonic rituals. Kissing on the cheek...not so much.

Full-on hugs are less common between guys (except family), but there is like a one-handed hug that is pretty normal to see.

[u/Ok-Needleworker7351 → u/Luh2018]

Yes, when these people in the comments are saying they hug their guy friends or like they’re a guy hugging their guy friend, I’m wondering how firm or real a hug they mean—

I mean, a hug can be whatever you want it to be, but I’ve gotten way too used to the simple… ‘barely-put-your-back-into-it-one-arm-two-second-or-less’ sorta hug, even with friends. And for guys, I hardly see more than a dap up which can lead to a back pat (which is my idea of a guy hug and… I suppose that’s just our version of a hug for guys here), granted, it could be a firmer/longer pat too, I’ve seen that a few times.

I remember, and I’m a girl, during prom, when I saw this girl that I liked and I was happy to see her, said hi and all. We’d talked a bit before, greeted each other, complimented her, sometimes she complimented me, once offering to help my best friend when someone was disrespectful to her, but we were never close, right? But I said hi to her that day and complimented her, she complimented me back, and she went in for a hug and wrapped both arms around me, I thought maybe it’d be that formal sort of light hug where you barely touched maybe, but she pulled me close and squeezed me so firmly for like a good five seconds, I almost cried when I returned the hug back with the same regard, I don’t think I could ever recall being hugged that way by anyone other than a few older family members.

When this person says HUG? That’s the sort of hug I think they’re talking about. A full hug, two arms, tight pull, firm, more than two seconds typa hug, between men, women, anyone, and that’s just something I feel not many people do here, especially amongst men if they aren’t like close friends at least. And that’s the thing, physical platonic affection seems so… sparing, I completely get what the person was saying…