French kissing

I have always thought that French kissing meant when you stick your tongue down somebody else's throat. Now I know better.

Today I was observering some French people meeting each other. They did kiss-kiss (only twice), then shook hands and said "nice to meet you". What? Where I come from you never kiss anybody you haven't met before. Heck, I hardly kiss anybody even if I met them many, many times before.

What is all this about? French politeness? Probably something to do with the French all sleeping around. There is a reason a cliche is a cliche.