I’ll Hug Your Neck

Informant:

Reid is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but moved to Los Angeles right before he started high school.

Original Script:

Reid: “In the South, one thing that people would say there but I have never heard anyone say here is the phrase ‘I just hugged her/his neck.'”

Context:

To “hug someone’s neck” means to either say bye to someone or to say hello to someone.

My Thoughts:

When he said the phrase, I initially thought it had some sort of sexual connotation, for hugging or kissing a neck usually has some sort of sensual anterior meaning. It always blows my mind when I hear something that comes from a different part of the United States that I do not understand, for I often forget that there are so many different cultures within the umbrella of the American culture.