Bad Lip-Lock Is Kiss of Death

You must remember this: A kiss isn't just a kiss. If it's bad, it can actually kill a budding relationship, a new survey says. Some 59% of men and 66% of women said they've had the hots for someone—until that first, deadly kiss, CNN reports. "I knew this girl I'll call Big Tongue," recalls one luckless dater. "She was very forceful with it, and I started choking."

"At the moment of the kiss, there's a very complicated exchange of information" that can indicate compatibility, says a study co-author. But while kisses can be bad for myriad reasons, they all "trigger the gag reflex," says the author of The Art of Kissing, who suggests the kissing-impaired can improve by varying their "speed, intensity, and style." (More kissing stories.)