What is the Average Number of People You Have Kissed?

While listening to my Pandora at work, a video add for Dentyne Pure gum starts playing. This is what I hear through my headphones....

"The average person has 28 first kisses... Here is the gum for the rest of the time"

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. 28 first kisses?? Is it just me, or does this number just seem large for an average person? So then it got me thinking. Have I kissed 28 people? And what constitutes as a kiss?

According to Dictionary.com, to kiss is to touch or press with the lips slightly pursed, and then often to part them and to emit a smacking sound, in an expression of affection, love, greeting, reverence, etc.

Well, if I was to go off this definition I have definitely kissed way more than 28 people, I would would have to say probably close to the hundreds! This is because I kiss my family on the cheek when greeting them hello and saying goodbye. And I mean, ym family is pretty big so that number would be pretty high up there. And that doesnt include my friends either that I will give a good peck on the cheek every once in a while to show my love.

So I converesed with a friend on this topic. This same friend had also seen the commercial and was wondering the same thing herself. Have I kissed 28 people in my lifetime?

We determined that the kiss that they meant was anything that caused the two lips to touch, with some sort of sensual feeling to it and the possibility of tongue being involved (well, we also pretty much figured this out by watching the commercial and the guy/girl in the commercial were ending a date and leaned in to do the kiss goodnight.) So they definitely were not talking about kissing your grandmother goodbye.....

Okay so here goes the game. How many people have we kissed? And so we sat down and determined when a kiss could have occured. You count all the guys you have dated/saw but were never official, anytime you played spin the bottle as a kid, drunk makeouts at the bar/party, etc. And we determined that any normal college student will be near that 28 mark!

Think about it, on average...
Most people have thier first kiss between the ages of 12-16. And this is usually with someone who had a crush on you or vice versa.
Once in high school, you "date" roughly 2-5 guys, depending on if you were someone who was a serial dater or someone who wanted to be with one person.
For those that make it to college, if you have a 1 time serious boyfriend you go out the door on this one. But those of us who were constantly single, well you were always up for a good kissing session. I would say in college, kissing about 10 people is the norm over the course of 4 years.
Now do the math - if your first kiss was at, say, 14 - and you graduate college at 23 - that is 9 years. If you kissed the max amount in high school and college that I stated  so 5+10 = 15, that is on average of 1.6 kisses a year.

But, it doesnt stop there. If you are a single 20-something and even a 30-something, and are on the dating scene you are definitely not going to be kissing just one guy a year. A friend of mine said between drunk bar makeouts, guys she actually dated, and those that she had small flings with she kissed an average of 10 guys alone in 1 year. 1 YEAR! Do that math - if you kissed an average of 5-10 guys a year, and you dont get too serious until your mid 30's - well then, you have officially kissed close to 30, 40, possibly even 50 people in your dating lifetime.

Wow. That can be a pretty high number. Now, this does not make you a slut. There is no harm in a good kiss. Maybe there was one person you went on a date with, wasnt feeling it but to be nice you shared a nice peck goodnight never to talk to them again. But kissing isnt a numbers game like most people keep of those that they have hooked up with - a lot of times you put those that you just kissed on the backburner. So many people may never know their exact number, because everyone determines a kiss differently.

Was I able to determine my number? Kind of - I was able to get close to a number just from what I can remember/who I have rememberd kissing. Will I share it with you? Well, depeneds on how close we are and how well you know me. I will say, an average is an average and maybe I am close to it, maybe I am not. But if I stay single until my 30s, I can be well on my way to kissing a good number of men.

If you want, you can take a guess at my number - and maybe the closest person will win a prize. Depends on how nice I am feeling :)

Disclaimer... this blog excludes anyone that has been with the same person for many, many years or people who do not date/meet guys on a regular basis. These are averages that I took from people who are constantly single, some of which are in their mid-to-upper 20s and have not had too serious of a boyfriend in quite some time a.k.a are on the dating scene. Also, I would say this is not the norm - there are some single people who just dont go and make out with anyone they see. I would say this covers a small % of people out in the world. But because of these people, the averages are higher for the total population. I would like to take this time to say thank you to the people who will kiss anyone and anything!