osculation
noun

- the act of kissing

- a point at which two branches of a curve have a common tangent, each branch extending in both directions of the tangent (mathematics)

Merriam-Webster, Collins Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Osculation" comes from Latin osculum, meaning "little mouth" or "kiss." The Latin root os (genitive oris) means "mouth".

The term entered English in the 17th century with its literal meaning of "kissing" or "the act of kissing." However, it developed a specialized mathematical meaning in the 18th century, where it refers to the touching or contact between curves, surfaces, or geometric figures at specific points - essentially describing how closely one curve "kisses" another.

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THE GRAMMAR OF WORD-POSITION
How the placement of a single word can shift meaning

Can you solve this word riddle?

Which single, common, everyday English word can be placed in any blank in the sentence: “I kissed Michael on his ear yesterday” and still make grammatical sense?

____ I kissed Michael on his ear yesterday

I ____ kissed Michael on his ear yesterday  

I kissed ____ Michael on his ear yesterday  

I kissed Michael ____ on his ear yesterday  

I kissed Michael on ____ his ear yesterday  

I kissed Michael on his ____ ear yesterday  

I kissed Michael on his ear ____ yesterday  

I kissed Michael on his ear yesterday ____

SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWER

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ANSWER

The word you’re searching for is “only” !

Here’s how it works in each position:

1.  Only I kissed Michael on his ear yesterday – implies no one else did.

2.  I only kissed Michael on his ear yesterday – implies it wasn’t more than a kiss.

3.  I kissed only Michael on his ear yesterday – implies no one else was kissed.

4.  I kissed Michael only on his ear yesterday – implies no other part was kissed.

5.  I kissed Michael on only his ear yesterday – similar meaning; emphasizes the ear.

6.  I kissed Michael on his only ear yesterday – implies he has one ear.

7.  I kissed Michael on his ear only yesterday – implies it happened just yesterday.

8.  I kissed Michael on his ear yesterday only – adds emphasis to timing.

“Only” is the only solution to this riddle and a fine example of how the meaning of a sentence is critically affected by the positioning of a word.

Paul & Helga Smith

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SYNONYMS

a peck on the cheek, beso, buss, caress, cheek peck, graze of lips, honey peck, hubby, lip press, lock lips, lover’s seal, morning peck, mouth-to-mouth, muah, muaw, mwah, neck, nuzzle, OSCULATION, peck, peckaroo, pecky, pecklet, pet, press of lips, pucker, smacker, smooch, snog, taste of lips, touch (of) lips, true love’s kiss, wet one, whisper of lips

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SMUGGLE
 OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“The word OSCULATION is technically correct,... but it doesn’t sound very romantic, does it?

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P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

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Thanks so much,

Paul, Helga, & Jenny Smith

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