BRAZIL: Kissing Rules

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One balmy day last week in blossom-perfumed, crescent-beached Rio, Inspector Carlos Santos of the police department's costume and amusement section called in the press. Ordered from on high to crack down on public lovemaking, the inspector outlined the new rules for kissing in the carnival capital of the world: "The pure kiss, what we call the official kiss, on the cheek or hand, will be permitted. But so-called 'American' kissing, which awakens other intentions and is shocking in public, will be suppressed."

Nobody liked the edict. "With things in this country going so badly," growled the conservative newspaper Correio da Manhā, "a campaign to repress excesses in courtship should be put in the one-thousandth priority." Cried Lady Novelist (0 Quinze, As Tres Marias) Rachel de Queiroz: "God protect lovers!" Even the cops prowled Copacabana beach with noisy prudence; they made no arrests the first three nights.